Con Bax won the 200m sprint race in Germany race labeled as the fastest paddler on earth.
53seconds for 200m 
that is just flying. Anyone watch the race would be interested to know how close it was considering it was only 200m
Actually just read they all paddled the exact same 12"6 inflatable to keep the field equal.. What a great idea.
Aus needs to introduce sprint races like this
Select to expand quoteAndyR said...
Actually just read they all paddled the exact same 12"6 inflatable to keep the field equal.. What a great idea.
Aus needs to introduce sprint races like this
I think that the inflatable was the amateur race not the official fastest paddler??
SUPWA held a a race last year on the Rowing course here in Perth, STARBOARD BLACK BLADE we had a series of 200m sprints held on your board of choice 14' and 12'6" and then a series of 500m finals all on the same board. Ian from Auswind STARBOARD sponsored it and provided the boards we will be holding it early next year if you guys want to come across.
Select to expand quoteAndyR said..
Actually just read they all paddled the exact same 12"6 inflatable to keep the field equal.. What a great idea.
Aus needs to introduce sprint races like this
AuSUP and a couple of the state associations and clubs are working on building relationships with other paddle sports to enable 200m and 2km sprint racing on the established sprint courses.
By the way, Connor Baxter won the 14' race to earn fastest paddler title. The one design 12'6" inflatable race was won by Travis.
www.supracer.com/2013-lost-mills-results/
Men?s Elite 14′ FINAL
1st: Connor Baxter (0 minutes 53 seconds 17 one-hundredths)
2nd: Eric Terrien (0:55.94)
3rd: Beau O?Brian (0:56.83)
4th: Arthur Arutkin (0:57.79)
5th: Fabrizio Gasbarro (0:57.89)
6th: Jake Jensen (0:57.89)
7th: Belar Diaz (0:58.21)
8th: Casper Steinfath (0:58.74)
9th: Paul Jackson (0:59.43)
10th: Bart de Zwart (0:59.96)
11th: Travis Grant (1:00.01)
12th: Martin Cervinka (1:00.33)
13th: Stefan Stiefenh?fer (1:01.61)
14th: Jim Terrell (1:02.34)
15th: Pete Holliday (1:02.93)
16th: Christopher Parker (1:03.24)
17th: Christoph Salmhofer (1:03.25)
18th: Carsten Kurmis (1:04.26)
19th: Branislav Sramek (1:04.36)
20th: Chase Kosterlitz (DNS)
Women?s Elite 14′ FINAL
1st: Krisztina Zur (01:05.63)
2nd: Sonni H?nscheid (1:08.97)
3rd: Angela Jackson (1:10.72)
4th: Manca Notar (1:15.17)
5th: Silvia Mecucci (1:16.29)
6th: Sonja Duschek (1:17.50)
7th: Antje Vollmer (1:24.81)
Men?s Mistral One Design Inflatable 12?6″ FINAL
1st: Travis Grant (1:08.18)
2nd: Oliver Hartkopp (1:12.57)
3rd: Rami Zur (1:12.89)
4th: Martin Cervinka (1:13.26)
5th: Marcin Hokusz (1:13.26)
6th: Christopher Parker (1:13.58)
7th: Martijn van Deth (1:16.66)
8th: Ricardo Havershmidt (1:16.66)
9th: Benjamin Swails (1:16.92)
10th: Michael Brauch (1:18.19)
11st: Stephan G?lnitz (1:18.30)
12th: Peter Steinfath (1:18.83)
13th: Eric Jensen (1:19.57)
Women?s Mistral One Design Inflatable 12?6″ FINAL
1st: Krisztina Zur (1:13.63)
2nd: Carla Schellart (1:25.03)
3rd: Marion Rappl (1:26.88)
4th: Sonja Duschek (1:27.68)
5th: Antje Vollmer (1:28.26)
6th: Corinna Kopp (1:44.53)
Sprint SUP is a bit like Race Walking I reckon. Some things just aren't meant to be done quickly.. 1K is a good sprint distance. They look a bit silly to me thrashing away over short distances..
Select to expand quotehusq2100 said..
just another catagory for board makers to be rubbing their hands together... 
Connor won the race on a production board called the Starboard Sprint. It is absolutely made for this sort of racing.
7 seconds between Travis and Connor over 200m , whats up with that. Travis is very fast? Connors board must have been a dedicated flat water racer?Or he is just a freak of nature On the concept of sprint racing 200 500 1000 bring it on , its a great addition to the other formats.Not for everyone , neither are bop or down winders.
Select to expand quoteteatrea said..
7 seconds between Travis and Connor over 200m , whats up with that. Travis is very fast? Connors board must have been a dedicated flat water racer?Or he is just a freak of nature On the concept of sprint racing 200 500 1000 bring it on , its a great addition to the other formats.Not for everyone , neither are bop or down winders.
Looks like only 1st got a watch as a prize, Connor was going to win that one so why bother killing yourself for it and risking injury? The real racing is yet to come.
