Despite blistering heat French athlete Denis Lemeunier won gold for the second year running at the 2010 Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge in George at the weekend.

Lemeunier crossed the finishing line of the 42,2km marathon course in a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes and 39 seconds, shattering his record set last year by 10 minutes.

He said he was “very pleased”. Both years had been tough for him due to extreme weather conditions.

South African Paralympic gold medallist and Boston Marathon winner Ernst van Dyk, a former five-time winner of the Outeniqua Challenge, placed second on Saturday in 1:41.18, and another South African, Eugene Carlson, was third.

First woman and first-time Outeniqua winner was England’s Nikki Emerson in 2:35.22 with Margret Bangajena, of Zimbabwe, second in 3:37.28.

The winner of the 42,2km handcycle category was Ricco Mornau, of Canada, in 1:12.58, with South African Stuart Mccreadie second in 1:14.22. Kenny Herriot, of Scotland, came third with a time of 1:21.32.

George athlete Gerrit Hendricks won the 21,1km half- marathon in 58 minutes. The first woman home was Zimbabwean athlete Dorcas Hwatira in 2:12.41.

Van Dyk, elected on to the Cycling SA board last week, said he was preparing for the 2012 Paralympics in London and would be more committed to winning the Outeniqua race again in 2011.

“This is part of my pre-season training and I enjoyed it. It was a lovely race.”

Saturday’s heat and humidity was in stark contrast to 2009, when torrential rain almost ruined the event.

A record 655 competitors took part in the event, which serves as a qualifier for the Paralympics and is South Africa’s only international wheelchair road race.

In addition to the full and half- marathon events, there were also 10km and 7km fun races with participants aged between 18 months and 89 years.

Seven Zimbabwe athletes made the tortuous three-day journey by bus from Harare to take part. The team was delayed at the Beit Bridge border post and arrived in George with only hours to spare.

“We were very tired and didn’t have time to practise. In Zimbabwe we can’t buy spares for our bikes, so we were not well prepared for the race,” Hwatira said.

Organiser Esther Watson said this year’s event was nearly scuppered when Parmalat withdrew its R240000 sponsorship late last year. She said she was overwhelmed by the response from private individuals and businesses who saved the day.

“I got the committee of 13 girls together. We had a good cry and a prayer and then started begging for money. We ended up with people sponsoring from R50 to R20000, and got a donation from as far as Mauritius,” Watson said.

Over 80% of the participants are from disadvantaged communities and rely on sponsorship.

Source: The Herald Online

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