“ We spent seven days at Lake Garda, enjoying some beautiful paddling and exploring on the lake, as well as taking in some great bike rides.”
PADDLER 33
“ We spent seven days at Lake Garda, enjoying some beautiful paddling and exploring on the lake, as well as taking in some great bike rides.”
It was incredible to be around the athletes and be able to watch up close their different techniques, beach starts and how they deal with the pressures on competition day. These athletes have been, and continue to be, truly inspirational to me.
WELL-EARNED REST
The day after Sarah and I took a well-earned rest day instead of competing in the distance race, it was so, so hot and paddling around the lake for three laps wasn’ t appealing. It was appealing to over 300 other paddlers, though, and we were able to watch them and see the winners come in right on the small beach at the venue. You can learn a great deal from watching others race.
Day four of the event was Tech racing and held on a different‘ bigger’ beach at the lake- not much bigger to be fair, but certainly enough for ten paddlers to start together and surrounded by a couple of jetties for excellent viewing. Matty from Total SUP was on the mic all weekend and invited me to join him at some point. Having worked with him before, I would not let the opportunity pass!
AUSTRIA
On the day of my birthday, we left Italy to travel to Austria, taking scenic routes through the mountains. We stopped by a wonderful cheese factory, where we had lunch and purchased some treats. Arriving later at Faaker See, our accommodation could not have been better – right on the lake and only 200 yards by paddleboard to reach the race venue! That evening, we wandered down to register, grab our race vests and catch up with old and new friends. A‘ city’ race had been held that day in nearby Villach as part of the festival, and just before prize-giving, the race director and his team organised for me to appear on the podium for a lovely rendition of‘ Happy Birthday’ in my honour – so sweet!
SPRINT COMPETITION
The next day, the competition started in earnest for Sarah and me with the sprints – we had not appreciated that these would be run in a different format to the norm, and we both fell in love with the idea immediately. We all wore timing chips, joined the queue, and when ready, sprinted off the beach individually, around a buoy, and back onto the beach. A total of 200 metres, and you could sprint as many times as you liked! It was perfect. Quite tactical too, amongst the pros, especially as your time would show immediately, and therefore you would know where you stood against others. It was a very cool format, and I managed to come away with a gold medal in my age category. Sarah Perkins bagged a well-deserved bronze in hers.
PADDLER 33