Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

The most dignifying orientation week event (in my opinion), the University of Toronto Engineering department invites the colleges to build and drag race, literally, a bed on wheels in a classic head-to-head knockout style tournament on King’s College Road.

In my first year, this wasn’t an event my college (Innis) participated in. You could imagine my confusion when the Innis’ Orientation Week executives approached me to captain this event.

Given a budget of $500, I learned we needed to build a bed on wheels and go fast. And like that, I assembled a small team for this endeavour. The team spent a summer day planning, building, and perfecting the bed. Kudos to Home Depot, hand tools, 2x4s, strings, bolts, screws somehow came together to build this marvel.

Leading up to the event, the team practiced and practiced. We developed our starts, pacing, and race strategy. I hate to lose. I wanted to win it all. We wanted to win it all. Someone once said luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Come race day, we were feeling lucky. We didn’t end up winning it all, but we had a blast. We inspired an entire college, and found ourselves running it back the next year.