Just 8 weeks after the Tour de France departed from Yorkshire, triathletes will gather in Skipton, North Yorkshire, in search of glory at the Skipton Late Summer Tri on Sunday 31 August.
Among the local businesses showing their support and cheering on competitors will be Science Fitness, a new division of Principle Healthcare, a leading producer of vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements, which has its international headquarters at Airedale Business Centre in Skipton.
The new Science Fitness brand and website was launched at the London Triathlon earlier this month, together with ‘a revolutionary endurance and recovery powdered drink mix called GlycoSource.’
Science Fitness developed GlycoSource in partnership with leading sport scientists at the Carnegie Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University. The institute is world-renowned for its expertise in sports nutrition, and has provided first class training and performance analysis facilities to many of the UK’s most successful triathletes, including Yorkshire born brothers and Olympic medallists Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee.
To share the benefits of this unique new formula, Science Fitness will be providing free samples of GlycoSource to competitors at the Skipton Late Summer Tri, and will be looking to recruit triathletes and other local endurance athletes to join their family as brand ambassadors.
Science Fitness has also teamed up with The Triathlon Coach, three tims winner of the 220 Triathlon ‘Coach of the Year Award’ and the current coaches to the Brownlee brothers, to offer visitors the chance to win a bespoke triathlon/multisport coaching plan.
“GlycoSource is different to anything else on the market because its formula has not only been developed by scientific research, but it is the only product of its kind proven with clinical trials involving elite and well trained endurance athletes,” explained Fiona Lazenby, Managing Director of Principle Healthcare, the company behind the new Science Fitness brand.
GlycoSource’s unique formula consists of two types of carbohydrates, whey protein and amino acids. It is billed as the first and only commercially available nutritional supplement that has been clinically proven to increase glycogen levels in both the muscles and the liver – an internal process that is vital to performance and especially to recovery after exhaustive exercise.
Glycogen is the body’s most important short term and immediately accessible energy reserve. It is how carbohydrate is stored in the liver and muscles and provides vital fuel during exercise. However, its quantity is limited. As athletes train or compete they naturally deplete their reserves of glycogen. When it is almost used up it is no longer possible to perform at the same level and athletes risk hitting the dreaded ‘wall’.
Science Fitness notes that ‘many other leading energy drinks and bars that claim to top up glycogen levels are based on the generic principle of ingesting carbohydrate at regular intervals, or carb-loading, and may lack clinical evidence of their efficacy. It has also been proven that there is a limit to the amount of assistance carbohydrate alone can provide.’
Impressively, the clinical trials conducted by scientists at Leeds Metropolitan University showed that GlycoSource replenishes glycogen 30-40% faster than pure carbohydrate formulations. For athletes who frequently train and compete, building up glycogen levels to the optimum level quickly offers a huge competitive advantage, allowing them to be at their best with minimum downtime.
‘Athletes who regularly use GlycoSource can also expect to experience a 35% increase in endurance capacity.’
Significantly, the synergistic combination of ingredients allows Glycosource to deliver this performance gain using 44% less carbohydrate. This is a huge benefit for athletes competing in triathlons and other endurance events, offering them the ability to maintain their body’s energy reserves, whilst keeping their carbohydrate intake at the optimal level.
Roderick King, Carnegie Professor of Sport and Exercise Biochemistry at Leeds Metropolitan University, led the research and clinical trials for GlycoSource. He explained, “Typically, the body cannot absorb and utilise more than 50-70g of carbohydrate per hour. If athletes take in more than this amount the excess sits in the GI tract rather than absorbing into the bloodstream, which can cause uncomfortable bloating and stitches during performance.”
Principle Healthcare’s Fiona Lazenby, concluded, “It has been an exciting and fascinating development utilising experts at Leeds Metropolitan University, and after many years in the making, we are delighted to bring these important discoveries to market with our game-changing product and we’re looking forward to sharing them with those visiting the area for the Skipton Late Summer Tri.”
GlycoSource powdered drink mix is the first product in the new Science Fitness range and is available in Mandarin Zest, Very Berry and Caribbean Crush flavours, in both 750g pouches and handy 25g single-serve sachets.
