UMass Amherst hosted the regional semifinal of the 2009 Society of Civil Engineers' National Concrete Canoe Competition, for which students design and build a fast, floatable canoe of concrete and paddle it in an endurance and sprint race. More than 160 students from 12 northeast universities competed on April 19, and scholarships totaling $9,000 were awarded to the winners' undergraduate civil engineering program. The race was held at Lake Wyola in Shutesbury, Mass.