Congratulations to the BCIT Bridge Building Club on their first-place overall finish and wins in the Highest Ultimate Load Carrying Capacity and Highest Structural Efficiency categories at the 41st Troitsky Bridge Competition.
Every year, the club prepares for the Troitsky Bridge Competition, where teams from Canada and the USA design and assemble bridges using only popsicle sticks, floss, toothpicks, and glue. The final test for their projects is to endure the immense pressure of a hydraulic press named “The Crusher.”
Pushing the limits of precision, one popsicle stick at a time
The BCIT Bridge Building Club’s journey to this year’s competition started in September when the team set the goal of experimenting with new fabrication techniques while building upon proven designs.
They pushed the boundaries of precision, innovation, and engineering excellence by leveraging coding software for building optimization, maintaining impeccable popsicle stick quality control, and integrating advanced 3D modelling.
The result: a 7.2 kg, 1-meter-long bridge that withstood an incredible 1,587 kg of pressure—more than the weight of a Toyota Corolla and 400 kg more than the second-place bridge, which endured 1111 kg of pressure.
Ronin Sakamoto, president of the BCIT Bridge Building Club, says the moments before leading up to the winner’s announcement were tense.
“Once our name was called for 1st overall, everyone felt a flood of relief along with the overarching emotions of winning the competition. We all jumped out of our seats in excitement, with hi-fives and hugs going around the table before we made our way up to the stage.”
Congratulations to the winning BCIT team comprised of:
- Civil Engineering students: Ronin Sakamoto, Izack Ginter, Trevor Lau, Joshua Johnson, Patrick Ngo, Ravi Gill, Avi Uppal, Luke Loewen, Marina Heisel
- Mechanical Engineering: Ethan Aliwalas
BCIT Bridge Building Club would like to thank the generous support of their sponsors: Aplin Martin, Ausenco, BCIT CSCE Student Chapter, DIALOG, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers, McElhanney, Metro Testing + Engineering Ltd, SEABC, and Thurber Engineering Ltd.