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From left: Adrian Saffy, Alex Harris, Erik Vermeulen (film crew), Charlie Brits (film crew driver), Grant Atkinson (film crew), Sean Disney and Tian Liebenberg. Picture: Blake Linder
Four South African adventure seekers this week plan to complete the South African 9 Summits Challenge in record time in order to raise funds for teaching children how to code.
Long-time friends Adrian Saffy, Alex Harris, Sean Disney and Tian Liebenberg aim to summit each of the highest peaks in each province in record time to raise money for Change the World South Africa whose aim is to teach children how to code.
Their journey started on Tuesday evening when they set out from the base of the Iron Crown, Limpopo’s highest peak.
Alex and Tian formulated the idea in January last year while in South America to summit Aconcagua, South America’s highest peak.
“I said to Alex it would be quite cool to do something like the 7 Summits with local favour,” Tian said during an exclusive interview with the group on Tuesday evening.
“So we decided to do something similar in South Africa and climb the highest peak in each province.”
Upon further research on the matter, Tian discovered that it had already been done, and that there had been a record set for the achievement. It was then that they decided to assemble a team who would be willing to attempt to break the record, and first on their list were veteran South African climber, Sean and veteran endurance runner Adrian.
With Tian being in the media industry working for Media24, they chose to support a programming initiative because of the challenges that the media industry faces right now.
“One of the big things in media is that people are moving away from newspapers and magazines, and everything’s going digital. So the increase of ability of people who can add value to the digital media world is something that’s important to us,” Tian said.
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Iron Crown, Limpopo’s highest peak where their journey started on Tuesday evening when they set out from the base of the Iron Crown, Limpopo’s highest peak.
Their main source of income for the charity is a page on crowdfunding website BackaBuddy, where you can donate money in support of the cause.
With regards to the challenge ahead, Adrian was well aware of the risks that lie in wait.
“There’s going to be three issues with this attempt, being; recovering from the big climbs, keeping our feet in good working condition and sleep deprivation because we’ll be operating at altitude on minimal sleep,” Adrian noted.
He also stated that they aren’t exactly in a rush to do something stupid. “You must know your limitations, we can’t just do maverick stuff anymore,” he warned.
Sean also expressed which peaks he feels are the most difficult and easiest.
All eyes in the adventure world will be peeled to see if they are able to pull off this incredible feat. If you are interested in following their journey, you can do so at sportraxs.com
For more information on the campaign, and competitions they are running, feel free to visit their Facebook page, 9 Peaks Record.
– Caxton News Service
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