Our next two events will also include our prize raffle , which has seen exceptional support from our friends across the industry this year . We thank them for their support as they have helped us raise over £ 2,500 . The biggest prize donated to date comes from Dave Ewer at Reactive watersports , who donated a brand new Aztron Isup board into our Falmouth raffle – thank you , Dave .
GBSUP ’ s new direction
One of the goals of the new GBSUP formation is to modernise our events and bring in a higher level of standardisation . We believe this will allow our sport to grow and ensure that competitors find new motivation and progression each year .
A key part of this is the ownership of organising the events in-house . This has
allowed us to implement a new event model , which has been successful so far . We are , after all , a small team of volunteers who run GBSUP , and our event hosts are more often than not fitting into the same boat .
The first test of this model was last year ’ s Viking Bay Classic which was implemented quickly with the need to finish the 2021 Tech Series . After a successful test , the event paperwork is now templated so that a plug-and-play approach can be taken across our event planning .
It ’ s not just our national series benefiting from this new direction , with the Northern SUP , South East and Wales events all involved in our Regional Series pilot model . We have plans to expand this model across the South West and other locations into 2023 through our Race From A Box initiative . If you are interested in running races locally , please contact us about our support .
A final word
Thank you to all our supporters and friends . The GBSUP operation is , after all , for the paddlers , and we can ’ t thank you enough . We look forward to our next events and hopefully seeing you and more newcomers joining the fun .
Please check out our new website for 2022 , where you will find our races , results , media and more , plus how you can get involved and help us meet our goals for the future .
https :// www . gbsup . co . uk
2022 so far …
Whilst the consensus is one of success for 2022 , we are the biggest critics of ourselves , and we have already learned plenty of lessons this year . 2022 has been a foundation year for us to get up to speed with running the national races , forming new partnerships and identifying areas that need our support .
Here are some of our achievements this year so far :
• Coordinated the 2022 Distance and Technical Series
• Organising the partnership with British Canoeing to continue with the National Champs at Nottingham in September ( Sprint and Distance National Champs ).
• Implemented a pilot scheme for GBSUP Regional Series and racing .
• Created our Race From A Box initiative to support new races and organisers .
• Established regular junior activity and racing and some of our national series events .
• Supporting clubs with growing junior racing through direct coaching support and organiser consulting .
• Parachuted in the Falmouth Bay Open event for July 2022 after the Carbis Bay event was cancelled .
• Created a new website to start bringing all relevant GBSUP information to one source .
• Coordinated the selection events and criteria for ISA worlds & ICF Champs .
• Established the GBSUP series as the recognised provider for SUP events and international team selection with British Canoeing .
• Coordinated four APP London wildcard entries through our Distance Series results .
• Created new event documentation , risk assessments , race director guides and more from scratch .
There is more we want to achieve throughout 2022 , and our list continues to grow as we understand the series and market requirements further as leaders of the national series .
If you have any queries on the changes or want to get involved , please reach out to Adrian , Phil or Scott directly or email info @ gbsup . co . uk .
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