Kiwi Board Riders Get Ready For New Welsh Craze

Kiwi Board Riders Get Ready For New Welsh Craze

Innovative Be Unlimited Boards Set To Sweep New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand - 29 June 2004 - Just in time for the Queenstown Winter Festival, Be Unlimited handles like a surfboard, does the freestyle tricks of a skateboard and is low to the ground like a snowboard and after years of eager anticipation is set to become the latest 'must-have' item on any board rider's shopping list.

Invented, designed and developed by Welsh board rider Tim Paddock, the Be Unlimited board has already kick started an entire new board sport craze despite not previously being available to buy in New Zealand - until now.

Having negotiated a distribution deal in New Zealand as well as the UK and America, Tim Paddock is confident that his board will prove to be a great hit with Kiwi enthusiasts of all board sports such as skateboarders, surfers and snowboarders.

Explains Tim: "Originally the boards were developed for personal use. When I moved to Cardiff I missed the adrenalin rush and natural high of surfing so I decided to attempt to design a board that could surf the hills around Cardiff".

"However, when people started seeing us out test riding early prototypes and realised the sort of things you could do on the boards, literally hundreds of riders started asking for boards and eventually forced me to find a way to make them available for other riders.

Interest in Tim's new board from enthusiasts in other board sports such as surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders went through the roof after footage of the board in action was shown on the BBC television programme 'Best Inventions' in 2002. After concentrating on the development of the design and forming the company BeyoU with Penarth based Terry Brenig-Jones, Tim is now releasing the board under the brand name BE UNLIMITED.

Eight years down the line and with support from the Welsh Development Agency's Wales Innovators Network (WIN) and a SMARTCymru award Tim's revolutionary board is finally ready to hit the New Zealand market.

"It's different from any other mountain board on the market and can be used on virtually any off road terrain so is perfect for New Zealand. The majority of mountain boards can only be used for down hill racing as they have no pivot point and are simply not designed for freestyle boarding."

"The boards have a low centre of gravity for delivering good balance, do not get hung up on anything allowing you to ride over virtually any terrain and grind virtually any edge such as rocky ledges, rocks, boulders, logs and rough stone walls. The board also controls very high speeds on a short freestyle wheelbase and has a natural resistance to speed wobbles which allows riders to take on very extreme slopes and achieve extremely high speeds."

Tim, who has gained several inventors awards for his Be Unlimited board, including one at the prestigious International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, believes that Wales is currently one of the best places you could be based to conduct advanced research development and invention projects.

"The commitment of the Welsh Assembly and the WDA to promote creative development in Wales gives innovators a considerable edge over the international marketplace.

The numerous grant schemes and constant support provide a development platform that greatly enhances individuals' chances of success in a traditionally difficult but vitally important market area. Throughout the world inventors face major problems developing their ideas, but if you live in Wales and you've got a good idea, well you're just plain lucky really," he said.

Tony Guile, Programme Manager for the WDA's WIN programme is delighted that Tim's revolutionary board is now ready to hit the New Zealand market.

"Tim is typical of many commercially focused innovators that we are currently working with in Wales. Through the Wales Innovators Network we are now able to offer bespoke support to individuals and companies that are developing new products and technologies. Our teams of Technology and Innovation Counsellors are able to work with innovators, utilising the suite of support packages of the Technology and Innovation group, to support them through the 'Innovation journey' from concept through to market launch."

After years of riding Tim and his dedicated test riders Rob Court and Steve Eccles are convinced that they are only scratching the surface of the potential performance of the boards and that good riders will soon be inventing many new moves that have not previously been possible.

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