The Paddle League Joins Together 50 Races and Unifies SUP Racing

SAN DIEGO, California - The Paddle League has revealed “stage two” of its plan to help unify the sport, bringing together 41 regional events across 24 nations in a bid to provide a more stable foundation for the future of stand up paddling. After announcing the 9 major stops of The Paddle League World Tour in January, which includes big international events such as the Carolina Cup and Gorge Paddle Challenge, the addition of these 41 “Regionals” completes the Season 2018 race schedule, bringing the total number of independent events in The League to 50.

The Paddle League Regionals include a huge variety of locations - from France to Finland, Key West to Kiev and Brazil to the Basque Country - plus a smorgasbord of unique formats: downwinders, beach races, marathons, river races and plenty of flat water, entry-level events for paddlers of all levels.

There are familiar names such as Maui2Molokai in Hawaii, the Key West Classic in Florida and San Francisco’s Battle of the Bay, as well as new frontiers like river racing in the Czech Republic (Krumlovsky Vodacky), the Kiev Open in Ukraine and other new stops from Singapore to South Africa and Taiwan to Thailand.

Left: Stop in Greece on the Eurotour. Photo: Georgia Schofield / Right: Villefranche Paddle Festival. Photo: Villefranche Paddle Race

The Paddle League has also partnered with the established authority in European paddling, the EuroTour, to help further unify the sport. Each stop of the EuroTour will award athletes with world ranking points as the sport’s two biggest tours join forces in a new era for SUP. One of the biggest events in the world, the 1000+ participant Aloha Spirit Festival in Brazil, becomes a post-season regional major as The Paddle League expands to support one of the largest and most passionate paddling nations.

Charity events such as Paddle Imua, Jersey’s Round Island Challenge and the massive SEA Paddle NYC are all part of The Paddle League platform as well, with the aim of supporting the events that support the sport.

“The core aim of The Paddle League is to help unify the sport and reconnect with those awesome grassroots events that really give stand up paddling its base,” says Tour Commissioner and ageless athlete Kelly Margetts. “We want to support and help elevate these classic regional races. We’re pumped that so many great events want to be involved in this project.”

Another goal of The League is to make life easier for traveling athletes by attaching a regional stop to each of the majors, for example with the Gorge Paddle Challenge in Oregon being complimented by the Vancouver SUP Challenge over the border in Canada, and the Waterman Tour Tahiti event falling one week after the Air France Paddle Festival.

Kids race at the Aloha Spirit Festival. | Photo: Aloha Spirit Brasil

The 50 events, which will likely grow in the coming weeks as more regional races are finalized, will all contribute points to the new interlinked Paddle League World Rankings, the new name/new home of the original SUP Racer World Rankings.

While the big points and the key arc of The Paddle League storyline will focus on the 9x major World Tour showdowns, the 41x Regionals will play a key role in shaping the extended rankings and building a broader platform for the sport.

Rankings mastermind Christopher Parker told us The Paddle League is simply a logical next step for the original system.

“The world rankings were created half a decade ago not just because I love analysing the stats, but because we all wanted to help bring some structure to stand up paddling. I look at the world rankings as the common thread that connects all the existing pieces of the puzzle -- all the great independent events that are the true pillars of our sport. And The Paddle League is the next step, so I’m pretty stoked the original system has evolved to where it is today: the basis of a legit world tour.”

Points have been fairly evenly spread between three key regions: the U.S., Europe and the “Rest of the World,” with the goal of making The Paddle League World Rankings as open and accessible to all paddlers no matter what their level or location.

The 24 nations participating in The Paddle League this year are Australia, the Basque Country, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Tahiti, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S. and Ukraine. The Regionals will run all year long from the GlaGla Race in January to the King of the Cut in December, while the major World Tour stops focus on the six-month international season from April til October. The highlight of the Northern summer is expected, as always, to be the 10-week EuroTour from May to July.

Left: Vancouver SUP Challenge. Photo: Lech Doleki / Glagla Race. Photo: Alpine Lakes Tour

The Paddle League will be crowning its world champions in October (or earlier if the title race is decided before the final stops), while the 5x races in the “post-season” will count towards Season 2019. Following the pre-season campaign that featured regional stops in Australia, New Zealand, France and California, The Paddle League World Tour begins with this weekend’s major Air France Paddle Festival in Tahiti, which will be streamed on The Paddle

League via Facebook Live from 11am local time on Saturday April 7.

