Cycling South Africa has the pleasure in welcoming the Western Cape’s O’Ryan Bruintjies as the new Para-cycling Commission Director. With his background firmly entrenched in cycling, and with many years involved with cycling administration, O’Ryan is ready to tackle a new project with great enthusiasm.
O’Ryan hails from Ravensmead and is married with two daughters and a son. He has been intimately involved in cycling for over 15 years and is currently on the Western Province and Western Cape Executive, is a Western Province and Western Cape Schools Commissioner, and belongs to the Kinetic Cycling Club, where he is an active administrator and has held the position of Chairperson for many years. He also holds a Grade C Manager’s License and is well-versed with the rules of Para-cycling.
His son of 15 years old is a good cyclist and is the current under-15 South African National Road Champion, which according to O’Ryan, “has forced me to become more involved in the sport,” he laughs.
In 2017, O’Ryan was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Department of Culture and Sport in 2017, and when he is not volunteering in his many roles for cycling administration, he also has a day job where he has been the Branch Manager at Absa Bank for 18 years.
When asked what attracted him to the position of Para-cycling Commission Director, O’Ryan said: “I was excited to explore something new for me, a new challenge. I firmly believe that there is so much more that can be done for the growth of Para-cycling in South Africa, and I’d like to implement the models that have been applied to school cycling growth to that of Para-cycling.
“My approach will be to get a team together as I can’t do this on my own, and to build the right team around me. I’m looking for people who know the game and can help me take this discipline forward. My plan is to implement a model to take on more races and streamline the process for South African teams and to create more opportunities for Para-cyclists to qualify for more events. I’ve identified schools where we can introduce Para-cycling. Once the model is right, then we can initiate it to the other provinces and build this process and monitor the growth in each province,” he said.
Funding is always a challenge but O’Ryan is confident in his experience in applying for funding from the avenues that are available.
By operating on so many different levels within cycling administration, O’Ryan is able to utilise a variety of his networks to make his ideas work.
Cycling South Africa is confident that O’Ryan Bruintjies will add great value in his new role as Para-cycling Commission Director. Welcome on board, O’Ryan!
