RIDE FOR PARATROOPER MICK

RIDE FOR MY BROTHER “MICK” . . . A PROUD PARABAT

I will be riding the MUNGA from Bloemfontein to Wellington to raise funds for my brother Johan de Jager , “Mick”, as his fellow Parabats nicknamed him.

The Munga is a mountain bike race of 1130km from Bloemfontein to Wellington through the Freestate , Northern Cape, Tankwa Karoo and Boland. Competitors have 5 days to complete the race which is mainly on gravel roads, jeep tracks and single tracks.

Johan de Jager, “Mick” , did his military training in 1979 and qualified as a Parabat at 1 Parachute Battalion in Bloemfontein. He was involved in Operation Sceptic (Smokeshell) in June 1980 during his border duty and did a few compulsory army camps in the years thereafter.

During his work as as a game ranger, Mick fell out of a Puma helicopter and injured himself. After this incident, it was noted that he had concussion, but no obvious injuries were documented. It was only years after this incident that Mick had been experiencing head-aches, loss of balance and Dysarthria....