The Salty Ducks, an informal swim group, will brave the cold waters of 10 tidal pools along the False Bay coastline on Saturday November 26 to raise funds for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation.
Salty Ducks member Sophie Marra said everyone in the group had been touched by cancer either through family, friends or personally at some point in their lives so they knew first-hand how vital support was.
“We thought the tidal pool challenge would be an ideal opportunity for us to raise funds while having fun,” she said.
The challenge will start at the St James tidal pool at 5am with around 30 participants, said Ms Marra, and it is expected to end around noon at Cape Point.
She said some of the tidal pools en route were small and it would take some skill to get all 30 participants to enter the water for a quick dip, which is required to “tick the box” for the challenge.
The Salty Ducks will fund-raise under CHOC’s official fund-raising arm, the Cows, which is a group of people that use popular sporting events to raise funds exclusively for CHOC, according to CHOC spokeswoman Lynette Muthuray.
To date, the Cows have raised more than R44 million for CHOC.
“So the Ducks will become Cows on Saturday and there will be a lot of laughter and fun along the way, but our main goal is to raise as much as we can for CHOC,” Ms Marra said.
Another Salty Duck member, Laureen Mostert, said she wanted to challenge other women to put away their fears, anxiety, and insecurities and join the Salty Ducks on Saturday.
“If we can do it, so can you, and it is for a really worthy cause. Roll out of bed and let your inner cow come out and play. Dress up or dress down but join us,” she said.
Ms Mostert said it was the ideal opportunity to make memories and if you are unable to join, then to donate generously.
Ms Muthuray said the fund-raising goal is R10 000 and the Salty Ducks have already raised R6 538.
She said they have provided the Ducks with Cow banners and have set up a global online fund-raising account for the fund-raiser.
“We are grateful for their support,” she said.
To contribute, visit givengain.com and type in “Salty Ducks” in the search line.