It may have started life in the back of a converted shipping container in far northern Queensland, but this week the Bionic Runner proved a hit on a global scale, with funders from Asia, the US and Europe, not-to-mention Australia, all jumping on board to fund this unique fitness trainer through global crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter.
“We’ve spent four years designing and perfecting the Bionic Runner, so to see it so instantly resonate with the running community on a global scale is a dream come true,” says Steve Cranitch, co-founder of Run4, the Australian start-up company behind the Bionic Runner.
Originally conceived as a means of helping prevent injuries in runners – whilst also assisting those with running injuries get back into their training and maintain their fitness without causing further damage – the Bionic Runner took four years to develop and is the world’s only non-impact fitness trainer to mimic the natural gait and timing of running.
Unlike a mobile elliptical trainer such as the ElliptiGO, the Bionic Runner has a unique patent-pending 60% swing and 40% stance phase timing, which guides the foot along the path of a mid-foot running gait. The result? You not only look and feel as if you’re running, you engage the same muscles as you would pounding the pavement, too, separating the Bionic Runner from any cross trainer on the market.
Co-founder and CTO of Run4, Dr. Henry Thomas stated,“We discovered that running was a four stage process of leap, recovery, impact and drive. The existing cross trainers were all elliptical in nature or step machines. None captured the motion a runner’s leg makes when they move.”
There’s no doubt the Bionic Runner is filling a gaping hole in the running industry, as runners from around the world have sent messages of support since the Runner went on sale via Kickstarter on December 1. Whilst sports shoes have attempted – and claimed – to alleviate the rate of running injuries for the past 40 years, there has been little actual change in the statistics.
Indeed, whilst an estimated 60 million people around the world are thought to enjoy running, a massive 70 per cent will go on to suffer a running related injury each year. Of course, for those training for a race, the risk of injury heightens with the additional number of miles put in towards the end of training.
Cranitch, who has witnessed a number of his friends abandon running altogether and instead turn to cycling, stated,“The injury rates incurred by runners always struck us as alarming. For people who love running, cycling isn’t really an adequate alternative, so we set out to find a way for runners to improve their training and remove the risk of injury.”
Thanks to its non-impact closed kinetic chain, with the Bionic Runner Steve and Henry have successfully managed to eliminate the risk of injury from impact fatigue and joint over extension – the two most common causes of joint, tendon and muscle-related strain injuries.
“With the Bionic Runner, you can push yourself harder in training than you normally would running – increasing fitness, strength and endurance so that, on race day, you’re not only fit, but faster,” Cranitch added.
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