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High performance sports agency UK Sport is now working with P2i to bring its liquid repellent nano-coating technology to cycling and sailing.
Equipment and accessories developed through UK Sport’s Research and Innovation programme will benefit from the tech, which consists of a liquid repellent coating that dramatically reduces the surface energy of a product, so that when liquids come into contact with it, they form beads and runoff.
As the nano-coating repells uptake of liquids, it ensures equipment and accessories don’t gain extra weight during competition and remain lightweight and dry.
”Our job is to ensure our athletes make it to the start line among the best prepared and most feared in the world," said UK Sport head of research and innovation Scott Drawer. "Britain has a wealth of expertise in science, engineering and technology and by creating novel partnerships with world leading companies like P2i, we can tap into amuch wider network of skills and abilities from other industries to ensure we are leaving no stone unturned in our pursuit of sporting excellence.”
Stephen Coulson, P2i CTO, added: “P2i has been identified by UK Sport to bring winning advantage to the sports men and women of this country by applying our award-winning nano-coating technology to protect cycling and sailing equipment and accessories developed through UK Sports’s Research and Innovation programme. For example, our technology applied to the footwear of outdoor cyclists means that even in the harshest of conditions, they will remain lightweight and dry. In a year when sportsmanship is at the forefront of our nation’s minds, we are delighted to be able to present our cutting edge process into the sporting world to improve the chances of success.”
Chris Boardman, head of R&D at British Cycling, said: “British Cycling has recognised for some time that to succeed at the highest level in modern sport, you need to do more than just be fit and healthy. Every detail, every nut and bolt has to be scrutinised and perfected.
“In our R&D programme we have learned that the big changes nearly always come from outside the sport, new people bringing new thinking and ideas. This was very much the case with P2i who are helping us bring a cutting edge process into the sporting world to enhance our chances of winning.”
Peter Bentley, Technical Projects Manager for RYA Skandia Team GBR, said: “The P2i process allows us to virtually eliminate water absorption in some of our technical equipment. This reduces all-up weight by a few grams, which in turn equates to seconds saved around the race course; all part of our leave-no-stone-unturned strategy."
Set up in 1997, UK Sport is responsible for investing around £100 million of public funds each year – from the National Lottery and the Government – in high performance sport. This money is now supplemented by the income from a private sponsorship scheme ‘Team 2012’. It is accountable to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and is dedicated to the ‘top end’ of sport, with no direct involvement in community or school sport.
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