NIKE Spike Pad For Ossur Foot Flex Cheetah Blades, release by NIke Media Relations, note by Larry Eder

The folks at Nike sent us this information on the special Nike spike pad that goes on the Ossur Foot Flex Cheetah Blades, used by Oscar Pistorius. Oscar has rewritten what the world considers the limitations of human endeavor and human spirt. He inspires many athletes and many sports fans. 

A thoughtful young man, who was brought up to not see limitations, but opportunities, Oscar Pistorius is fascinating to observe while training and racing. 

The Nike Spike Pad is comprised of a spike plate and midsole pad.

Spike Plate

• Designed specifically to work with the Ossur Cheetah Blades.
• Draws from Nike’s experience developing spike plate technology for traditional T&F spikes, but the plate shape and spike receptacle placement is unique.
• The Spike Plate is made of carbon fiber with a TPU coating.
• Spike receptacle placement is designed to meet the unique stability and traction needs of amputee sprinters.   
• 11 spike receptacles total.
• Swoosh on outside lateral side of the pad
• Swoosh on the bottom of the spike plate

Midsole Pad

• 2 pieces of foam with two different densities.
• Softer density in the back where the athlete lands during their stride
• Harder density in the front where the athlete takes off
• Midsole pad shape is designed to accommodate the shape of the blade.

Oscar has been wearing the Nike Spike Pad since February 2012.  Before the Spike Pad, Oscar had to buy regular track spikes, remove the spike plate outsole and glue or tape it to his blades.

The process took an average of 2 hours to remove and replace his spikes for each race.

With the new Spike Pad, the process of adhering the pad to the blade takes only 30 minutes.

Design Background

Kitchen Innovation Director Tobie Hatfield developed the Spike Pad over the course of several months.  By reviewing high-speed video of Oscar running on a treadmill to see the impact point of his blades during each stride, Hatfield then determined where to place the spike receptacles.

The shape of the Spike Pad follows the shape of the blade and appropriately places the spike receptacles in the right positions to provide traction and stability though the race.  

The Spike Pad is designed to adhere directly to blade without any other fixture materials (glue, tape, etc.), reducing weight, while maintaining strength and stability.

Other athletes wearing the Nike Spike Pad

Jerome Singleton, USA