I will be joining the 3rd ANNUAL St Tropez to Monaco Champagne and Oyster Cycling Club (C.O.C.C.) charity bike ride in aid of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.

Last year more than 70 members of the C.O.C.C. of Monaco took part in their annual St Tropez to Monaco charity bike ride. The funds raised from this event went to the Foundation to help in the development and growth of the awareness program on water safety and the risks of drowning and to help teach children to swim.
Several programs are now up and running and these can be seen on the Foundation’s website: http://fondationprincessecharlene.mc.
The Foundation now hopes to spread this awareness and learn to swim program in more countries.
The Foundation’s most recent initiative is the provision of portable 25 metre, 6 lane swimming pools to areas of need. The cost of each of these pools is approx. Euros 40,000.

This year the C.O.C.C have over 120 riders committed to the St Tropez to Monaco ride and funds raised will go to the Foundation to help finance the provision of these swimming pools.

A frightening statistic is that drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. Each year there are conservatively approx. 400,000 drowning deaths worldwide – that is over 30,000 deaths a month or staggeringly 1,000 deaths every single day.

In general, children under 5 years of age have the highest drowning mortality rates worldwide and being a former Olympian and South African swimming champion this cause is very close to the Princess’s heart. Her Foundation launched last year and their programs on water safety have now kicked off in Monaco, France, South Africa and Morocco and they are just starting a program in the USA. Additionally her Foundation is partnering with her husband’s Foundation to begin an educational program on water safety.

It is a foundation that I am very happy to support as sport has always been part of my life and growing up in Australia from a young age I have learnt the importance of water safety and learning to swim. I think it is important that children around the world learn this vital skill.