Southport had a lot of buzzing happening in the sky over the weekend. Luckily, we're not talking about bugs.

Aerial Evolution Association of Canada hosted its national drone competition in Southport from May 6-8. Charles Vidal, volunteer chairman of the organization committee, says the 13th National Canadian Student Unmanned Aircraft System Competition saw Ryerson University take home first place.

He goes into detail on the challenge the participants needed to overcome.

"The scenario goes as follows, there's an embassy in Ottawa that needs protection," explains Vidal. "So, a drone is utilized to protect this critical infrastructure. the student had to determine when an intruder approaches the embassy, identify the person, and mark a suspicious package."

He adds, that once they've located the package, they have to extract it using the drone, then takes it to a safe location. Vidal notes they launched the competition in August of 2021, so each team has spent thousands of hours of work on this competition.

He notes they can't wait to make it back to Southport soon.

"The competition comes back to Southport every two years," mentions Vidal. "We like coming to Southport, it's a great site, great infrastructure, and great accommodation. It's the perfect place to run student competitions."