Month: April 2014

Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) & Global Innovation Design (GID) Exhibition

Exhibition reception at Rio Tinto’s offices in Paddington

 

Last week saw the RTSIC projects from the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) and Global Innovation Design (GID) joint masters courses exhibited at the Rio Tinto offices in Paddington. a number of projects were on display for the event which lasted from Wednesday 23rd April until Tuesday 29th April. The projects were originally shown at an exhibition at Imperial College back in February and a selection of them will also be on show as part of the Imperial Festival on the 9th and 10th of May.

Speakers at the exhibition included Mr Greg Lilleyman (Group executive of Technology & Innovation at Rio Tinto), Prof. Peter Childs (Professorial Lead in Engineering Design at Imperial College London) and Talan Skeels-Piggins (a former Winter Paralympian who has advised students during the athlete workshops).

Talan Skeels-Piggins discussing the IDE & GID projects with representatives from Rio Tinto

 

 

 

 

Para-cycling Golds and the London Marathon

It has been an action packed weekend for disability sports in general with the conclusion of the para-cycling world championships in Mexico and the London Marathon taking place.

Team GB came away from the World Championships with a tally of 7 Gold medals, 1 Silver and 2 Bronzes and 2 new world records. All this was achieved while a sickness bug worked its way through the team forcing the withdrawal of Jody Cundy, Gold medalist in the C4 kilo and also Jon-Allan Butterworth, Silver medalist in the C5 kilo. There was however delight for Sophie Thornhill and Rachel James who came away with 2 Gold medals in their first ever major championships.

Jody Cundy races towards a Gold Medal (image: Christian Palma/PA Wire/Press Association Images)

On Sunday there was a nail biting finish to the London Marathon Wheelchair race as David Weir was denied a 7th London Marathon victory by the Marcel Hug, winner of last weekend’s Paris Marathon. In the ladies wheelchair race there was a dominant performance by Tatyana McFadden, setting a new course record of 1:45.11 in her title defence. Fresh from the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, McFadden was confident of her fitness but unsure of her chair technique before the event, however she finished a minute and a half clear of second place Manuela Schar.

 

World Para-Cycling Championships Underway

The World Para-Cycling Championships are underway in Mexico and Sarah Storey has won Team GB’s first medal, getting Bronze in the C5 500m time trial.  Storey only returned to the sport in December following the birth of her daughter Louisa last June. As ever there are high hopes for the Team GB cyclists, an 11 strong team which features tandem cycling pairing of Sophie Thornhill and pilot Rachel James making their major international debut and Jody Cundy who will be hoping to put behind him the false start nightmare he had in London 2012.

We are also looking forward to see Jon-Allan Butterworth perform in Mexico. Jon-Allan has been working with the RTSIC in the development of a handlebar attachment to help him achieve a powerful standing start. Work continues on this project and we hope to see it in use for future events such as Rio 2016.