Words: Sarah Thornely (SUPjunkie)
With a group of athletes travelling from the UK to Sarasota for the ICF SUP World Championships, and a local Brit living in Florida joining them, we could be sure of a significant amount of enthusiasm and team work.
18 GB paddlers with different levels of international experience but no less passion. We were in for a real treat.
The event was held at the beautiful purpose-built national and international water sports lake at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. Predominately calm and sunny, there was only one day where the conditions made racing more of a challenge.
The ICF encourages paddlers of all ages to compete, from kids, juniors, open, 40+ and 50+ and the GB athletes covered all those bases.
A Nations Cup team was also entered featuring Blue Ewer, Will Keetley, Max Tee and James Little. So how did they all fare and what thoughts and feelings did they come away with?
Let’s start with the hot favourite in the 50+ class, Ginnie Betts. Tipped for podiums in all three disciplines, sadly she didn’t have the opportunity to build on her three gold performance at the ICF qualifier early this year.
After several months honing her sprints and tech performance under the guidance of Michael Booth, she was suddenly taken very ill with influenza A the day before heats began.
Whilst this excluded her from the tech and sprint racing, she wanted to at least attempt a start on the distance race. This was only 2 days after getting out of bed and sadly she was nowhere near back to strength and had to withdraw. A very disappointing experience, but one out of her control. She remains in good spirits.
Let’s run through all the other 50+ paddlers starting with Emma Adams, more accustomed to longer endurance races, who finished 5th in the sprint C final.
A strong performance too in the distance and Emma had this to say;
“My first ICF World Championships was an amazing experience, I loved the sprints with the bucket starts even in the strong winds and I’m really pleased with my results in the sprint and distance races; I learned a lot and I’ve got lots to work on before the next event!”
Next up Anni Ridsdill-Smith who has thrown herself into international competition over the last few years and gave invaluable advice to some of those new to this level.
Qualifying rounds in the tech, Quarter finals in the sprints and 18th overall in the distance proves what a strong athlete she is.
From Anni:
“I thoroughly enjoyed racing at Sarasota. Each year the competition is getting hotter across the age categories and the 100m sprint was an awesome addition. Given the demographics of paddlers at this event, the ICF should seriously consider allowing team point scoring across all age categories. I look forward to 2025!”
Andrew Tee who was there supporting his son Max, also got stuck into racing in the sprint and technical, enjoying every moment with a constant smile on his face.
From Andrew:
“What an amazing experience. It was an honour to be able to share this experience with the team. I was there primarily to support Max, but by taking part in the Masters Sprint and Technical race I got to enjoy the buzz of competing at a World Championship.
“We had such an enjoyable week meeting athletes, coaches and supporters from all over the World. It was great talking to the board and paddle manufacturers present too, including Infinity, Flying Fish and Black Project.
“The whole experience has been an incredible learning experience and it’s given me so much to think about with the work we’re doing building the Youth SUP development back here in the UK. We’ve got lots of work to do, but are focused now on what we can do to best prepare and train for Abu Dhabi in 2025.”
It was Paul Drake’s first international competition and despite the lack of a board for the first few days which was totally out of his control, he finished 8th in the quarter finals of the tech, and did well in his qualifying rounds of the sprints. Paul, like others, suffered with illness towards the latter end of the competition, with a few sadly having to pull out from the distance.
Let’s finish this 50+ class with our best result of the event – a wonderful GOLD medal for Anna Little, her first ever international competition and again, a mother supporting her son travelling with her, whilst competing herself.
Up against the best in the world, Anna took gold in the Sprints winning by a nice margin over the 100 metre course. Such a modest competitor but so deserving of this great win. Anna also achieved a very solid 9th place in a hugely competitive field in the distance.
From Anna:
“A wonderful yet slightly weird week (due to team illness). My highlight was of course the sprints. Thanks to James for teaching me how to skull in those buckets and a superb few hours with Espe Barreras (Spain’s top female paddler). I think the older I get the less pressure I have to perform and instead just want to make the most of every opportunity I get.”
Let’s move on to the results for the 40+ class; Sara Maxey finished a very respectable 12th in the distance, paddling her brand-new custom-built board. She sadly just lost out on qualifying for the sprints by just 0.3 of a second – it could not have been closer. Sara has been getting out and about on the international circuit and it shows – she is getting better and better all the time.