Follow The Paddle League on Facebook and Insta for more coverage.

Paddle League 2018 Schedule

#	Date	Event	Location	Region	Rating	Points
1	January 21	GlaGla Race	France	Europe	4-star	40
2	February 17	Sydney SUP Festival	Sydney	South Pacific	2-star	20
3	March 3	12 Towers	Queensland	South Pacific	4 star	40
4	March 23-24	Villefranche Paddle Festival	France	Europe	2-star	20
5	March 23-24	Hoe Toa Paddle Festival	New Zealand	South Pacific	2-star	20
6	March 24	Santa Cruz Paddlefest	California	North America	3-star	30
7	April 7	Air France Paddle Festival	Tahiti	South Pacific	Major	100
8	April 7	Thailand SUP Festival	Thailand	Asia	1-star	10
9	April 14	Waterman Tour Tahiti: Paparā	Tahiti	South Pacific	4-star	40
10	April 21	Quiksilver Waterman Carolina Cup	North Carolina	North America	Major	100
11	April 28	OluKai Ho'olaule'a	Hawaii	Hawaii	Specialty	60
12	April 28	Key West Classic	Florida	North America	3-star	30
13	April 28	Florence Paddle Games	Italy	Europe	1-star	10
14	May 5	Paddle Imua	Hawaii	North America	2-star	20
15	May 5	Taiwan Paddle Games	Taiwan	Asia	1-star	10
16	May 6	EuroTour: Battle of the Coast	Netherlands	Europe	2-star	20
17	May 12	Kerama Blue Cup in Zamami	Japan	Asia	Major	100
18	May 12	EuroTour: Namur	Belgium	Europe	2-star	20
19	May 19	EuroTour: Vendee Gliss	France	Europe	3-star	30
20	May 19	Treasure Island Pirate Paddle	New Jersey	North America	1-star	10
21	May 26	EuroTour: Crete	Greece	Europe	3-star	30
22	June 2	EuroTour: Alicante	Spain	Europe	4-star	40
23	June 2	Bay Bridge Paddle	Maryland	North America	3-star	30
24	June 2	EuroTour: San Sebastian	Basque Country	Europe	4-star	40
25	June 9	Battle on the Blueway	Florida	North America	1-star	10
26	June 16	Iberdrola Bilbao Paddle Challenge (EuroTour)	Basque Country	Europe	Major	100
27	June 16	Return to Goat Island	Maryland	North America	1-star	10
28	June 23	Hossegor Paddle Games (EuroTour)	France	Europe	Major	100
29	June 24	Stand Up for the Hooch	Georgia	North America	1-star	10
30	June 30	Mercedes-Benz SUP World Cup (EuroTour)	Germany	Europe	Major	100
31	July 7	EuroTour: Finland	Finland	Europe	2-star	20
32	July 14	Maui2Molokai	Hawaii	Hawaii	4-star	40
33	July 14	Canadian Downwind Championships	Canada	North America	1-star	10
34	July 14	Jersey Round Island Challenge	Jersey	Europe	1-star	10
35	July 14	The Kiev Open	Ukraine	Europe	1-star	10
36	August 4	Stand Up For The Lake	Vermont	North America	1-star	10
37	August 11	OABI Detroit	Michigan	North America	1-star	10
38	August 11	Vancouver SUP Challenge	Canada	North America	3-star	30
39	August 11	Zinkwazi Dam Race	South Africa	Africa	2-star	20
40	August 11	SEA Paddle NYC	New York	North America	3-star	30
41	August 19	Hong Kong International	Hong Kong	Asia	2-star	20
42	August 18-19	Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge	Oregon	North America	Major	100
43	Sept. 5-9	SUP 11 City Tour	Netherlands	Europe	Specialty	60
44	Sept. 29	Battle of the Bay	California	North America	4-star	40
45	October 6	Chucktown Showdown	South Carolina	North America	1-star	10
--	October 6-7	Pacific Paddle Games presented by Salt Life	California	North America	Honorary	100
		(Note: The PPGs is an "honorary points race" and not part of the core tour)
46	October 13	Krumlovský Vodácký Maraton	Czech Republic	Europe	1-star	10
47	Nov. 3	Surf to Sound	North Carolina	U.S.	1-star	10
48	Nov. 23-25	Aloha Spirit Festival	Brazil	South America	4-star	40
49	December	Singapore Ocean Cup	Singapore	Asia	1-star	10
50	December	King of the Cut	Perth	South Pacific	4-star	40