Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley has added her name to the ballooning entry for next weekend’s Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon to support the charity drive spearheaded by former Springbok captain Corné Krige.
Hartley, who won the bronze medal in the 500m women’s K1 final at the London Olympics last month, has become an overnight celebrity, and said she was eager to use this new profile to make a meaningful contribution through her sport.
Krige, who has close family ties to Cradock and is paddling in his first Fish, started the charity drive to raise funds to assist several badly under-resourced schools in the Cradock area. When Hartley heard about the initiative she was quick to put her hand up.
“It has been such a whirlwind since getting home from the Olympics, and I was looking forward to a chance to catch up with all my paddling friends at the Hansa Fish,” said Hartley. “When I read about the drive to help to schools I immediately wanted to get involved, and hopefully encourage all the paddlers doing the race and the general public to support it.”
Hartley will be paddling in a K3 with the Burden brothers Craig and Nick, both very competitive paddlers, and while she speaks of it being a social outing, there is little doubt that they will test the ability of their K3 to cover the 82km course as fast as possible to made an added statement.
She has raced the Hansa Fish competitively before, with a K2 second to her credit.
Paddlers will be asked to support the charity drive by buying a special Corné Krige Charity Drive sticker for R50 to display on their boats as a gesture of support for the school upgrade drive. Donations in support of this campaign can also be made into the race’s bank account, details of which are available on the website www.fishmarathon.org.za
At 4pm on the Thursday of the race registration Krige and Hartley will be available to autograph the stickers purchased by the paddlers.
“It is just the sort of opportunity I have been looking for to give something back through canoeing,” said Hartley.
“I have hardly sat in a boat since the Olympics but I really wanted to be part of the Hansa Fish, which is a really great event. It is a race where the paddling community really socialises together, and has in the past been able to make a difference to local charity drives, like the helping the Cradock Cancer Care unit.”
“It is really exciting for us as paddlers to come to Cradock, enjoy a fantastic weekend of great racing on the river, great hospitality off the water, and then to leave three days later having made a significant contribution to the town,” she added.
The Hansa Fish takes place in Cradock on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 October and will decide the SA K1 River Championships.
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Article source: http://www.supersport.com/xtra/xtra/news/120928/Olympic_medallist_Hartley_set_to_paddle_Fish