Imperial College London and the Science Museum

Imperial College recently published an article on the Ice-Bats (follow this link to read it). Partially due to this, the Science Museum in South Kensington got wind of this excellent innovation and have booked the Ice-Bats for an exhibition running from 29 to 31 October.sciencemuseum

It feels like a huge honour to have the bikes next to some of the world’s most important engineering innovations!

Maybe see you there?

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Sport Innovation Prize 2013

Han_MaxUpdated 11 October

I didn’t win!.. Maybe next year?

The Ice-Bats have just entered a slightly different type of competition – this time it is for the Dutch National Sport Innovation Prize. I am full of optimism (as usual…) that the Ice-Bats will do well…even win???

The judging criteria include the product performance aspects, the benefits in terms of getting people to take part in sport, and the economic value. Here are the 5 reasons to vote for the Ice-Bats:

  1. They are fast, fun and a great new experience
  2. Ice-Bats are suitable for young and old alike, able and disabled
  3. They use existing infrastucture, adding a second sport to expensive 400m ice ovals
  4. Holland is known for cycling and skating: the combination is ideal export product
  5. The racing is fun to watch and onboard camaras enhance the spectator experience

If we get shortlisted, the ‘Likes’ will count so get ready to be spammed! (You can always practice by ‘liking’ this post!).

It’s all in Dutch but you can check out these links to the website and entry forms:

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What’s in store for 2013/14 season?

So, that’s a wrap for the 2012/13 season. We’ve seen big technical developments, the fastest lap time reduced from 41s to 36s, loads of people have tried IceTrack cycling for the first time (both on 400m ice ovals and outdoors on the frozen lakes) and some have even returned to try it again!

And what’s in store for next season?

  • New (commercial) concepts to be tried out in Assen, NL
  • Special attention for disabled sportsmen and a hand powered Ice-Bat
  • Dutch National Championship Series
  • Tour of Germany
  • “Operation Sochi”

We always like to hear from you (info@icebatracing.com) with your requests, suggestions, support, event ideas, offers of help or sponsorship, retail and manufacturing opportunities, etc. Just send a short mail and we’ll take it from there.

Thanks, Steve

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IceTrack Open Championships provisional results

DSCF0028[1]Click on link to download results:
ICE-BAT_24.3.13

On Sunday evening 26 participants and a number of parents and supporters gathered in the cafe at the Kardinge ice oval in Groningen for the 2013 IceTrack Open Championships.

During the first session everyone did a few practice laps and then attempted a flying lap. The Ice-Bats are equiped with timing transponders so race control could read out the times and draw up the Qualifying Times list. In the second session all 4 Ice-Bats lined up in heats next to each other (qualifyers 1 – 4, 5 – 8, etc) for the medals race off.

Defending champion, Alwin, won the last heat but Peter blitzed round in the decider to knock 3 seconds off Alwin’s time and take the championship. There were some great performances all through the field but Laura’s and Henriette’s efforts were particulary good!

Not everything went completely smoothly: Ice-Bats Red and Yellow are now 3 seasons old and they work well, however Green and Blue are new this year and they were not cornering as well which more than offset the advantage of being able to change gear. Red is the official testbed for new ideas and last week I did a 36.2s lap. I ‘de-tuned’ Red to make it fairer but it still won more races than the others. My best lap in Kardinge was 41.5s.

The other reason to de-tune Red was to make the racing safer and I was delighted to finish the Champs. with close racing and no accidents. Most people are completely new to IceTrack cycling: next year we will all move up the evolution ladder and will be using the tuned-up versions! In 5 years time the aim is to be very close to the skaters (ie sub 30s laps).

And to finish off, a big thanks to everyone who has helped and taken part: you are pioneers. €130 goes to the Nierstichting and the 2022 Olympic dream is very much alive.

Steve & the team

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Last week of ice…

Ice-Bats at HoornThe last week of (indoor!) ice is this season upon us.

Sunday 17 March the Ice-Bats will be in Hoorn. program: 16.00 – 17.00 demonstrations; 18.00 – 19.00 try an Ice-Bat for yourself.

Sunday 24 March the Open Championships will be held in Groningen. From 18.00 to about 20.30. Sign up for one of the last few available places here.

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