Travis on the other hand played it smart, took out the Inflatable race and scored a watch anyway.
Select to expand quoteCMC said..teatrea said..
7 seconds between Travis and Connor over 200m , whats up with that. Travis is very fast? Connors board must have been a dedicated flat water racer?Or he is just a freak of nature On the concept of sprint racing 200 500 1000 bring it on , its a great addition to the other formats.Not for everyone , neither are bop or down winders.
Looks like only 1st got a watch as a prize, Connor was going to win that one so why bother killing yourself for it and risking injury? The real racing is yet to come.
Travis on the other hand played it smart, took out the Inflatable race and scored a watch anyway.
Yeah right , maybee everyone should have been on the same board in the elite race. Hardly fair if some get to race a dedicated flat water board while others ride ocean designs. Any way it was only a $7,000 watch and sponsor food up for grabs
Super fun with 200m sprints yesterday. So close!! All elite were on our own 14ft brand boards. The inflatables were 12'6 mistral so most of the sponsored riders were not allowed in the inflstable race.
If u got lucky in 200m u would either have a small tail wind or unluckly and hsve a sire or head wind.
Fun racing and all so tight!
Todays is a 4km race and then the inflable jm survivor race which they now have hopefully opened up to all inflatable brands cos as of yesterday it was mistral boards only for survivor, which suxs coming all this way and we cant race.
Xx
Select to expand quoteangie pangi said..
Super fun with 200m sprints yesterday. So close!! All elite were on our own 14ft brand boards. The inflatables were 12'6 mistral so most of the sponsored riders were not allowed in the inflstable race.
If u got lucky in 200m u would either have a small tail wind or unluckly and hsve a sire or head wind.
Fun racing and all so tight!
Todays is a 4km race and then the inflable jm survivor race which they now have hopefully opened up to all inflatable brands cos as of yesterday it was mistral boards only for survivor, which suxs coming all this way and we cant race.
Xx
That sucks Ang, is their no hope of paranoid sponsors letting their guys race??
Sounds like one-design racing is a still born concept. Hopefully that doesn't kill the possibilities of inflatable racing though. I think it would be great to see an arms race among the major manufacturers to develop the best inflatable technology for international racing.
Select to expand quotePTWoody said..
Sounds like one-design racing is a still born concept. Hopefully that doesn't kill the possibilities of inflatable racing though. I think it would be great to see an arms race among the major manufacturers to develop the best inflatable technology for international racing.
Yeah early days im sure all the little issues will sort themselves out over time.But you can bet your life , IF and when sup attracts big dollars and big stakes.Board specs , classes whatever, will be quickly sorted out
Just to explain why Travis was so far from Connor.
When he did his run the cell didn't start!! So at the finish they told him to go back and do it again with no rest if he wanted to have a time...and he did.
Of course he died at the end of the 2nd run but honnestly my hats off to him.
No complaining, no whinging. A true champ.
Teatree
The event is being run in a lake or river. What kind of board would one have other than flat water boards?
PtWoody
Two weeks ago I talked to the SUP Big guy in Mistral's headquarters, and I told him that this would happen. No sponsors will allow an athlete to promote another brand.
I think that the one design concept is brilliant, just not the one brand.
There should be one design class, and every brand would have a board with those design specifications. This way each athlete would be able to race their sponsors board.
Connor smashed everyone in the sprints and deserved the win, I timed Travis first run and it came in around 59 secs so he was not going to beat Connor anyway. Over 200m Connor made it look easy while the rest of us just splashed our way down the course, it was good fun though and 200m is a long way when you forget to breath!! Lol
Jacko
Select to expand quoteJohnnyMaya said...
Teatree
The event is being run in a lake or river. What kind of board would one have other than flat water boards?
PtWoody
Two weeks ago I talked to the SUP Big guy in Mistral's headquarters, and I told him that this would happen. No sponsors will allow an athlete to promote another brand.
I think that the one design concept is brilliant, just not the one brand.
There should be one design class, and every brand would have a board with those design specifications. This way each athlete would be able to race their sponsors board.
You are right we all knew this was going to be flat water race problem is for people like us aussies is how do you come and do all these events in Europe where they have 12'6 and 14ft races with some in the surf and some in the flat water? For us at fanatic we made a board which I believe is one if the fastest DW 12'6 and 14ft boards around but can still hold its own in the flat water, dc has done the same for trav with his custom dc.To be honast having this board that feels like it does it all seems better than having to buy a board for just one condition. If we bought a board for every condition we will get on this trip I would need about 6 boards!! And more than likely I would get confused and race the wrong one anyway any way so far it's only been the sprints here where Connor would have won weather he was on a fanatic, dc, naish. It will be interesting to see how the longer races pan out.
Jacko
Connor's speed is 13.58km/h! That's full planing the whole way, it must have looked insane! Faster than most our downwinds....
I like the concept of the 200m because it's something anyone anywhere can set up and have a go at.
