It's hard to sum up the 8 or so days that we spent in Copenhagen as the first ever Scottish SUP and Paddleboard Team. The athletes were amazing. The city was amazing. Both city and beach venues were amazing. The SUP community in Denmark was incredible and new friends for sure were made from over 40 nations around the world. I can't decide what was more surreal, watching the Scottish guys paddle or standing at the after party on the Sunday evening with people from Denmark, Sweden, Guatemala, Argentina, USA, Iran, Lebanon, Japan, Australia... The list goes on.
The ISA Worlds for SUP and Paddleboard usually consists of technical, distance, sprint and team relay races with SUP Surf as a 5th discipline. This year there was no SUP Surf. (There are no suitable surf locations close to Copenhagen city hence the reason to withdraw this discipline from the event.)
The Disciplines
Technical racing is a course laid out by a series of buoys that are followed and turned around to complete a course. This usually begins with all athletes on the beach with a run into the water, quickly mounting boards and completing the course. The course is setup between 3 and 8km. Follow the arrows on the below map and it will give you an idea.
Distance racing is a set course over 10-20km and can be done as a beach start or from a standing or sitting start on the water.
Sprint Racing is really as it suggests. A 200m sprint from start to finish. Within the surfing discipline this usually includes a buoy turn at 100m, so the start and finish is at the same place.
Team Relay is a super exciting race where both male, female and SUP and prone work together in a team of 4 to work around a smaller technical course with a lap of around 800m to 1km.
Let me try to some up the week as best as possible.
Day 1 - Opening ceremony
All the nations came together to parade their flags and culture through the streets. Walking from Kopenhaven to the Black Diamond meandering around the canals. All the nations were in alphabetical order so Argentina started and Wales finished, although Denmark were the last nation to come in. There were speeches from Danmark Surf SUP, Robert Fasulo, Executive Director of the ISA and the Mayor of Copenhagen. These were followed by welcoming each nation to the stage for the ceremony of the sands. This is a very cool feature whereby each member nation takes sand from a beach in their country and it is poured into a glass box to represent a better world through surfing. It also shows the camaraderie and peace within sport. There was also a flag bearer on stage. Representing Scotland, Angela Kerr was our sand pourer and Glen Sloss was the flag bearer. The sand came from Sannox Bay on the Isle of Arran.
Day 2 - Technical Race Heats
This was the first day of competition. It was all hosted at Amager Strandpark Beach around 6km from the city centre, easily accessible by bike or metro.
There were male and female technical races split into 2 heats with the top 8 from each heat going into a final. Scotland had 4 athletes in the SUP tech and all were split into separate heats. This was a tough day because the world class athletes took off and the wake created by the rush of boards makes it difficult to stay on the board. All of Scotland's athletes gave it there all.
Points are given for each athlete dependent on their finishing position which adds to the overall team medal at the end of the event. We received 1155 points for this event.
Day 3 - Technical Race Finals
This was a day for junior finals, prone finals and the male and female technical finals. This day was the day to crown the champions of the world. Hungary took gold for SUP female junior through Csillag-Virag Kocsis. An amazing athlete who will no doubt be female champion one day in the female event. The SUP junior boy was won by Kotaro Miyahira of Japan. His paddle technique and drive on the paddle was incredible to watch. He also took part in the mens final taking 8th place. The SUP female gold went to Duna Gordillo of Spain completing the 3.4km course in under 20 minutes. Wow. The male gold went to Rai Taguchi of Japan. A whizz on the buoy turns. Incredible to watch.
In the prone technical Andrew Byatt took gold for England and Judit Verges of Spain took gold for the women.
The only athlete competing for Scotland today would be the one and only blind and dangerous Dean Dunbar. We have had quite the journey with Dean from running the qualifiers to getting Dean to the competition. Dean is registered blind so relies on walkie talkie support from shore, or counting the number of strokes between buoy turns. The ISA rulebook is a busy and black and white rule book that doesn't shift. Apart from with sticker placement... but this mean that Dean had to compete like everyone else with zero support from electronic devices or from a guide on the water. His main concern was getting lost, and not finishing the course, but also getting in the way of the top guys in the pack. The first picture below is him explaining his vision and to shout at him if he was in the way. We all knew that if Dean could hang onto a paddler then he would be able to use the slight vision he had plus hearing to get around the course. Unbelievably he did it. I shouldn't even say unbelievably. Dean is one of those people that will do anything he puts his mind to. The cheer for him coming in on the finish was the biggest of the day and there wasn't a dry eye amongst the Scottish camp. I don't really know how his wife Rhona does it but she is also a hero! Amazing, amazing day for Dean. Amazing day for team Scotland and another 400 points on the board. So proud of Dean and getting through this day. What a champion.
