Blind cyclist to compete at Cape Epic
Adventurer Hein Wagner has announced that next March he will become the first blind man to race the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race. The motivational speaker, who has been blind from birth, has made a career of taking on challenges
that a blind person would traditionally be considered unfit for. When four-time Cape Epic competitor Gerrie Olivier met Wagner at the 2010 Physical Asset Management Thought Leadership Conference, he found that they shared a passion for adventure and invited
Wagner to be his partner at the race.
"I'm a keen cyclist but due to my work commitments, I don't ride to win but rather to enjoy it and keep fit," said Olivier. "This will be a brand new challenge for me, something that I thrive on, and it's heartwarming that we'll be doing it for a good cause,
raising funds in the process."
The pair will race as Team Pragma Beyond Vision on a tandem mountain bike with the simple goal of comfortably completing each day. Cannondale has adapted a tandem bike specific to their purpose and the pair participated in the 100km
Karoo to Coast in preparation. As the first-ever blind man in the race, Wagner will be setting another landmark on his list of adventures.
"I've taken on many daring adventures such as mountain climbing, sailing from Cape Town to Rio, running several marathons and becoming the fastest blind driver in the world, but this will definitely be the most physically challenging
event I've take on to date,” said Wagner, “707km over eight days will not be easy, especially not over the kind of terrain that even sighted cyclists struggle with."
Their one-off team is being funded by Wagner’s own beneficiary VisionTrust, which has the established goal “to make the world a more accessible place for persons living with disabilities.”
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