Agree with the one-design - either the brands have to get over themselves and allow their riders to paddle or it's still born. I'm not sure if I would be too upset if Kai won on a Mistral SUP - he'd still be synomonous with Naish - I don't really get this ostrich approach of pretending there are no other brands in the world....
Select to expand quotePeterP said..
Connor's speed is 13.58km/h! That's full planing the whole way, it must have looked insane! Faster than most our downwinds....
I like the concept of the 200m because it's something anyone anywhere can set up and have a go at.
Agree with the one-design - either the brands have to get over themselves and allow their riders to paddle or it's still born. I'm not sure if I would be too upset if Kai won on a Mistral SUP - he'd still be synomonous with Naish - I don't really get this ostrich approach of pretending there are no other brands in the world....
Here here, I agree. No problems for Trav to paddle one design races either.
Devil's advocate - as a rider sponsor, would you be prepared to pay airfares for your athlete to compete in a race on someone else's board or will you hold back and only fund trips to races where he/she can race on your brand?
It's a no brainer really. The board companies don't have to ban their riders from one-design races. The economics will it do it for them.
Would love to have seen Steve Morrison have a crack there. Wouldn't have at the bottom of that list that's for sure.
Select to expand quotePTWoody said..husq2100 said..
just another catagory for board makers to be rubbing their hands together...
Connor won the race on a production board called the Starboard Sprint. It is absolutely made for this sort of racing.
yes, for now. If there are more flat water sprints paying the dollars, the purpose built boards will come. Its easy, bigger prizes bring the paddlers, which in turn gets the attention of us bums/spectators, which makes sponsors/board makers look deeper. Any form of racing goes this way when any form of equipment is involved.
Teatrea, Connor won because he is the fastest over that distance, and I'm not surprised Trav didnt get him. Heck look how far back JM was...but then again we dont see to many olympic sprinters lining up for a marathon. It is a bit freakish he is quick over both distances. That may change with age....then again, there also could be some quicker sprinters out there that we dont know about that arent any good over 10km or more....
Select to expand quotehusq2100 said..
Teatrea, Connor won because he is the fastest over that distance, and I'm not surprised Trav didnt get him. Heck look how far back JM was...but then again we dont see to many olympic sprinters lining up for a marathon. It is a bit freakish he is quick over both distances. That may change with age....then again, there also could be some quicker sprinters out there that we dont know about that arent any good over 10km or more....
This is what kind of sucks about our sport at the the moment - the powers that be keep insisting that it's appropriate to create events where competitors need to be proficient at both middle distance (4-8km) as well as marathon (20km+). It's only going to get worse with the introduction of sprint racing. It stands to reason people are going to specialise as this jack-of-all-trades policy is holding back the sport.
Select to expand quotePTWoody said..husq2100 said..
Teatrea, Connor won because he is the fastest over that distance, and I'm not surprised Trav didnt get him. Heck look how far back JM was...but then again we dont see to many olympic sprinters lining up for a marathon. It is a bit freakish he is quick over both distances. That may change with age....then again, there also could be some quicker sprinters out there that we dont know about that arent any good over 10km or more....
This is what kind of sucks about our sport at the the moment - the powers that be keep insisting that it's appropriate to create events where competitors need to be proficient at both middle distance (4-8km) as well as marathon (20km+). It's only going to get worse with the introduction of sprint racing. It stands to reason people are going to specialise as this jack-of-all-trades policy is holding back the sport.
yep, id personally rather see the BOP races shorter than 6km etc. leave the longer stuff for the ocean. Anyway, good to see more international racers with some good prizes. And great effort for the Aussies to travel and have a go.
Husq and Johnny Maya , AH i realize you would prefer to race a flat water board in a flat water race , if you had one!You dont bring a knife to a gun fight!Im not saying Connor diidnt deserve his win or wouldnt have won , he is obviousley a very good paddler. But did every other athlete have access to a dedicated flat water board? In my limited experience a dedicated flat water board is a lot faster than one designed for the ocean So if some competitors are advantaged over others , it is clearly not a fair race. This is something sup racing will have to iron out. Lets magnify the stakes 100 times and im sure then every body would be racing the same spec boards with different stickers
On another note, just heard the Aussies smashed it in the 4km race at Lost Mills!
Men's 14ft Elite: 1st Jake Jensen, 2nd Jamie Mitchell, 3rd Paul Jackson
Women's 14ft elite: 2nd Angie Jackson
Men's 12'6 Inflatable: 1st Beau O'Brian
The BIG races are still to come over the weekend, but it sounds like an awesome event catering for everyone.
From my (limited) experience with 200m sprints the engine is 99% of the equation.........at least with the boards available currently. If someone had a fully dedicated sprint machine (like Jim Terrel had a the event in the US) then maybe there would be a point to this. But ultimately you want to beat your mates and you'll bring what you can to achieve this simple goal and I personally see that as a good thing for developing the sport. Then leave the 12'6 inflatable racing to anyone who wants fair racing.
