A group of ISU students will surround themselves with concrete and take to the water in early April. Their goal — not to sink.The ISU branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers will be participating in concrete canoe races again this year. The event will be hosted by the ISU group and will be at Hickory Grove Park, located off Highway 30 between Colo and Nevada, said Sonja Tucker, co-chair of the concrete canoe team.”The concrete used to build our canoes is not like the concrete that is used on roads. It is composed of specialized aggregates that are extremely light, which allows the canoe to float,” said Mike Roth, co-chair of the concrete canoe team.The team will be pouring its canoes at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Spangler Lab in the Applied Sciences Complex. “One of the requirements for the canoe is that it must be able to float while it is filled with water, so it must be well constructed,” said Tucker, senior in civil engineering.The group designed its own hull for the canoe this year, Tucker said, where in past years it has borrowed designs from other models.This year’s competition will be held on April 7 and will include teams from University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin-Platsville, North Dakota State and South Dakota State University, Tucker said.The teams will compete in men’s, women’s and co-ed sprints as well as men’s and women’s endurance competitions, a buoyed slalom course, said Roth, senior in civil engineering. “Participating in the event is a lot of fun but is very challenging and requires a lot of teamwork and planning,” he said.