Blind Adventurer Christopher Venter had an exciting time at the Killarney International Raceway when he got to do 22 laps in 22 different modes of transport.
Cape Town, South Africa (15 February 2022) – Christopher Venter, also known as “The Blind Scooter Guy” or more recently, “The Blind Adventurer”, is stirring up excitement in the Western Cape again; this time, he did 22 laps of Killarney Race Track in 22 different vehicles.
Christopher first featured on Good Things Guy in 2017 when he was campaigning to win the #HolmanPrize. The Holman Prize is a reward gifted to three blind recipients to be used to go on grand adventures and to explore the world around them in different and exciting ways.
Christopher lost his eyesight in 2013 due to a virus that attacked his retina and left him completely blind. He was in the middle of a 20 000 mile expedition from Cape Town to Dublin, Ireland, raising money for a local children’s hospital.
Refusing to let the loss of his sight affect his life, Christopher started the blog ‘Blind Scooter Guy’. He uses the blog to discuss his thoughts about life and living as a blind adventurer. He also showcases the difficulties a blind person encounters on a daily basis, from online shopping to visiting places such as the Aquarium.
Then in 2019, Christopher became the first blind man to summit Lion’s Head as part of the Lion 500 with Kosta Papageorgiou. Chris joined Kosta Papageorgiou on his 421st summit up Lion’s Head.
His adventurous spirit has never subsided, and his most recent feat was to complete 22 laps of the Killarney International Raceway using 22 different forms of transport.
“To everyone that came out to support, thank you for your time and for being a part of my special day. I am pretty certain that I am the first person to ever navigate 22 different ways around Killarney International Raceway in a day. Without doubt the first blind person to even think something so crazy.” – Christopher Venter
Chris did some of the laps in a mobility chair, on a horse, in an ambulance, on foot, and he even drove a forklift. All these different vehicles and 22 different sight guides helped him achieve his goal.
“Chris started early in the morning by walking around the 3.267 kilometre circuit and then followed that up with laps on a paddle trike, on horseback, an electric wheelchair, a forklift, a tractor, a Vespa scooter with sidecar, an ice-cream float, an ambulance, a 1948 Jeep and a host of more modern performance vehicles, winding up with a lap in his wife Tamlyn’s car with her as his (reluctant) sighted guide and a final lap on a tandem bicycle.” – Killarney International Raceway.
You can check out his efforts below.