Day 4 - Team Relay
No Scotland, no party but we did not have a female prone paddler so had to sit this day out.
This event starts with prone men starting the race, SUP women second, prone women third and finishing with SUP men. Amazing to see the worlds best batter at the course. Japan took the gold medal this time.
Day 5 - Change of Location
Today the Danish Surf SUP Federation moved everything from the beach venue up the city venue at the Black Diamond Library.
This evening was a megaboard race for some of the celebrities of Denmark. The Danish weather man took part with some of the TV presenters along with, Love Island Denmark and SAS Denmark. Casper Steinfath, a Danish paddler sponsored by Red Bull was heavily involved and roped me into helping. We helped the Love Island team to victory and claimed the winning megaboard run live on Danish TV. What a laugh.
Day 6- Distance Race
The distance race for athletes was a 13km loop around the canals of Copenhagen. 3 laps. The morning prior to the event was a mass participation event for all racers to have a go at the course the worlds best would be completing in the afternoon. Options of 2, 4.5 and 9km were available for all to attempt. I completed the 9km course is 1:02 minutes. Paddling with 500 other people created an incredible amount of splash and wake which made it hard to stay on Jonathan's 14x23 Starboard Allstar. I did have a 2 plunges. Once in the rammy start and one later on whilst too busy enjoying the sights and not paying attention.
Alison, Angela, Glen and Jonathan were once again up for the athletes event with no illusion on how fast some of the paddlers would be. The female race was won by Spanish athlete Esperanza Barreras followed very closely by her training partner from Puerto Rico, Mariecarmen Rivera. Angela and Alison crossed the line together holding hands delighted to be competing. They drafted and worked together round the course extremely well in the very warm and still day. Jonathan and Glen likewise enjoyed being involved in the crazy wake at the start and both finished the race strongly. A fantastic day of racing picking up a further 1170 points for team Scotland.
Day 7 - Sprints - The Final Day
Today was all about Jen Armstrong and Jonathan Sherwin taking on the worlds fastest paddlers over a 200m out and back course with one buoy turn. Jonathan was pulled in his heat against good friend Joe Jones from Wales. Jonathan was really keen to push a good time for the sprint after a lot of training and work. A fantastic showing from him. David Leão of Brazil took gold for the mens sprints in an incredible time of 57:47 seconds. Jen fought strong in her heat and hit the buoy turn and got into 3 place. She has trained incredibly hard to improve from the Scottish Champs so it was exciting to see her compete. Alba Alonso Frey took gold for Spain in a time of 1:07:76.
A ceremony thanking all the nations for attending and the official closing of the ceremony finished the event. Medals were given out to all the athletes and Spain were crowned team champions of the world.
As a nation Scotland came 16/41 nations a very respectable start for a nation entering their first event. Excited for the future. Wondering where all the female prone paddlers are. Excited to have juniors in future events. No Scotland, no party... well we'll be back. We'll be stronger and we are excited for the growth of the sport in our country.
A special thank you to Operations Manager of Scottish Surfing Federation Mark Boyd for helping to get the ball rolling with qualifications and event knowledge. Paul Stark for his support of the team during the event and his input now going forwards with the growth of SUP in The SSF. A huge thanks Martin Kerr and Allistair Swinco for all of their input and support in regards to SUP Racing across Scotland and for all the driving and support of both Alison and Angela over the past few months. Thanks too to Scott McLaughlin for coaching Jen and to husband Lee for seeing potential. Rhona, Dean is a hero but you are his vessel and support mechanism. 🙏 What a journey. ❤️
A huge thank you too to everyone who sponsored the team and especially to Auchrannie Charitable Foundation who sponsored the team £3000. It made it possible to fund part of the trip for the amazing athletes and pioneers of our sport.
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