OCC24 is here!

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GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS AND VIDEO - There is an air of excitement at the Carpe Diem sport ground this morning, Saturday 24 February where athletes are preparing to line up at the start of the 20th Outeniqua Chair Challenge (OCC).

Top performers like 2020 Paralympics gold medallist Pieter du Preez and Ghanaian marathon star Botsyo Nkegbe are among the participants.

Athletes have travelled from all over South Africa and elsewhere on the continent for the event, the first and only one exclusively for the disabled in South Africa.

They are racing in wheelchairs, adapted bicycles, hand cycles, basketball chairs and ordinary wheelchairs.

The circle route starts and finishes at Carpe Diem and wil lead participants through York and Courtenay Street and Knysna Road.

Du Preez and Nkegbe are taking part in the marathon category, and former winners in the senior male quadriplegic marathon category Eugene Steyn and Stuart McCreadie will again be out on the tar to show their mettle.

Last year’s 21km winner, Georgian Shaun Butler, also an international medal winning body builder, and a former female winner in the OCC, Justine Asher, are also among the participants.

TV and radio celebrity Martelize Brink has returned and will be among the competitors in the 10 km.

In the 5 km Kaskarre caregory, 28 business teams will be fighting it out. This race starts at 10:00, followed by the very popular 5 km fun ride at 10:15 where volunteers push participants in their wheelchairs.