AS is the case with many things in life, running a business can be likened to taking on a marathon and not a sprint.

That was certainly the case for the founders of Iceni Cycles, Richard Grigsby, Dennis Mapp, Adam Read and David Johnson, who struggled to make much headway after forming their tricycle business in 2015.

“It was a slow and steady start. We have been building up for three years but now we are on the up,” said sales and marketing manager Clare Emery.

“The design took a while. We consulted with many companies to get something that they wanted. We spent time doing the welding, designing, electric wiring and manufacturing of the trikes and then eventually we began to gain momentum.

That momentum came for the business, stationed at Dunkirk Business Park, Frome Road, Southwick, last March when it launched its trikes at the European Cycle Logistics Federation Conference in Vienna.

The business, with a workforce of just eight, showed off their family, cargo and adventure trikes, where two dozen have been sold for between £4,000-6,800, and since then, the offers have been flying in.

“We are getting into last-mile sustainable transport solutions for deliveries and that those bikes are being used in Brighton, Norwich, Leeds, London and Exeter so far,” she said.

“Iceni got shortlisted for Innovation of the year for a newcomer at the BikeBiz Awards so it is looking very rosy.

“We are in talks with a recycling company in Romania and in New Zealand were are in negotiations about using our trikes in airports - it is all very exciting.”

The engineering and design team, which has more than 20 years of experience in the cycle, trike and motorbike industry, uses aircraft steel to build the trikes at its Southwick base.

“A cargo box with a 1.5m cubed capacity, and a payload of 250kg makes the Iceni Cargo Trike a perfect solution for all inner-city deliveries,” she added.

“Research has shown that one cargo bike is able to average 12 parcel drops per hour against an average of eight for a van, proving that the Iceni Cargo Trike really is the only way to go.”