Push for victory

Wheelchair athletes in the ParalymicsGB team may show improved performance over previous tournaments, thanks to a new training technology.

Systems and engineering technology consultant Frazer-Nash worked with UK Sport and Angle Consulting to develop an instrumented wheel for measuring the power an athlete exerts when he or she pushes the wheels on their racing wheelchair.

Named the Powerwheel, the instrument measures the driving force put into the push rim by the athlete. Strain gauges on the wheel measure the force and pressure, and the information is transmitted wirelessly to a computer so that it can be interpreted and displayed. The technology enables coaches to analyse an athlete’s performance in real-time.

According to Alasdair Wylie, project manager at Frazer-Nash, previous training monitoring technologies involved storing all the performance information on the wheelchair itself.

‘All the information was stored in a heavy data logging box on the wheel, which was spinning around so you couldn’t actually find out how the session went until you plugged it in,’ he said.