Race Recap: B'More SUP Cup Race Series #3
Last Saturday was the final race in B’More SUP’s 2021 series. It offered the longest courses at 4 and 8 miles, and perhaps the hottest weather of the season. Here’s our recap.
Meredith’s Race
I thought the Chesapeake Stand Up Challenge was my toughest race of the season. Boy was I wrong.
I went into this race feeling confident. It’s a flatwater race where my board really comes alive and I had a lot less nerves on Saturday morning because I was genuinely excited to be on the water racing. And things really started off well. I had a great start and was in the lead pack of women (in second position, actually) going into the first buoy turn. That’s when things started to go downhill.
My first buoy turn was a disaster. As a goofy-footed paddler, I was overly confident and overly excited that this race offered the rare right-shoulder buoy turns. In my head, I was going to step back on my board and whip around that first buoy. In reality, I didn’t step back far enough and my sweep was really just a forward stroke. I could tell in the moment everything I was doing was ineffective. And I could definitely see it in pictures after the fact. Cringe! The result: two people passed me to take second and third place.
From there I hustled hard to maintain a close distance behind the third place female, but about 1 mile into the race I began to cramp up and started to feel sick. Never once have I stopped in the middle of a race to assess my health or ability to complete a course. I stopped twice on Saturday. Evidently I looked bad enough for the support boat to pull up and ask if I was okay. I’m really appreciative to Jessie and her crew at B’More SUP for checking in and keeping an eye on me throughout the race.
After splashing myself with water and then later taking five restorative paddle strokes on my knees, I decided to get back up and just finish the race, no matter my placement at the finish line. Once my cramps subsided I felt like I caught a second wind and from there, I made a choice to try to maintain my fourth place position. While it wasn’t my prettiest race and I’m disappointed in both my buoy turns and my body’s reaction to the conditions, I’m really proud that I stuck with it (paddle for the orange crushes, amirite?) and really pleased I finished where I did - fourth in my category and ninth overall.
Scott’s Race
I went into this race with the same goal as last time - finish in the top 10. I knew it was going to be a long, tough paddle and the question was how to go hard without overdoing it. And to game out how others might handle the conditions.
Even though it was a flatwater race, I had two unexpected, surprising falls - one about a minute after the start and the other at one of the buoy turns - that cost me at least two spots. That was one of the most frustrating parts of the race and I need to do some analysis to figure out why it happened.
In the end, I’m really happy with my performance and finished 7th. Goal accomplished.
At the end of the day, no matter what happened on the water, it’s always all about what happens off it. We had a great time, as usual, hanging out and celebrating with our friends.
Our race season is slowly winding down, but there are still opportunities ahead. Here are some of the upcoming local races:
Paddle With A Purpose, August 22, hosted by Capital SUP
Paddle Second Chance, September 11, hosted by Warrior Community Connect
Bay Bridge Paddle, September 26, hosted by ABC Events
Round the Rocks Race, October 9, hosted by Chesupeake
And while it’s not a local race, we have to plug the Carolina Cup on November 6 in Wrightsville Beach, NC. This year’s race has been postponed since spring of 2020, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it’ll finally happen this fall. It’s one of our favorites!
Any other racers out there reflect on your performance? What lessons did you learn from this last one? We’d love to hear!
