Blind adventurer and motivational speaker Hein Wagner and his riding partner Alwyn de Kock will take on the Cape Argus Pick \u2018n Pay Cycle Tour in Cape Town this coming Sunday, 10 March in the blind category.<\/p>\n
Says Wagner, who has been completely blind from birth: \u201cAlwyn and I have been very busy training in preparation for this year\u2019s Ironman in April and believe we\u2019re ready for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. Our aim is to do it under 3 hours and of course we\u2019d like to win the Frank van der Velde Cup for the first blind rider to cross the finish line. I won the cup in 2011 with Pragma\u2019s Gerrie Olivier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagner has taken on many daring adventures including the Absa Cape Epic, sailing from Cape Town to Rio and running marathons. He also holds the World Land Speed record for a blind driver. \u201cI\u2019ve completed the Cape Argus Cycle Tour twice before and wasn\u2019t planning on doing it again this year. I was going to do the Antarctica Marathon on Thursday (7 March), but the trip was cancelled due to the ship hitting an iceberg. When Alwyn, who had an entry, heard that I\u2019ll be in Cape Town, he invited me to cycle the Argus with him. I immediately made contact with the Cape Town Cycle tour trust and the Race office manager Tish Lambert granted me a special substitution for Sunday\u2019s race. Tish concluded that in all her years as race office manager she has never heard such an interesting reason for not entering on time. It\u2019s all very exciting and I look forward to the race!\u201d<\/p>\n