Over The Horizon

Steamed Up for Kuala Lumpur

Instead of cycling through the temperatures for plant research, the National Climate Laboratory in Palmerston North has been proving a useful facility for sports people. Peter Shaw, a New Zealand representative lawn bowler, has been training on an exercycle in the 38^o heat and 85% humidity in one of the 24 climate rooms, preparing for international competitions in hot, humid Kuala Lumpur.

"This is supposed to make it possible for me to get off the plane in Kuala Lumpur and be acclimatised a lot more efficiently than if I hadn't done it," Shaw says.

Darryl Cochrane, who teaches exercise sport at Manawatu Polytechnic and is Shaw's personal trainer, has been tracking Shaw's heart beat and sweat rate during the half-hour morning exercise. When Shaw started, his heart was measuring 184 beats a minute, but later came down to 172.

The laboratory has 24 walk-in rooms where temperature, carbon dioxide, day length, light intensity and spectrum and plant nutrition can be precisely controlled. These rooms, unique in New Zealand, are normally used to investigate the response of plants or animals to changes in environmental variables.

The HortResearch scientist in charge of the laboratory, Dennis Greer, says "We are delighted to have someone of Shaw's calibre as a national sportsman make use of our facilities and we hope our assistance pays off for him at the Commonwealth Games."