For Derek 韦德 and Katie Brown, 巴哈SAE was the vehicle for their romance.
The two met a few years ago - June 9, 2019, to be exact - during a competition in Rochester, 纽约. 韦德, then captain of ODU's Baja team, and Brown, then captain of 维吉尼亚州 Tech's Baja team, talked back and forth all that weekend.
The other ODU team members knew something was up when 韦德 seemed more interested in Brown's texts than with communications from his own team about the competition. They, of course, gave him a hard time about it.
韦德 and Brown spent that summer getting to know each other through texts and phone calls. 韦德 was living at home in Augusta County, 维吉尼亚州, and Brown had moved to Richmond following her graduation.
Their first date, on August 9, was to a Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game.
They continued to date long distance. 韦德 earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in engineering management while Kathryn worked as an engineer.
Today, they are both busy engineers. 韦德 is a project manager at a construction company in Harrisonburg, 维吉尼亚州, and Brown is a production manager for a beverage plant in Mount Crawford, 维吉尼亚州.
Now, after three and a half years of dating, they have one more big date coming up; an April wedding.