DCU scientists get the inside track on sporting performance and recovery
24 September 2009

Science Foundation Ireland-supported researchers based at DCU, UCD and NUI Maynooth used the 2009 inaugural Race Around Ireland cycle challenge to monitor and assess the effect of strenuous activity on the human body via 'Sensor Web' technology.

The Race Around Ireland cycle race - a five-day, 1,300km ultra-endurance test - started in Navan at 8pm on Wednesday September 16.

The An Post/Connaught team, consisting of four cyclists (Padráig Marrey, Noel Brady, Mick Brady and Daire Mooney) are kitted out with a range of specialised sensors that will monitor a range of physiological variables such as heart rate, external temperature and respiration rate over the estimated 96-hour time trial relay.

Several different studies are being undertaken in an effort to gain unprecedented insight into the stresses that the human body subjects itself to during an event of this nature.

CLARITY deputy director Alan Smeaton says: "This gives us a great chance to take the sensors we've developed in our labs, out into the 'wild' and have them used under really tough, ultra-endurance circumstances. We'll gain important insights into how the human body performs under these kinds of stresses."