It's not in anyone's kit bag. Yet.

Ask most athletes why they don't wear sunscreen and you'll get the same answer. Too greasy. Too sticky. Gets in your eyes. Ruins your grip. So you skip it. Again.

That pattern — skip it, get away with it, skip it again — is exactly what The Thermal Project exists to break. But we didn't fully understand why the problem ran so deep until we sat down with Wendy Petersen, marketing lead at Jetstream Tri, at the start of this year.

We wanted to understand triathlon. What athletes actually need. How they prepare. What belongs in their kit. What Wendy gave us was something more valuable: honesty.

The answer before the question

We were talking about what makes sunscreen fail athletes — texture, application, performance under pressure — when Louis put it directly to Wendy: what's the biggest problem?

She didn't wait for him to finish asking.

"It's greasy."— Wendy Petersen, Jetstream Tri

For a triathlete, that's not a cosmetic issue. Greasy hands affect grip on the bike. Sunscreen that slides in the water means you finish the swim with nothing left. Something that stings your eyes on the run — when you're already exhausted, goggles off, water streaming down your face — isn't a minor annoyance. It's a distraction from the race.

"It feels like your skin can't breathe. And if you're sweating, that's horrible. Some sunscreens feel like thick foundation on your face and you just want to get them off."— Wendy

One of our early testers described layering up as feeling like painting a wall. That's not an exaggeration. That's the product failing the athlete. And when the product fails the athlete, the athlete stops using it.

It should be in the kit bag

The idea we keep coming back to — and that Wendy put better than we ever have — is that sunscreen should sit alongside your electrolytes, your gels, your goggles, your watch. Not as an add-on. As a given.

"Sunscreen is usually the last thing they think about. But it should be part of their kit bag too."— Wendy

That's the repositioning. Not sunscreen as a beauty product. Not sunscreen as something you remember on the way out the door. Sunscreen as performance gear — something that protects your body the same way a helmet protects your head. If you'd wear one, why wouldn't you wear the other?

Wendy also raised something we hadn't thought enough about: convenience. She carries SPF lip balm in her bike bag. She doesn't carry sunscreen. The difference? She thinks of the lip balm as quick. She thinks of sunscreen as a process.

"If sunscreen is going to become part of people's routine, it has to be quick and easy."— Wendy

That's not a preference. That's a design brief.

The damage you don't see

The conversation turned to why athletes so consistently underestimate the risk. Partly it's that the worst consequences aren't immediate. You burn, you tan, you move on. But the damage is cumulative and invisible — until suddenly it isn't.

Wendy spoke about this from experience. A few years ago she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her face — the result of years running without proper sun protection. It was caught and removed. She was okay. But it changed how she thinks about every hour she spends outside.

"The trouble is you don't see it until it's too late. It's all that invisible damage going on with your skin. Since I had it removed, I've worn factor 50 every day."— Wendy

Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers in the world. It's also one of the top five. That gap between preventable and prevalent is exactly where we sit.

The UK is well behind Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil when it comes to sun protection culture. Public campaigns. Reminders built into daily life. Here, you're most likely to see a sun damage poster in a dermatology waiting room — by which point, it's already too late.

"People listen and think, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it needs to come from people who've actually experienced it."— Wendy

That's the kind of brand we want to build. Not a company talking at athletes. A community of people — some who've felt the consequences, some who want to make sure they never do — building something better, together.

One piece of advice

At the end of the conversation, Wendy turned the tables. She asked Louis: if you could give every athlete at the start line one piece of advice about sun protection, what would it be?

He didn't hesitate.

"Don't wait until it's too late."— Louis Morgan, The Thermal Project

The Thermal Project is suncare built for sport. We're in the early stages — testing formulas, gathering feedback, and building with athletes, not for them. If you want to be part of that, join the crew.