aspect of flat water racing in South Africa, as well as effectively representing the core of Canoeing
South Africa's international achievements thus far this year. The two senior athletes, who are also
enjoying the sponsorship of the University's High Performance Centre are Bridgitte Hartley and Shaun
Rubenstein and who together represnt the only two South African canoeists who have been identified
by SASCOC as Tier 1 athletes and as such medal hopefuls for the 2012 London Olympic Games. At
the South African Sprint Championships in April Shaun and Bridgitte claimed 13 gold medals and one
silver medal in the 14 races that they entered while last weekend both athletes won double gold medals
in their respective K1 and K2 races at the South African Marathon Championships in Plettenburg Bay.

Internationally,  Bridgitte has produced South Africa's best ever performances at World Cup competitions
by single handedly winning seven medals over the course of three competitions, beating some of last years
Olympic medalists in the process! Shaun added a silver medal to this haul in the K2 500m at the Szeged
World Cup with his new doubles partner Michael Arthur (an old TuksCanoe member) to firmly entrench
TuksCanoe as the elite canoeing club in South Africa.

The third athlete, who together with Bridgitte Hartley and Shaun Rubenstein, completes TuksCanoe's
claim to dominance is junior paddler Frans Smit who won two gold medals at the South African School
Championships in May this year and finished 4th and 5th at the Bochum international regatta in Germany
in June. As an impressive and focused talent, Frans provides TuksCanoe with promising depth in its canoeing
program for years that are to come and enviable status of being a club that can boast not only male and
female senior South African Champions but a junior SA champion as well!

Shaun and Frans are due to leave for the National Training Camp in KwaZulu Natal this weekend where they
will undergo their final preparations for their respective World Championships while Bridgitte has returned to
her training base in Hungary to work with her coach Nandor Almasi. I look forward to keeping you informed
on their progress as they take on the World's best!