1st paddle after the 110! Huge congrats to Ryan Blake for signing up last minute and racing a great race and finishing strong! Great to see a CPL paddler pushing those limits at River X. That monster 72 km paddle on Simcoe last year did well for this race !!
I have a 300 meter ski course in front of my launch and another nav buoy another 300 m away for a V course 5km on the V course with more then enough turns finished off with an 1km sprint to finish the race. Had some waves along the way crossing the boat wake that was cutting thru MY course haha!!
I was hoping for wind the weekend cannot see any for a downwind run and time is running out might be first race I can’t complete ruining the 3 year steak dammit. I ll be looking for wind all week long haha.
Great year to every paddler taking part can’t wait to see what next year brings everyone in this great community…
I looked at this Endurance Challenge with both intimidation and excitement. This would be my biggest physical challenge of the year but also one that would take a great deal of time; during a summer where I was already struggling with balancing everything in my life. With an inflatable non-race board, I was not confident that I could put in the hours necessary to get this one done. But, stubbornness and intrigue in my capabilities made me push myself more than I thought I could.
Day 1 – This one a treated like a normal Saturday out on the water. I chose the local reservoir near my house – I have spent countless hours paddling on. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze. I thought it would be two laps but quickly learned that was not enough. Kept paddling the buoys until I hit the 15k. I struggled with preventing my feet from falling asleep. I was happy with the time – always happy to hear my watch say “Distance Complete!”.
Day 2 – I didn’t have the time in the weekend to drive the hour to the larger reservoir, so I stayed at my local water. I also knew that I was not going to be able to come back for the second 15k of the day later that afternoon, so it was going to be a 30k morning. The fear of boredom set in pretty quickly… the water was glass so no challenge to keep the mind alert. The sunrise was beautiful, and the birds and fish were out in force. I was pleased with my first 15k. After a thirty minute refuel, I set out for 15k #2. This one was harder, my back hurt and the water was crowded with boaters and casual SUPers and it was HOT – Colorado is experiencing another heat wave – almost 100 degrees by 11 am and the sun was brutal. Halfway through I wanted to quit – I wanted to be out of the sun and away from people. It took a long mental talk with myself to force me to push through; I was not crazy with the time, but proud that I got through it.
Day 3 – Out on the same reservoir, about thirty minutes earlier, though mentally not excited for more of the same route. I paddled into a beautiful sunrise – this re-energized me and pushed my through. The water was like glass the whole time but it got hot fast! I was able to finish strong and sprint the last 1.5k.
I will cherish the lessons I learned about myself this weekend. I am grateful to live so close to water on which I can paddle. My calloused hands will remind me of my accomplishments all week. And, the high five and kudos of admiration I got from my teen daughter when I finished this challenge will be ingrained in my soul forever.
Maybe I will have a race board before 2023 League starts back up! I am in awe of the times you all are putting in! Congrats to all who took this big one on! You are all my inspiration!
The last weekend the schedule and the weather would allow I decided to take the leap and commit to the Endurance Championship! UGH! What a grind, but so glad I did it! The smoke blew in the heat warnings were still out but the WIND stayed away for the most part! Had people having their morning coffee timing my laps and cheering me on which was kind of fun! This has been a season of big paddles so seemed fitting to complete the challenge! Had to copy Robyn Bell (my fierce paddle buddy otherwise known as HELLZ BELLZ) with her pictures to celebrate each leg down!!
We’re on the home stretch now! Great effort in August. The Canada Cup wrapped up, but a handful of key races remain open, and we have some great battles for the overall 2022 title.
Monthly Prize Draw
Here’s the draw for August, picked randomly from everyone who submitted results in the month:
Dan Miller took the Canada Cup 10 km race with a strong 6:24 pace. Jake Davidson and Ryan Blake were close behind in a tight battle for 2nd and 3rd. And, the leaderboard was bulky just a minute or so behind this podium.
Danielle Holdsworth continued to dominate Season 2022 with a 1 hr 7 minute 10 km run. Megan Sheppard and Wendy Tillett continue to jostle for podium spots.
And the much-respected prone and OC1 results:
From the water
We love seeing the photos of your virtual racing… keep them coming! Half the fun of this league is sharing and seeing where everyone paddles. There are some really beautiful spots out there!
2000M double header with the Goat Boater crew on Lake Wylie, South Carolina. Back to back sprints. My second run handed me a sub 15 minutes. I’ll take it and I’m happy with it. Had a little chop, yet paddled a flat water, inland, lake. Beautiful evening to be on the water with a great tribe of paddlers!
What a great way to wrap the summer being able to paddle on a river, choppy lake, and attempted downwind turned crosswind. 3 different boards and very different conditions.
I had actually started the challenge a few times paddling 170k+ over the past 10d. I finally buckled down and put things together to finish the event in some very interesting conditions..
Day 1 was a gorgeous river paddle during on a quiet morning with a second 15k paddle at night on my Infinity Whiplash. I haven’t really done much river paddling but loved how you can just shut off and enjoy the glide. I decided rather late to do MuskokaRiverX race in September so figured a bit of nighttime paddling would be good.
Day 2 was a choppy out and back on a Starboard Allstar on Kempenfelt Bay again finishing well after dark. Definitely understand how balance gets quite difficult in the chop once the sun goes down.
