Day 3 of the 12 Annual 5-day SUP 11-City Tour
A Cloudy, colder 14 Celcius degrees day greets us in Workum this ‘Humpday’, but Marije ensures “it feels good!” Bart de Zwart was also feeling good joining the LIVE show with Chris Parker. The SUPracer man showed some great images from the Windsurfing Elfstedentocht (organized 10 years in a row up till 1991) that Bart was part of. Missing SUPtember for the first time in 12 years, he reflected on today’s stage: “Time trials show who is the strongest paddler, and I think that is fair”. Back in the day, racers could get a decent result knowing how to draft and ‘stick to the train’ in front of them. Those days are clearly over.
Bart also states just like Bruno and Corien van Rijswijk: ‘This event is more than a race. You want to do good on the water, but it is also about the people. It feels like a family and the best is that everyone here is nice and everyone is helpful to each other. Even when you don’t race, you still want to be here in SUPtember’.
Back to the time trial of today where the slowest competing paddler leaves first and the best ranked athlete leaves last. The last starter was Bruno Hasulyo, who left Workum as if he had pushed a button on his jet pack!
Runner up number 2, Joep did an amazing job losing only a minute and a half on the time trial to Bruno.
Another female ‘jet pack power house’ was Petronella, who took a 2 minutes lead on Tanja Ecker. Ecker was also happy with her performance. ‘I was feeling strong and wind in the back was nice, but the reeds in the water sticking behind your fin (like yesterday) were a bit annoying’.
How about paddling your heart out for 11 kilometers, and then continue to RACE for a remaining 30 k’s? ‘A diverse day-stage’ this day 3 sounds about right.
To stick to our podium fighters today; it is interesting to mention that Joep and Bruno raced and finished together by the ‘Elfstedenbruggetje’ after the restart in Bolsward.
The women fleet got more cosy with Petronella, Tanja and Wietske Kuipers in a train. However, after Harlingen, Van Malsen put the paddle to the medal on ‘Het van Haringsma Kanaal’ where the big barges are docked and driving. She took an extra 1.5 minutes lead from Bolsward where some classic
‘Bell Ringing’ was happening in front of headquarters & sponsor Sonnema.
Shining some green light on a very important Tour paddler, we are grateful Hugo Vernhout is with us; dedicated to grab all the trash from the 200 km Frisian waterways. ‘It is too bad, because I found way too much trash today’ Hugo shares. Starting a Global Virtual Clean UP last Monday, the SUP11 event is documenting ‘trash finds’ all around the world till Sunday September 13 (for those who have not joined yet.
We all enjoy paddling and feeling better when we play outside. Giving back to Mama Nature, doing clean ups and live a sustainable lifestyle is something we like to inspire. And that brings us to Zimba-Arts https://zimba-arts.com who has given us very cool ‘fair trade’ prices; made by African artist and made from trash finds; flip flops found in Kenya or wires and materials recycled and saved from the landvills. Mahalo.
Too bad daily price-givings are not a possibility due to Covid-19. It was always nice to celebrate the daily champs after dinner, massages and ‘talking battle stories’ together. Marije Elgersma stated: ‘It is also cool to give the winners a mention of honor by the skippers meeting the following day before they need to race. It motivates them to go hard again’.
Congrats to everyone finishing today over a stretch of 40+ kilometers, enjoying the glide or going hard.
Tour paddlers Corien, Margreet and Abe were the last ones to cross the finish line after 7:35 hours on the water. And they did it in great style and with a lot of fun, escorted by 3 of the safety boats into sunny smiling Franeker.
And that’s a wrap for today. We will see you back online with SUPracers LIVE SHOW at 8:30 am Franeker time. Goran Gustavsson from Sweden who paddled the NON-stop and the 5 day event last year, will be his guest.