The Australian SUP titles certainly lived up to the hype, perfect conditions prevailed allowing Australia’s best paddlers to fight it out for the opportunity to improve their chances of selection for the 2013 national team for the ISA Paddle Board World Championship.

Marathon Race in review….
I managed to get off to a good start just ahead of the pack. However I was closely followed by Starboard teammates Beau O’Brian and Dave Kissane (1st over 40). Beau linked a few good runners and slipped away leaving Dave and myself to fight it out. It came down to the lay line each of us took to the finish, which resulted in with Dave gaining healthy lead. With 5km to go the course veered around a headland for a straight downwind run to the finish. By this time, Kelly Margetts made his move, gaining on me until he was close enough to catch a wave up to me and secure a sprint finish between the both of us.

Open Results
1st Beau OBrian
2nd Kelly Margetts
3rd Lincoln Dews

5km Technical
The 2nd day of the championships saw the 5km technical race in testing 3ft surf and 20knot winds. Right from the start Kelly Margetts showed his dominance and pulled away from the field.
After two laps of hard racing the race for second and third was between Jake Jensen, Beau O’Brian, and myself, where I was able to forge ahead to take a 30 second separation to take 2nd.

Technical Results
1st Kelly Margetts
2nd Lincoln Dews
3rd Jake Jenson
4th Dylan McGee