Things are heating up in the flatwater scene overseas so we entered the Aussy bred Suplove 12'6" Stingray into a race in Arizona on the weekend.

"Another Dam Race".

All in all an awesome day in Parker, Arizona where the Suplove 12'6" Stingray made the podium at the end of 10.5 miles.

Results - 1st Kristin Thomas (Womens overall ) , 1st Mandy McDonnell (under 40 women), 3rd Ozzie Clarke (under 40 men ) , 5th Matt Johnston (under 40 men)



These sort of events are really catching the interest of a lot of paddlers.

I reckon more and more will get of the ground here too.

Stuart Murray

Simondo said...

I think flat water SUP and it's ability to spread inland is a great thing.

If kayaks get Olympic status, there's a reasonable chance SUP can slot in there also, and The Duke's dream will partially come true....

But in 30 years time, no one will rewatch the Kayak Sprint final (other than the competitors and kids), but we will still watch Slater & Irons....

Kayaking(sprint) has been in the games for ages and Slalom often is too , SUP will never get in IMO because not enough countries play. There is also a limit of numbers (due to beds etc )and this is why dragon boats etc will never be in also .
and I have no idea what Slater & Irons have to do with anything else you mention ???

The Duke won Olympic Gold in swimming, partially because he was strength training without knowing it, by paddling the big redwood boards around. He used to get invited back to the Olympics, and he had hoped surfing would become an Olympic sport.

So if SUP racing makes it to the Olympics one day, I think he would be pretty happy!