For the 7th Annual Surf to Sound Challenge in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, defending champions April Zilg and Larry Cain stepped up to the plate to once again to win their fifth and third Surf to Sound Challenge titles.
North Carolina’s only world-ranked stand up paddler will pursue her third consecutive Surf to Sound Challenge championship in Wrightsville Beach, Nov. 3-5, 2017. April Zilg, ranked 11th on the global Top-50 Women index by SUP Racer, is from Wilmington.
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC – Larry Cain is a paddle monster. At age 21, Cain captured the Gold medal in sprint canoe for Canada in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games. Today, at age 54, Cain is three-time and reigning standup paddleboard champion in the 31-mile Tennessee River Chattajack, and winner of four of the past six titles in the elite 6.5-mile North Carolina Surf to Sound Challenge.
A scant 6-seconds at the finish line separated Canadians Larry Cain and Tamás Buday Jr. in their exciting rematch at North Carolina's 2016 Surf to Sound Challenge. Cain, an Olympic Gold Medalist and inductee into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, regained the men's championship from fellow Olympian Buday, posting a time of 1-hour 12-minutes 35-seconds in the 6.5-mile ocean to sound elite paddle board competition. Cain has captured the Surf to Sound Championship four times with Buday winning twice.
Steadily climbing in the SUP Racer World Rankings, ninth-place April Zilg will defend her championship on home surf in Wrightsville Beach at the 2016 Surf to Sound Challenge, Nov. 4-6.
Every year in the men's division, and the past two years in the women's division, Canadians captured the top standup paddle board victories in the punishing 6.5-mile Surf to Sound Challenge. Now celebrating its' 5th anniversary, the family-friendly USA-Canada rivalry resumes in Wrightsville Beach, NC, November 6-8, 2015.
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, North Carolina - Under sunny skies with mild temperatures in the mid-60's, over 150 competitors from eight states, the Virgin Islands and Canada participated in the 3rd Annual North Carolina Surf to Sound Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 16.