Wow, what a weekend that was over at the British Canoeing Event in Nottingham as they hosted GBSUP for the ‘British National SUP Sprint Championships. Both the men and ladies had to set a fastest time over 2 rounds, with each round having 3 heats of competitors.

With the fastest nine racers from each of the men and ladies categories going forward to compete in the final. They each had about an hour of recovery time between heats, which with the amazing sunny weather on the day was definitely needed.

There was some serious racing going on and some epic battles in some of the heats, some results as you can see below were so close to call from the side lines. It was so exciting to watch. In some of the heats the men were so close to breaking the minute barrier over the 200m and I am sure some of them have gone away planning how to break this barrier for next year at the National SUP Sprint Championships.

You can see below in the table all of the results from the heats. Use the search or sort buttons to view the information.

After the heats had concluded, we sat down and worked out the 9 fastest ladies and mens who were going to reach the final. The final topped off the day of racing and each final was closely fought by all of the racers who qualified.

But there can only be one winner in each category. Below are the results from the finals.

The ladies results from the final are below with Holly Pye being crowned ladies National Sprint Series Champion.

The mens results from the final are below with Ben Pye retaining his crown as mens National Sprint Series Champion.

Roll on 2022 for another National Sprint Championships.

Photo credits to SUPJunkie and SUPTOG.

GBSUP Launch RNLI Supporting Tech Tees

Following the creation of our partnership with the RNLI at the back end of 2020 we have been thinking throughout 2021 of ways to support the RNLI and raise some very important funding that they need to continue to save lives and educate the UK on water safety.

We have all seen a huge upsurge in people taking up Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) over the last couple of years. This explosion has not just been limited to SUP use; other water sports have seen a similar type of growth. The result of this has been the RNLI are now attending more and more shouts with people getting into difficulty and amongst those are Stand Up Paddle boarders.

Hand drawn RNLI Lifeboat

Following the success of Lauren Newman-Warren one of the GBSUP team who was raising money by doing her own personal triathlon challenge down in Ramsgate we focused on an awesome way of raising money and giving you something that shows our awesome partnership.

We have had a specially hand draw design of an RNLI Lifeboat produced, which we have used to create a Technical Training T-Shirt that you can all use when out paddling or really any other sporting activity.

Our tech tee is a unisex relaxed fit with UPF30+ rated protection, quick-drying, moisture-wicking, and 2-way stretch to cope with whatever you through at it.

Unisex Relaxed Fit

£10 from every sale will be donated to the RNLI

Help us, help the RNLI and buy one of these Awesome Tees.

HELP US SHAPE THE FUTURE OF GBSUP

This will be used as a critical part of shaping the 2022 GBSUP National Series and beyond.

Our 2021 survey will help us understand what our GBSUP family wants from the National Series as we move forward into 2022. It is completely anonymous and should take under 10 minutes.

Use this link to open the survey

We have all seen a huge upsurge in people taking up Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) over the last year. The explosion has not just been limited to SUP use; other water sports have seen a similar type of growth. The result of this has been the RNLI are now attending more and more shouts with people getting into difficulty and amongst those are Stand Up Paddle boarders.

Here we can see some of these amazing RNLI rescues through 2020 that you can read about:

Margate’s two RNLI lifeboats and RNLI lifeguards rescue paddle boarders

Abersoch RNLI rescue teenage paddleboarder swept out to sea

Hoylake RNLI lifeboat volunteers rescue paddle boarders drifting out to sea

The RNLI continues to rely on voluntary contributions and legacies for its income. 93% of their total income comes from donations and support like ours, which in 2019 helped launch 8,941 lifeboat rescues, aid over 29,000 beachgoers and respond to 17,356 incidents. It cost £181.5M to run the RNLI lifesaving service in 2019, which is no small amount.

The RNLI is a registered charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates over 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and, in a normal year, more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands.

We all know that the GBSUP National Race Series is a water focused sport, with different types of craft, including SUP and Prone boards entering the water for racing, training and general activities throughout the year. Water safety is a high priority for us all and is something we should all have the best possible knowledge of.

One of the many focuses that GBSUP has within its awesome community of participants is to promote safe water use, whilst keeping the enjoyment for all those out on the water. This has been highlighted over the course of the past 12 months by a number of accidents and prominent press coverage that we now see for our sport.

Over the years it has become clear that the RNLI does not limit the amazing work it does to just our coastlines, when performing rescues and saving lives, it is also pioneering water safety and prevention through education work and the sharing of vital information.

We at GBSUP thought it would be amazing if we and the RNLI could develop a partnership that would enable the RNLI to share water safety advice and guidance from their own life saving knowledge to our community and we show our love and support in return by raising awareness and much needed money so they can keep their services saving lives.

Over the next year we at GBSUP have formed this partnership with the RNLI and we are raising money in aid of them and the amazing work that they do. Every donation will help in saving lives and continue the drive on water safety. We will see the RNLI at some of our events through 2021 sharing their knowledge and raising awareness and they will be working with us in our online social media on a range of relevant safety topics.

We all wanted to work together and do our bit

Help this great organisation keep us safe

Join us all here at GBSUP in making a difference

Here is some of the latest guidance on water safety during the current lockdown

The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.