I competed (I use that term loosely) in the SUP Enduro which was a 2.7 mile race along Haxall Canal on my ShuBu and have learned the following:
* Inflatable Stand Up Paddleboards are not meant for racing.
* All Stand Up Paddlers are AWESOME.
* Talking throughout the entirety of a race to onlookers and friends does not help you go faster.
* Richmonders treat underdogs very, very well.
When we arrived to the starting area I was immediately greeted by Camille and Bryan Smith of BlackDogPaddle.com! We'd been chatting with them back and forth on our Facebook page so it was truly a pleasure to finally meet them in person!
We were also really excited to see Macky Hall of Chesapeake Boardsports ready to rock the race!
I was pretty intimidated by all of the technical race boards but each SUPer's smile put me at ease.....it was OK my board was inflatable, it was OK if I wasn't fast....we were all out here to have a good time.
The race course was simple: 3 laps up and down the Haxall Canal.
The start of the race was FUN! Everyone ahead of me was pretty darn fast but I got to play on their chop!
Pictured below is Macky in the red shorts and Cherie in the red shirt (1 of 3 of us gal participants) taking off!
It was really cool being in a race with such talented SUPers!
Pictured below is Camille on her 2nd lap while I'm still trying to finish my first! Camille dominated!
Fifty-four minutes after the start and after a heck of a fun work out I crossed the finish line...
I sooooooooo want to do this again!
But I'm going to get a proper board for next time. ; )
Because there were only three of us gals in the race, we each placed (each of us winning a cash prize)! =)
Congrats Camille and Cherie on a race-well-paddled!!!