Verity Thomas who lives in Jersey has a rich history of international competition. A bronze medallist in the technical in last year’s Worlds, she narrowly missed out this year but managed 5th in the world up against a very competitive field.
She also came 1st in the B final of the sprints which means she is now 9th in the world. Really solid performances from VJ who had these thoughts after the event;
“I’m pleased with my results – initially disappointed with only making the B Final in sprints as my aim was the A Final, but that headwind in lane 7 was brutal and quite possibly the slowest I’ve ever paddled 100m! To get in the A Final again for the Tech was great – I love that discipline. It’s just a shame I had such a poor start as I felt I could have done better than the overall 5th I eventually got!”
Tristan Gregory is British but lives in Florida and was delighted to be part of the team. He finished 20th in the distance, and qualified for the quarter finals in both technical and sprints.
Jonathan Sherwin, fresh off his international debut in Denmark, and another paddler who fell foul of not having a promised board for the two practice days. Up against some super strong paddlers he did not progress in the sprints or technical. His competition was also cut short due to another serious bout of Influenza in the team. We are sure Jonathan will re-group over the winter and get training again when he is well.
Glen Sloss, who has been to Europe quite a lot over the last few years, had his fastest time ever in the distance race, with recent professional coaching starting to pay dividends.
Sadly, he did not get into the qualifying rounds for tech or sprints but always shows a great positive attitude to every result.
From Glen;
“I love travelling, and you soon get to know people that you race with from all across the world, so you will meet familiar faces and make new friends at each event. As a quietly competitive guy I like to challenge myself and it is an ideal way to learn tips and tricks from others and see what can be improved. I’m sure the rest of the GB SUP team have taken lots away from this event and this will filter through into increasing the standard of competition at home. So, after solid winter training I’m looking to do more of the same next year, but paddling faster!”
Last but by no means least in the 40+, Chris Freeman (CEO of Black Project) took part in the lightning-fast sprints but did not qualify further. He spent the rest of the event looking after his group of world class sponsored riders who were racing and indeed, collecting medals!
We had 2 juniors competing, Max Tee and James Little. They have both had great seasons in the UK and fought hard in the sprints against other tough juniors.
James progressed a little further and we now cannot wait to see them both representing the team again in the future. From James;
“It was great to paddle with top athletes from around the world. I enjoyed training with Espe and Oscar from Spain and look forward to training with them again in February.”
Another ‘junior’ who was just a little bit too young to compete in that class threw himself into being one of the best flag bearers we have. Jacques Thomas, son of VJ, is a consistent and talented young man. Out and about practicing on the water whenever he could, he came 6th overall in the Under 13 men’s race and 5th in the men’s recreational race. Definitely one to watch for the future.
On to the Open category with Chris Macdonald, who made it through to the second round of the sprints, narrowly missed out on the third round in tech and finished the distance with a personal best non-drafting pace. A really great performance from Chris and he had this reflection;
“It was fantastic to compete at the ICF World Championships! I learnt a huge amount that I can bring to my next competition! I was very happy with my results too. Such a great experience.”
Will Keetley is one the UK’s best young male paddlers but has not been racing as much this year. He should be very happy with his performances in all three disciplines – one of the few from Great Britain to achieve this at the ICF Worlds 2024.
On to Blue Ewer, who is by far the most successful male paddler the UK has seen, coming 5th overall this year in the Euro Tour. Always exciting to watch, Blue made it through to the B final of the sprint competition where he finished 14th overall.
After a super tech race, he finished 2nd in the B final, making him top 10 in the world. The open men’s distance is one of the toughest races in the world, and having fallen at the start Blue battled to get back on the front draft train. He could not then hang on but finished 17th out of almost 80 starters and was delighted with his overall performance once again.
Problems such as missing boards and illnesses were thrown at this group of athletes, but they dealt with these issues professionally and achieved so much as a team; we should be really proud of them. If you would like to know more about SUP racing, especially at international level, I am sure any one of these paddlers would be delighted to talk you through it.
Congratulations to you all and I am sure the paddlers would like to personally thank everyone who helped get them to the ICF SUP World Championship event in the United States.