GEORGE NEWS - Competing against able-bodied athletes is something that does not faze Heinz Mueller in the least. This courageous sportsman, whose lower left leg was amputated after a motorbike accident 29 years ago, has set his sights on participating in the gruelling Two Oceans (56km) next year. After that, his goal is to participate in the 86 km Comrades Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on 3 June 2012.

Heinz began his running career in 2007, when he acquired his first running prosthesis. It is a blade suitable for running long distances.

He says a whole new world opened up. All the strenuous activities which seemed out of reach were suddenly do-able.
Since then he has been building up his running times, but suffered a serious setback in 2008, when he broke his hip during a cycling exercise at the Garden Route Dam. His recovery was slow and painful, but Heinz is now enjoying short fun runs like the recent 10km Garden Route Mall run where he set a good time (51 minutes), and recently the Two Oceans half-marathon. He did well by completing the 21,5km in 3960th position in a time of 2:9:39.

The rows of medals in his office attest to his competitive spirit and his quest for fitness. He works out, cycles and does spinning classes twice a week.

But there is more to Heinz. For years he has undertaken hospital visits to people who have lost a limb to give encouragement. He has lots of practical advice as he now owns a prosthesis company, High Performance Limbs and acts as distributor for components.

He runs with the Nitro Running Blade, which took some getting used to.

At present, disabled athletes are barely acknowledged for their participation in running events. Heinz wants to change this by lobbying for a separate category for disabled athletes as there is a growing number of them.

Many of the road races are so over-crowded that there is a great deal of bundling together at the start of the race. "A little consideration towards disabled athletes would therefore be great, especially if they could run together. At the moment we are hardly aware of each other," said Heinz. He hopes to host a regular blog and hold workshops for disabled athletes.
Oscar Pistorius is certainly an inspiration to all athletes, but so are Heinz’s efforts on behalf of others with challenges.

ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD REPORTER.