Day 3 – Not remembering anything I’d learned from the night before before, I set out for what was supposed to be a 15k downwind paddle hopefully ending before dark. The wind shifted and became a heavy crosswind with waves 3-4’ blowing me into shore. I was on an Infinity Downtowner 27 and needed every bit of that stability having to paddle 90 deg to the wake then surfing toward shore(repeat). The finish was not pretty getting tossed off the board several times while it was pitch black. Many lessons learned…
Thanks again CDN Paddle League for motivating me to get out in all types of conditions and help me toward become a more well rounded paddler! Really enjoying the process!!💦💦😀👍👍
I did m’y endurance championship from thursday to saturday morning ,hopefully i live beside 2 différent water site at 2 minutes walk from home .i have to do many turns to reach 15 km.
i find the formula more easy that the last year twelve hours in a row évent.
i was lucky with the weather forecast.ligthwind ,no boat wake,but lot of seaweed in my second 15 km.
What a crazy year 2022 is for me. After a year of fooling around with inflatable and rigid boards, last fall I decided that SUP would be my new sport. So, this season would be my first real SUP Race year. In order to do this, I straighten my nutrition and lost 30 pounds, got in a thinner shape, headed to the gym for a different kind of training. As a coach, I always preached “Set Goals, Train, Do, Repeat”… and this is what I’ve done. Got a good board and changed paddle. Learned how to paddle with Tamas Budday Jr, joined a SUP club, attended training evenings and filled my SUP Race Calendar with various type of races and virtually raced this league. This league has strong paddlers. I can’t blame my age in any equation, I’m far from being the oldest. I met Sylvain St-Cyr and Wendy Tillet who are encouraging me to push my limits.
When I saw the Endurance Challenge, I had doubts. At this stage of the season, what am I worth? Can I do this? I am sure that I can do 4x15km. But would I be able to paddle 2x30km. Now where do I put this in a calendar when I race almost every weekend of the summer, plus other obligations. Time goes by fast.. too fast. I saw the deadline coming like a train. I decided to men’s up and do it. I only have 2 days available until the 6th to accomplish this Challenge so shut up and let’s go. Safety was my priority, making sure that I had an extraction plan just in case. I decided to do it in my “backyard”, on the Richelieu. At this time of the year, it’s not really a running river, there is next to no current on calm day (0.61kmh). Downwind is accepted and I should get 2 days of true south wind.
Excited and confident, I started my first 2x15km attempting to do a downwind. The first leg is not straight, so I had to navigate and understand wakes. This sport is an ongoing education. This is where I learned that you don’t do crazy stuff there on a Sunday, even if you think it’s gonna be quiet because of the weather. I was so wrong. So many boats going all over the place, circling around me sometimes. Now I know how easy its is for even a small boat to ruin a downwind. Ended up a rocking water 30km. But when I arrived at the dock, I felt satisfied because it was the first time for me doing that distance unstop.
Day 2. The day I learned Windy lies all the time ahah. Well almost. The weather forecasting now is side winds and no more downwind. So I changed my plan. I’ll go 15km south, turn and back for the last 15km, paddling side wind throughout the course. Started at the dock, looked at the sidewind and grinded it. Until the second km where the wind turned in my face, like straight in. I looked at the flying straight flags on shore laughing at me. Changed again my plan and decided to do 7.5km and turn.
This Challenge had to finish on a positive note. As soon as I arrived at the dock, contacted the wife to plan a downwind from our usual spot. But it’s only a 12km line meaning to do a 1.5km facing the wind and turn at the beginning. But I knew it. On site the flags are almost ironed. Go. Started to feel exhausted very fast as I could barely hit 5kmh for the first 15min. I have a lot to learn on how to surf the waves. I managed the 5k with nice waves until the wind died on me. Paddled the last portion with a bit of a tail wind mixed with boat wakes.
I guess this is when you say “the journey is more important than the finish”. This season, I feel like my learning curve was established by a NASA rocket lunch controller….
So many strong paddlers in this league. For some this will be a walk in the park. For me it was a hell of an accomplishment.
Spent the past couple of days hammering out the @cdnpdlleague Endurance Championship event. I started on Friday, thinking I’d have both Saturday and Sunday, but with calls for thunderstorms all day Sunday, my race window was closed to 2 consecutive calendar days…that’s ok though, just the first indication that this event would have me making lemonade out of lemons the entire way!!!!
Run #1 – August 19
Tried a downwind run on Lake Huron from Port Franks to Grandbend. Unfortunately, conditions didn’t really line up, but paddling Lake Huron is always a joy 🙃
Run #2 – August 19
Since Lake Huron was a bit of a washing machine, I gave Pittock Lake a go. The first 6km was great, but then got hit with an enormous headwind…the back half of this run was a slow slog! 🙄 On the bright side…I was half way done!
Run #3 – August 20
Had to stay close to home, so this piece was done on Sharon Creek…it’s a 3km loop at most, so, I was literally going in circles. Despite the boredom of repeating scenery, conditions made for a comfortable 15km paddle !😜
Run #4 – August 20
Back to Sharon Creek for the final piece. To stop myself from going crazy, paddling the same 3km loop 10 times in one day, I turned the last 15km piece into some interval training. Did it slow me down? Absolutely! Was it worth it? 100% 😂
