One of Canada’s most iconic student engineering competitions is returning to London, Ont. this winter, led in large part by Western Engineering alumni who once raced down the hill themselves.
The Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) – Canada’s oldest and largest student engineering competition – will be hosted at Boler Mountain and sites across the city in early February, marking just the second time in the event’s more than 50-year history that it has taken place in London, Ont. Nearly 20 university teams from across Canada will gather for a week of design showcases, technical evaluation and high-speed racing.
GNCTR challenges student teams to design, build and race five-seater, bobsled-style toboggans equipped with metal roll cages, steering and braking systems and reinforced concrete skis. The competition blends creativity, teamwork and rigorous engineering under real-world constraints.
The event opens with a public-facing Technical Exhibition on Feb. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at RBC Place. Designed as a lively, trade-show-style event, the exhibition brings teams face-to-face with judges, sponsors and the public. Students present their toboggans, design processes and engineering concepts alongside creative team themes, costumes and artistic displays. Sponsor booths and on-site recruitment opportunities from local engineering firms will also be featured, making the exhibition a hub for both technical exchange and career connections.
“The Technical Exhibition is where students really have to prove the engineering behind their toboggans,” said Travis Cotterill, BESc’22, co-chair of the GNCTR. “While Race Day is what most people see, performance on the hill actually only makes up 30 per cent of a team’s overall score. Most of the evaluation comes from how well teams justify their design choices, explain their analysis and communicate their work to judges, industry professionals and the general public.”
Open to the public, the Technical Exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see Canadian engineering students apply theory to complex, hands-on design challenges.
The action continues on Saturday, February 7, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Boler Mountain, where teams put their designs to the ultimate test.
Race Day features downhill drag races, technical slalom runs and the fan-favourite King of the Hill event, which crowns the fastest toboggan of the day. With tight turns, head-to-head competition and cheering teams lining the course, the event is a one-of-a-kind Canadian engineering spectacle.
“Race Day is the moment everything comes together,” said Jack Warden, BESc’23, co-chair of the GNCTR.
“Teams have spent months designing, building, testing and refining their toboggans, and this is their one chance to see how that work performs on a real ski hill.” – Jack Warden, BESC’23, PhD student and GNCTR co-chair
“You’re racing something you designed and fabricated yourself at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour,” he said. “Every decision about steering, braking, weight and structure suddenly matters in a very real way.”
Warden is also a PhD student in the department of civil and environmental engineering.
A defining feature of this year’s GNCTR is the alumni-led organizing committee behind the event. The competition is being delivered almost entirely by recent Western Engineering graduates, many of whom previously competed in GNCTR themselves.
The organizing team includes alumni from 2022 to 2025, representing civil, mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, chemical and integrated engineering. Many members of the team first became involved through leadership roles on the Western Engineering Toboggan Team (WETT). Several were also part of Western’s 2023 GNCTR-winning team, creating a strong sense of continuity from student competitors to alumni leaders.
“When we reached out to former teammates and mentors about hosting GNCTR, the response from Western alumni was immediate and overwhelming,” said Jess Van Den Heuvel, BESc’23, co-chair of the GNCTR and PhD student in civil and environmental engineering.
“To me, that speaks to the leadership and long-lasting connections students build through involvement in clubs and design teams. Without that alumni engagement, this event simply wouldn’t be possible.”
