National championships

USA SUP National Champion Ships Day 3 Recap 

That’s a wrap! USA SUP has concluded three days of the inaugural National Championship event.  The racing was fast and fair, the events were safe, and were inclusive of paddlers of all different walks of life, talent, and abilities. 

Day three was all about technical racing, on an 800 Meter course which a beach start.  Once again the historic Long Beach Marine Stadium was the location for the day’s events and, once again, did not disappoint with it's calm waters, clean facilities and wonderful scenery. The course was roughly an “M” shape with a sprint across the waterway to 180 degree left-hand turn back across to a 180 right-hander, followed by a hard left leaning into a right hand dog-leg turn. A short sprint was then interrupted by a hard left back to the start/finish.

The Quarterfinal and Semifinal heats featured close racing with courteous sportsmanship, minimal get-offs, and only minimal course corrections. The racing was close, but clean and no one took unfair advantage through unnecessary contact.

The finals lined up as they should and provided for some terrific racing. In no particular order: The Female Golden Masters (60+) featured an battle between eventual winner Jen Fuller, and USA SUP president Kristin Thomas (who celebrated her birthday with a 2^nd on the podium). Midwest paddler Kathy McCrae took the third step.

Female Master’s was won by Shirly Heinemann, who had a terrific weekend across multiple events. USA SUP South Central Rep Linda McCoy took 2^nd and Suzy Dyer took 3^rd.

Men’s Golden Masters was won by the Midwest’s Karl Eugster who pulled out a masterfull victory over Sean Sullivan. Legend  class paddler (racing in the younger Golden class) Bruce Barry coming across third. But yielding the second spot in the Golden Masters Podium to Tony Forcier.

Men’s Masters was won confidently by David Wells who also capped off a multiple podium weekend. Pete Gauvin and Ivan Storck pushed David until the very end in second and third positions respectively. Pete occupying the second spot for the duration and Ivan out dueling the field for his third position that was not secure until the final 50 meters.

The Men’s Open saw a dominant win by Danny Ching, with and exciting battle for 2^nd featuring a rail-on-rail sprint to the end, with Dave Boehne barely getting by Jake Graham. It was a showcase of racing tactics by the two SoCal paddlers 

Arguably the race of the day was the Women’s open where Katniss Paris made a mid-course pass on Soryn Preston for the win. With multiple podium finisher Kirsten Marina Lefeldt In close proximity.

These words alone cannot begin to convey the excitement of the Inaugural USA SUP National Championships. If you missed it, you missed something special and if you were lucky enough to attend, you are part of history in the making. DO NOT miss the oppourtunity to join us next year!