The scholar’s bridge building competition is organized and hosted by SAICE, with the aid of our kind and generous sponsors, of whom ASLA Magwebu is the main sponsor.
The competition was held at the Central Court, Canal Walk Shopping Centre on the 16 April 2011. We received 22 entries from 20 enthusiastic schools that were either out to improve on their previous performance or, to clinch the coveted title of the Western Cape regional winner of 2011. The SAICE committee lead by Andrew Clothier was once again out in full force to ensure that the competition ran smoothly, with the willing assistance from the student chapter at UCT. Some spectacular designs were conjured up by various schools, which had the judging panel very intrigued. The judges utilized all their skills to predict the outcome and hence the order of the testing and with Mick Latimer, Mayoena Guzgay and Prof. Sparks who did an outstanding job in almost getting it spot on. Parel Valei High had set the goal with an exasperating 205kg in the middle of the testing and managed to clinch the title. The schools performed as follows:
• Parel Valei – 184 pts (load = 205kg; wt = 250g) – 1st
• Brackenfell A – 175 pts (load = 195kg; wt = 248g) – 2nd
• Brackenfell B – 148 pts (load = 170kg; wt = 273g) – 3rd
Courtesy of the generous sponsorship received by various engineering firms, the top 3 teams received cash prizes and both Parel Valei and Brakenfell-A will represent the Western Cape in the National Finals, which will take place between the 31 August - 2 September 2011 in Gauteng.
