Update
GEORGE NEWS - The future of next year's 16th Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge (OCC) is secure. This announcement was made by Senzeni Ndbele, Acsa Corporate Affairs manager for regional airports, at a press conference at the George airport on Friday 25 August.
"George Airport will increase its sponsorship for the OCC, its flagship social responsibility programme, in 2018.
"Last year the sponsorship figure was R750 000. We haven't finalised the amount for 2018 yet."
Oudtshoorn's Gerrit Hendricks, a wheelchair athlete who has been sponsored by the George Airport for the past 6 years, received his new R74 000 lightweight aluminium racing chair on this occasion.
George airport manager Brenda Vorster told Hendricks, "Now you have the chair, you must challenge your friend Ernst van Dyk and win next year's OCC."
"I will certainly do my best. Ernst has been my inspiration for many years and he assisted in the design of the chair.
"He has improved the seating which now enables me to reach more of the pushing ring, which determines your speed. The chair came with a heart monitor, which helps me to do the optimal training to get fitter.
"Currently I am training one and a half hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. My immediate aim is to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in April in Australia," said Hendricks.
Adele Nkomo (left) and Senzeni Ndebele (Acsa spokes-persons),
Gerrit Hendricks and Brenda Vorster, (George airport manager) discuss
the advantages of Hendricks's new racing wheelchair.
Photo: Myron Rabinowitz
Hendricks also uses his skills to encourage young talent to become more competitive and hopefully have the opportunity to travel the world to different races.
"My old chair is going to a 16-year-old whom I have taken under my wing, but he doesn't yet know that he is getting it.
"My association with the George airport has been a dream come true. After the OCC in 2012, I asked Brenda Vorster for an Acsa T-shirt. She stopped and spoke to me. A year later I was given my first racing wheelchair and after training for only two weeks I won the T-54 category in 2013," said Hendricks.
He said the new route, which was used for the first time this year, is definitely to his advantage. "The long incline up York Street which we now do four times, puts the lighter athletes at an advantage."
Read a previous article: OCC secure for 2018
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