Liz Miller

Liz started skiing on vacation trips with her family. With a family very keen on skiing, it was inevitable that Liz would make a career out of the sport. However, in 1997 she had a skiing accident which resulted in her loosing her left leg below the knee. This did not stop her. She started ski racing whilst at university in the UK. It was there that she fell in love with the thrill of competition.

After studying, and working a ski season in France she decided that she would give ski racing her best endeavour. It was then that Liz discovered the NSCD. Liz never had a problem with her disability, but it was the NSCD that really helped her accept her amputation and she has a lot to thank the organisation for providing this outstanding program and the support that it provides.

Liz enjoys numerous other sports. A keen tennis player and runner, she also takes pleasure in cycling, hiking, horse riding, to name but a few. She has a passion for extreme adrenalin activities, including sky diving and bungy jumping! Liz is currently living in Winter Park, Colorado and hopes to settle here in the near future.

Sandy Dukat

Sandy was born without a right femur and her right foot was amputated at the age of 4. Still, she played, basketball, baseball, and high-jumped in high school. Also, Dukat was a member of the U.S. Disabled Swimming Team. After the '98 World Swimming Championships, she learned about disabled skiing and moved to Winter Park, CO for its outstanding program. Dukat lived in Winter Park and trained with the NSCD competitive program for 4 years. After her 3rd year with NSCD, Dukat made the U.S Disabled Ski Team.
Now a 7-year veteran on the U.S Disabled Ski Team, Dukat has attended the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Torino Paralympic Games. Dukat won 2 bronze medals in 2002 and 1 bronze medal in 2006. Dukat credits her early ski success to the strong NSCD program.
Besides skiing, Dukat has competed in Olympic-distance triathlons, cycling competitions as well as running races. One of Dukat's highlights in her athletic career was running the Chicago half-marathon in 2:02! Now Dukat finds time to rock climb and even telemark ski. Dukat plans to train this summer for Kilimanjaro by tackling the many fourteeners that are right here in Colorado.

Hannah Pennington

Hannah was born with Cerebral Palsy, which affects the balance, flexibility, and strength in her lower abdomen and legs. Despite her disability and with the encouragement of her parents, sisters, therapists and doctors, she has always been active in athletics. Starting at age 6 and continuing throughout high school, she skied with the Children's Hospital Handicapped Sports Program through the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD).

After graduation from High School, Pennington began racing at Fort Lewis College, an able-bodied team. She enjoyed it so much that in 1997, she moved back to Denver and began training full time in Winter Park with the NSCD competition program. In the spring of 2001, she qualified for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and then for the 2002 Paralympic team. After the 2002 Salt Lake Paralympics she went on to compete in her second Paralympics in 2006. She says: "It is because of all the love and encouragement I receive that I am able to be a successful athlete. I’m especially thankful for support from my family, my friends, the NSCD and my sponsors like Scientific Atlanta, Rudy Project and Wells Fargo Bank, and CAF.”

Outside of skiing Pennington has competed in road cycling races, time trials and BMX bike races. When not cycling or skiing she can be found playing tennis, or on a hike around her home in Winter Park. She’s excited to train for Kilimanjaro because it will give her a reason to hike some of the Colorado fourteeners. You can check out Hannah's personal blog at http://racegirlusa.blogspot.com/

Katja Saarinen

Katja started skiing with her family when she was 5 years old. After only two winters of skiing, Katja was diagnosed with bone cancer. To prevent it from spreading any further, her right leg was amputated above the knee right leg was amputated above the knee. After recovering from her illness and surgeries Katja went back to the slopes and learned how to ski on one leg as a “three tracker.”

Skiing was only a fun hobby for Katja until in 1998 she saw a program from The Nagano Paralympic Winter Games. This was an eye-opening experience for her and she was determined to become a Paralympian in Alpine Skiing one day. Right after her final exams in high school Katja travelled to the Finnish National Championships to meet people and to find out how she could start training. A short time later, Katja was named to the Finnish Disabled Ski Team.

In 2002 she reached her goal of becoming a Paralympian! She has competed in the Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Torino in 2006. One of her biggest achievements in skiing was winning the bronze medal in slalom in the 2004 World Championships. It was that success that led her to Colorado to train and race with the National Sport Center for the Disabled (NSCD). Katja says, “I took a big step forward in my skiing and motivation before Torino while I was training with the NSCD program in Winter Park, Colorado.” Katja thinks the best thing in life is experiencing something new and challenging yourself to break your own boundaries.

Kati Rooney

Kati has always been active in sports which included swimming, running, cycling. In October of 1997, while swimming in Lake Michigan, she was hit by an out of control boat which caused the amputation of her left leg below the knee. Following her accident, she was introduced to disabled sports and competed for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s swim team- The RIC Wave. She spent the next five years competing in many meets as well as Nationals in 1999, 2000 and 2001. One year after her amputation she started running and subsequently competed in a number of able-bodied races. She began cycling more seriously and fell in love with kayaking and cross-country skiing. She learned how to downhill ski for the first time in 1999.

Currently Kati is not training for any races. As she says, “I am just training for life” She uses a bicycle as her primary form of transportation all year round. She continues to swim in Lake Michigan every day for almost five months of the year as well as pool swimming in the winter months. She stays active with running and yoga. “Nothing makes me happier than getting out and enjoying a beautiful day- swimming in the big lake, running on my beautiful carbon fiber leg, jumping on my favorite bike, or skiing in the woods! Staying active and being strong is what makes me sure that I will always be able to face the challenges of being an amputee”.

Live Life without Limitations!

Getting Close

We're counting down the days and making our final plans. We leave the 8th of September and we'll start our trek on the 11th! I can’t believe there is so little time left before we leave. Thanks so much to all that have helped us thus far. We're crossing our fingers that we will continue to receive support both emotionally and financially during and after the trek.

Liz, Sandy and I recently did a hike over in Summit County together which made us even more excited than we already were. Here is a photo from that day.

Kilimanjaro here we come!

Additional reasons

We have embarked on an additional project for our trip to Tanzania. We are teaming up with the Finnish program LiiKe. Liikunnan kehitysyhteistoyo- Sports Development Aid: LiiKe (Liikunnan kehitysyhteistyö - Sports Development Aid) is a Finnish NGO working for sports development in developing countries. Its aim is to promote social and economic welfare by using sports as a tool to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. LiiKe operates closely with the Finnish Sports Federation, Finnish sports associations and other Finnish and international NGO's.LiiKe has two projects in Tanzania: the first targets girls and women, aiming to improve gender equity and school enrolment through sports; the second targets primary schools in the Mtwara Region, aiming to make their sports environments more attractive in order to decrease school dropouts and improve educational facilities.

International Platform on Sport and Development
Butimba’s Teachers College: Sport and Physical Education (PE) have a minor role in the Tanzanian education syllabus today. The present number of sport teachers is rather low in the primary schools and the quality of the lessons provided is rather poor. A new curriculum has been worked out by the Ministry of Education to include Sport and Ethics as a subject of its own. The implementation of the new curriculum is now a big challenge for the Butimba Teachers’ College (TC) as it’s the only college to study PE.

Our plan is to visit the village called Butimba near Mwanza and visit the school for children with disabilities and attend a seminar for the teachers. It is the only school for the becoming teachers where they can study physical education. We would attend the seminar where we could speak about sport for people with physical disabilities.