Amputee athletes in the medals at Dutch Open

Three members of Team Icexpress competed as part of the South African squad at the Open Dutch Athletics Championships for Disabled Athletes hosted in Emmen, The Netherlands, this past weekend. True to their reputation for finishing in the medals, track and field athletes Arnu Fourie, David Roos, and Jean Joubert took two Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze between them during the two-day competition that took place in cold, wet conditions on 29 & 30 May.

Open Dutch Champion, Arnu Fourie, won the T44 100m final with a time of 11.38 seconds. Fourie also took Gold in the 200m event, setting a new Africa Record with his time of 23.48 seconds. Team-mate David Roos took Bronze with a distance of 6.38m in the F46 Long Jump with local paralympic star, Hilton Langenhoven, taking first place and Silver going to Marcus Rehm from Germany. Field athlete Jean Joubert struggled to perform at his best in the Shot put event but was back on form to take Bronze in the F44 Discus final. With a throw of 41.55m in the F44 Javelin final, Joubert won the Silver and set a new personal best by smashing  his previous SA Record (37.09m) set at the 2010 Nedbank National Championships in March.

Other achievements by the South Africans include Gold in both the 100m and 200m events in their respective classes for both Fanie van der Merwe and Jonathan Ntutu, a first place win for Chanelle van Zyl in the Women’s Discus event as well as Silver in the Shot put. Ilse Hayes took Gold in the Long jump and Ntombbizanele Situ took Gold in the F54-57 Wheelchair Javelin event. Bronze in the F35/36 Shot put, and Gold in the F35/36 Discus went to Duane Strydom while Nicholas Newman took the Silver in his class in the Men’s Javelin.

The Dutch Open forms part of the European series and the athletes are travelling to Stadskanaal next to compete in the IWAS European Open Athletics Championships from 2-6 June. This will be followed by another two meetings in Germany – (the International Sports Meeting in Leverkusen on 9 June, and the International German Open in Bottrop from 11-13 June) - before returning home.