Words and Photos – SUPjunkie
Last week, our home nation athletes headed out to the World SUP & Paddleboard Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
With teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, we were looking forward to seeing how they fared against the world’s very best.
Although we had some seasoned international athletes, for some of the others it was their first time and Scotland’s first ever ISA event.
All to play for individually and team medals were up for grabs too.
A great technical course had been set out at Amager Strandpark beach with athletes heading out away from the beach, with a total of 19 buoy turns to navigate over 3kms, over three laps and a beach run added into the mix.
As first-timers to the ISA, Glenn Sloss, Jonathan Sherwin, Alison Rennie and Angela Kerr (SCO) all battled hard in the tech but didn’t qualify for the next round.
Holly Pye (ENG) and Emily Evans (WAL) both had great first rounds reaching the semis but missed the finals by just one place each.
Blue Ewer and Annabel Page (ENG) both got through their heats and semi-finals to quality for the finals. A great result especially for Annabel who is one to watch.
All the tech finals for SUP, Juniors and Prone Paddleboarders were held the next day, where England had juniors James Little and Jess Page paddling, and they performed well against some tough opposition.
One of the most exciting races was the Prone men, with Andrew ‘Milky’ Byatt (ENG) hoping to better his two silver medals from last year’s competition and registered blind paddler Dean Dunbar (SCO) making his first appearance.
Ireland’s only team member Oisin McGrath was confident too. Milky was lying in around 10th just after the start but suddenly found himself in the lead after a messy buoy turn from other paddlers, and from then he really didn’t look like being beaten. He finished in the lead and earned himself a gold medal.
Dean normally paddles with someone else or has radio contact on his shoulder, neither of which was allowed at this event. So, he had to run the course in practice, memorising the strokes between each buoy and which way to turn. In a quite astonishing race, he completed it to a rapturous welcome back to the beach. A real achievement and a delight to watch.
Jessica Georgelin (ENG) took sixth place in a tough field of paddlers and Oisin got a copper medal coming in just a few seconds behind Milky.
The men’s SUP final was tactical but there were mistakes. Not from Blue Ewer though, who came home in 7th place – Blue is consistently putting in great results in many competitions around the world.
Next up was Annabel against a stacked field (including a few World Champions!) – great to see her perform to her best too and come home in 13th.
The next day brought us the Tech Relay event and the England team of Hector Jessel, Holly Pye, Jessica Georgelin and Blue Ewer performed brilliantly well, with great teamwork and came away with sixth place.
After a well-deserved lay day, the event was moved to the city location in the heart of beautiful Copenhagen.
Distance was the next discipline with prone powerhouse Molly Roodhouse (ENG) racing. Molly had just come back from the Lifesaving World Champs in Australia securing a 6th and 12th place in two disciplines and won a bronze medal at this event last year.
The race could not have been closer, with three ladies coming into the finish line neck and neck. Molly was delighted when the photo finish confirmed she had won gold – such a well-deserved medal for her.
SUP next with Holly, Annabel, Alison and Angela up. After a hotly contended race, Annabel and Holly achieved 18th and 20th respectively in a field of 39. Alison and Angela had a plan to paddle together and that is what they did, great teamwork, great drafting and a great result for team Scotland.
Men’s prone, with medallists Milky and Oisin competing again. Another fast start with Milky in the lead in a group of 4 with Oisin tucked behind him. This pack pretty much stayed the same until the home straight when Milky put the hammer down in the last 20 metres and achieved his second gold medal and we were delighted to see Oisin come in for another copper. Great, great racing from them both.
Next in the SUP racing, Blue and Hector, Joe Jones (WAL), Jonathan Sherwin and Glenn Sloss (SCO) – Joe, Jonathan and Glenn should be incredibly proud as finishers in a stacked field. Hector admitted he did not have his best race, but again valuable points for the team!
Blue was in the top 10 at the start of the race but he managed to claw back places and finished in a very respectable 7th place out of 45 of the best paddlers in the world.
The last day saw some wonderful SUP sprint racing with crowds of onlookers – fast heats saw paddlers race along the course, turn around a left- or right-hand buoy and back under the finish arch. 100 metres of pure grit and determined racing by all.
This was the first international outing for Jennifer Armstrong (SCO) and she put in a great performance. I was particularly impressed with her aggression at the buoy turn to sneak on the inside, only to fall just after and lose out in progressing. The future is looking bright for Jen!
Holly and Emily had great heats but were knocked out in the quarter finals due to some great tactics from other teams creating wash, enough to slow them both right up. Both ended up in joint 9th on the leader board.
Blue Ewer had the best run of the day for Team England progressing through his heats right up to the semi-finals. He missed the final by seconds but finished 5th out of 25 paddlers – a great result for this talented athlete.
After a long and exciting week, the team scores were out with Team England narrowly missing a copper medal by 18 points so 5th overall out of 41 teams. They just keep getting better and better.
Team Scotland finished 16th on the leaderboard, an incredible result from their first ever time at the ISA Worlds. Wales (with a team of just 2) were 27th and Ireland (with a team of just Oisin McGrath) were 29th.
Surf & SUP Denmark and the International Surfing Association truly put on a spectacular event in Denmark with a full diary of other fun events happening all week.
All the team members would like to thank their sponsors and those who supported them in any way and we are very, very proud of them all.