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The international paddlers led the way at the front in the men ’ s fleet with the UK ’ s Hector Jessel in hot pursuit . Out front , Donato took the win from Blue , with Arthur Arutkin coming in third . Hector Jessel claimed fourth in front of Bastian , with James Rowe continuing his good form to take sixth . The BotB event was held this year , honouring a local paddler , Mark ‘ Slasher ’ Slater . Seeing his old paddling clubmates turn out for a run in the morning distance race was great . on board to help steer GBSUP forward . With this structure in place , Adrian took the decision to step down as chair , and whilst this leaves a sizeable hole to fill , the team has really stepped up to the plate , and GBSUP has taken another step forward as we look to continue building the level of national competition in the UK .
The Return of the Battle of the Bay – race report 2024 marked the return of one of the UK ’ s classic races , The Battle of the Bay . Headlined by Black Project , the event drew a high calibre field with the BP international men ’ s team that headed to our shores with Bastian Grimm , Arthur Arutkin and World number one Donato Freens , lining up alongside our very own Blue Ewer .
Distance race : The course was set to make the most of the wind with a triangular layout , including an upwind and downwind leg with a total distance of just under 10km .
One of the highlights of this year ’ s series has been the strength of the ladies ’ fleet , and the BotB was no exception , with another close and hard-fought race at the front for top honours . Annabel Page continued her form to take the win from Ginnie Betts and Holly Pye in third . Vee Jay came home in fourth , with Julie Smith visiting us during her trip from Australia , taking fifth spot . Whilst the ladies ’ fleet is smaller than the men ’ s in terms of overall numbers , it ’ s not lacking depth and was a real stand out of the day ’ s action .
We continued to see newcomers getting involved in the Challenge Tour , trying out racing over a reduced distance , completing around 4.5km for the BotB distance race . Max Tee and Jacques Thomas battled for the fastest junior , with Max taking the honours .
Tech race : After a short lunch stop , we were into our afternoon tech race . Our paddlers didn ’ t disappoint , giving passersby and casual spectators a real showcase of SUP racing . The event was in front of the local beach cafe at Friars Cliff in Christchurch , ensuring we had a captive audience throughout the day .
Blue Ewer took the top step after a sprint finish , with Donato second and Arthur third . Hector , Bastian and James Rowe rounded out the top six in a close-run race across the fleet . What has been inspirational this year has been the willingness of our competitors to get stuck , especially with multi-race days such as the BotB . Tech racing is very different to a distance course as is flatwater to beach racing , so seeing the likes of John Oliver pushing his boundaries at a beach tech race is truly inspirational .
Annabel Page made it two from two in the ladies ’ fleet , with Holly pipping Ginnie for second and Julie Smith and Vee-Jay rounding out the top five . Lydia Clifton and Louise Court led home Sarah Pekins and Claire Terry in a close battle for sixth in another action-packed race .
In the Juniors , Max shone and stormed away . Ben and Dan Brookes joined Jacques in the 12-15 category , with the three of them finishing very respectively and getting in between the adult Challenge Tour paddlers to show them how it ’ s done .