Seven people, two of whom are physically disabled, and who were accompanied by a support team and representatives of the technology used for the event, conquered the highest Kilimanjaro summit, Uhuru, on 16 October 2007.
Conquering such a challenge by a physically able person is no mean feat, so physically disabled Bern Goosen and Neal Stephenson's achievement is something for the record books. Their spirited will and courage encouraged the rest of the team to persevere with these courageous South Africans in their Kilimanjaro summit.
The Innovation Hub's 'Innovation To The Top' project and related technology supplied by some of its resident companies and project partners, provided a real 'daily stage video diary' to track the progress to the summit. This collaborative technological initiative included tracking devices, Panasonic Tough Books laptops, video cameras, 911 GPS plotting devices, and a dedicated Web site.
Neal Stephenson is an amputee from Plettenberg Bay who was sponsored by Icexpress, a company from The Innovation Hub specialising in Prosthetics. Regardless of his altitude sickness and extreme nausea during gradients of over 45 degrees, he conquered Kilimanjaro.
This was Get Motivated's Bern Goosen's third attempt and his second successful highest summit of Kilimanjaro. Bern, a quadriplegic, used a specially designed wheelchair and was supported by Johann Landsberg, Cindy Morom, and Nadya Boshoff. He reached the highest Kilimanjaro summit on 16 October after seven days and is currently recovering from severe dehydration, bladder infection and respiratory problems, at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre.
Sponsors who made this entire event possible are The Innovation Hub, Icexpress, Kreon Technology, Laipac, Luuk, MMB, Flexpower.com, Get Motivated, Hi-Tech, Destination Africa Tours (Team Kilimanjaro), Gifted, Panasonic - Toughbook, Tri Star, Indaba Hotel, Multi Risk Brokers, Kwalata Game Ranch, Three D Prototyping, Link Pharmacy, Planet Fitness (Fourways), and The XL Foundation.
The team returned to South Africa on Thursday 18 October.
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