Europe Triathlon

The ETU Innovation award.

From the LEAP team, winners of the ETU innovation award:

“Back in 2019 we won the Europe Triathlon Innovation award which gave us the chance to start building the idea we had presented. From there on it was a steep learning curve of constant iterations between prototyping and testing with athletes from all across Europe. Covid slowed down the work in the past two years making it harder for us to understand how our product was performing in real world scenarios.

Since the start of this year we have been back working at full speed to get the Leap T1 ready for full scale manufacture. We’ve learnt that the process from idea to reality is a long one, and full of obstacles. In many cases we thought that the prototype we had would be the final one, but after putting it under rigorous testing we realized it still needed more work.

We’re currently finalizing some details regarding the business side (mainly legal aspects) of the project and performing some final testing. We really can’t wait to reveal to everyone what these past years of hard work have yielded. It will truly be the best solution to support cycling shoes in the first transition of triathlon races, a balanced combination of performance and sustainability. If successful it should save the environment from thousands of kilograms of elastic bands getting used for a single time purpose across the world (these are made of vulcanized rubber which takes thousands of years to decompose).

Hope to see all of you at races around Europe and make sure to follow us to know when the product will be released (@leap_tri on Instagram for now)!

To anyone who has an idea that could innovate in the sport of triathlon make sure to apply to the 2022 Europe Triathlon Innovation awards, it will truly be the initial step which starts the domino effect of making your idea turn into reality. There is literally no downside to applying, you get financial and organizational support with no strings attached!”

As per any new product innovation the Leap team are going through the stages of development and will be releasing a product in the near future (the details of what is being released can’t be shared yet due to potential patents pending). 

To apply:

• The idea presented must be an innovation in triathlon in any way. It can be for example a product, a service or a new event format.
• The innovation must not be more than three years old as of the judges’ panel meeting.
• The innovations must not have been awarded in another competition.
• Try to give as much information on the project as you have. For example, project plan, design, people who have been consulted etc.
• The applications can be sent to the ETU headquarters via etu_hq@etu.triathlon.org.

All applications will be treated confidential.

The application should contain the following:

• Clarification of the innovation, at least showing what it is, how it works, why it’s innovative etc. You can use written documentation, drawings, video, software, prototype or any other way you want to show your idea.
• License of the applicant proofing membership of the national federation.
• Proof of the age of the applicant (copy of passport or ID-card).
• Further supporting materials like designs, project plan etc.