ISA World Stand UP Paddle Board Championships, Sayulita Mexico
Posted on May 22, 2015 - Filed Under Surftech Boards | By Surf Commission
ISA World Stand UP Paddle Board Championships, Sayulita Mexico – Report from Ollie Shilston Surftech Team Rider
Arriving
The first few days in Mexico were very fun. We spent time trying to get used to the heat and get some light training in at the competition site in Sayulita. We stayed at a nice little place two minutes walk from the beach, this made things easy.
The opening ceremony was pretty cool, with all the teams attending the parade through the streets of Sayulita in front of huge crowds, and we watched lots of local dancing at the nations flag parade.
Distance Race
The distance race was a tough in a high quality field, I came 25th in the 20k race. I had a poor start and only just got onto the back of the draft train before quickly dropping off it after the guy in front of me lost contact with it. This left me in a difficult position between two large groups of paddlers. I paddled hard to stay in front of the group behind, but fell back from the main leading group. I was disappointed to say the least but tried to stay positive for the weekend technical race. The training I have missed before the race due to illness didn’t help in the extreme heat and bumpy waters.
The Technical heat
I had a good day on the Saturday making it through to the technical final. It was really tough racing, with only the top 12, from each heat making it through to the final. The race was in waist high waves around a tight course with plenty of buoy turns and was very hot! I had a good start and got amongst the top of the field. I battled hard all the way around trying not to make any mistakes and safely made it through. The level of competition was really high this year so I was very pleased to make my third final in three years at this event.
The Technical Final
We were packed in tight on the start line with large crowds surrounding us. I had a bad start due to a dog running out in fount of me, I was a little startled and expected the race to be restarted. After realising it wasn’t going to restart I had some ground to make up. I paddled hard up to the first bouy turn, reducing the gap between me and the other paddlers. Each lap we had to come in through the surf and run around a chicane on the beach, this is where I was able to make some ground up. On the last lap I pushed hard amongst a large group and finished 21st.
SUP Polo
Team Gb got the chance to compete in the World SUP Polo Tournament. This was a new, fun event for anyone to join in. It was a bit of fun outside the main competition, we got 3rd place.
Team GB
It was fantastic being part of Team GB this year. The team gelled well together and battled hard against some very tough opposition. We finished 15th overall and 3rd european country, with a relatively small team. In the future, team GB needs to commit to sending a full SUP and prone team.
This event in my opinion was by far the best ISA World SUP Championship i’ve attended. The Mexican crowds were amazing and really created a great atmosphere.
One of the difficult things about attending this event is getting equipment to the event. For the past three years this has been a huge challenge to me. Unfortunately when traveling back to the UK, the airline snapped my race board, this is a constant battle we face when trying to race internationally.
Ollie Shilston – Surftech Team Rider
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