Sporting cousins are moving fast

Apr 29 2008 Evening Gazette

SPORTING web design company 13 Strides, set up by two Teesside cousins has crowned a whirlwind 12 months by moving into one of the specialist business units in the University of Teesside’s Institute of Digital Innovation (IDI) Phoenix Building.

The digital media company launched by Anthony Borsumato and Kevin Allinson, two University of Teesside graduates, doubled in size during 2007 after winning a number of major contracts. The biggest was to design all the digital and print work for former Olympic distance runner Brendan Foster’s Nova International, the company behind the Great North Run .

It has also been commissioned to build a new interactive web site for the Sports Council, Wales.

The duo set up 13 Strides after Mr Borsumato was forced to drop out of the GB Athletics squad following an injury in the 2003 World Championships in Paris. They took the name from the number of strides required between each hurdle in athletics.

The company spent two years in the university graduates incubator business units before moving to the IDI.

Dr Jim TerKeurst, director of the Institute of Digital Technology, said 13 Strikes exemplified “the best of digital entrepreneurship in the Tees Valley”.

Mr Allinson said: “The University is highly regarded for its games and animation courses and we’re very happy to be playing our part in creating a successful digital business cluster here in Middlesbrough.”