Tahiti’s infamous Iron SUP race was held again on the weekend weekend. For those unfamiliar, this is an event that combines swimming, running and Stand Up Paddling (like an Ironman race but with SUP instead of bike) in what must be a fairly brutal experience. This year the triathlon-style race included a 2k swim, 3k run and 4k SUP on Friday, before following up with an 8km course race on Saturday and a 15km Distance event on Sunday.
Unsurprisingly it was Georges Cronsteadt, Tahiti’s most recognisable paddler and a guy I rate as one of the best in the world, who took out the event. Though looking through the results, Georges clearly had plenty of competition. Just check out the times in the distance race: For example Rete Ebb crossed the line only a few seconds after Georges. I’d never heard of Rete either, but turns out he’s actually Georges’ cousin and also happens to be world champion in long distance V1 racing (rudderless outrigger canoeing). Not a bad résumé.
So yeah, there’s some talent in Tahiti that’s for sure. Kinda scary to think what would happen if we all the Aussie/Hawaiian/American/European paddlers went to Tahiti for a big race (hint: most of us would get seriously smoked). It’s probably a good thing that outrigger canoeing is so insanely popular in Tahiti – that’s the only thing keeping all these uber-talented paddlers from crossing over and focusing on stand up. → READ MORE