Bridgitte Hartley was crowned SA K1 River champion at the 40th Fish River Canoe Marathon on Saturday, 8 October 2022.
From her elapsed time start Hartley said her first challenge was to get onto a fast group of male paddlers.
“It was super tough! I few weeks ago I did a time trial and the guys really worked me over, so I decided I had to stay with that group and work hard,” said the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist.
“I lost the group above Gauging Weir but I decided to just paddle within myself and make sure I made no mistakes,” she added.
The reward for her efforts was the luxury to opt to portage around Cradock Weir before completing the twenty minute victory procession into the finish at the sports complex in Cradock to successfully defend her K1 Fish title.
The women’s podium was rocked by the omission of Christie Mackenzie, who missed her early morning A batch start, assuming she was starting in elapsed time. She finished second fastest women overall but was omitted for the official results by the race officials.
That left the door open for Jordy Peek to claim the silver medal and Kirsten Scott to sneak onto the small step of the women’s podium, and allowed Tracey Oellerman to claim the CSA Under 23 gold medal.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS – Fish River Canoe Marathon (Stage Two – Knutsford to Cradock)
1.Bridgitte Hartley 2:24:19.00 5:49:07,63
2.Jordan Peek 2:28:47.35 5:59:58,68
3.Kirstin Scott 2:33:55.20 6:15:39,98
4.Tracey Oellermann (U23) 2:34:46.69 6:19:53,99
5.Tracey Van Der Walt 2:32:48.03 6:20:34,26
Photo 1 Caption: Bridgitte Hartley successfully defended her Fish K1 women’s title on final stage of the 2022 Fish River Canoe Marathon on Saturday, 8 October 2022. Photo: Bruce Viaene/Gameplan Media
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