Firm’s kit proves key to desert expedition
EQUIPMENT provided by a Leicester company has played a key role in a scientific expedition to one of the planet’s youngest deserts.
Researcher Rosie Stancer led a team crossing the Aral Kum, in Kazakhstan, on foot.
It was the first full crossing of the former sea bed on foot and covered about 600km.
The desert was created by the draining of the Aral Sea, largely by the Soviet Union, which is now about 10 per cent of the size it was in the 1960s.
Rosie’s mission was to explore the environmental impact of the desert and the measures being taken by the Kazakh government to restore the inland sea.
As a result of the seabed being exposed, dust, polluted with pesticides and fertilisers, blows across the region damaging crops and human health.
Pesticides from the Aral Sea can be found in the blood of penguins in the Antarctic and dust can be found on Greenland’s glaciers.
Rosie crossed the grit, salt pans, sand and mud dragging her water and equipment on a special trolley supplied by Ross Handling, of Tuxford Road.
Jacob Daniels, from the company, said: “Over the past few years we have begun to establish close relationships with manufacturers worldwide in an effort to become their single UK supplier. One such company is WheelEEZ. They are a California company that produce unique products, primarily for use by disabled people to increase accessibility of off-road places such as beaches and nature trails.
“They have a large range of specialised beach wheelchairs, walkers and other equipment designed to allow less able people to enjoy these places, and even enable them to safely go in the water without needing to leave the chair.
“All of these products are kitted out with the specially made balloon wheels. These are incredibly hardwearing and puncture-proof, as well as being air-filled meaning they are very easy to manoeuvre.
“These wheels were exactly what Rosie Stancer and her expedition were looking for.
“The wheels were attached to specially made carts that transported the water, scientific equipment and other vital parts needed for them to complete their expedition safely.”
Rosie said: “We needed bald and bold tyres with a strong, simple wheel design.
“I cannot think of any other wheels that could take on such extreme and diverse conditions for such a prolonged period. They took on a diversity of terrains, from the loose sand to the salt pans and from the ascents to the desiccated seabed and still ran smoothly in the extreme heat.”