The tour started with the 42km OCC race in the streets of George with over 500 participants in total. Of these, just 8 brave handcyclists had registered for the tour of a lifetime see the daily reports here below.

Rumour has it that when the first handcyclist (Vicente Arzo) came into the finish area, there was some doubt that he had turned at the furthest point at Garden Route Mall as his time was so fast. Officials checked with the marshals at the turning point and Vicente Arzo from Spain was declared the winner and set a new course record of 1:15:50 with an average speed of 33.39kph! Something for the local guys to aim for next year!

Here are some other images from the OCC race, and we sincerely hope that more of the guys that rode the 21km race will 'bite the bullet' and do the 42km race and te tour in 2009 as we hope to be able to accommodate around 20 handcyclists in 2009, with 10 places reserved for local riders.