There are only 56 days until the 2013 Battle of the Paddle lights up Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California… 56 days until the world’s best paddlers will duke it out for the glory and bragging rights that come with winning the Super Bowl of SUP. It’s all happening September 28th & 29th and even though that’s nearly two months away, we figured it’s never too soon to start dissecting every little detail… First up: PRIZE MONEY.

No surprises if you’ve followed the BoP in the past: It’s still $25k and most of that still goes to the main event, the Elite Race. But keep reading to see a full break down of the Battle of the Paddle prize money plus an interesting look at the split in $$ and participation between men and women (just in case the ‘prize money debate’ fire needed any more fuel…).

2013 Battle of the Paddle Prize Money

TOTAL PRIZE PURSE: $25,200 (not sure where that extra $200 came from…)

ELITE RACE: $17,750 (70% of the total prize purse)

Men
1st: $5,000
2nd: $3,000
3rd: $2,000
4th: $1,000
5th: $500

Women
1st: $3,000
2nd: $1,500
3rd: $1,000
4th: $500
5th: $250

DISTANCE RACE: $5,350 (21% of the total prize purse)

Men
1st: $1,500
2nd: $1,000
3rd: $500

Women
1st: $1,250
2nd: $750
3rd: $350

RELAY RACE (9% of the total prize purse)

1st: $1,200
2nd: $600
3rd: $300

…and just in case that whole “prize money debate” needed any more fuel, here’s a breakdown of the Battle of the Paddle prize money and participation between men and women.

PRIZE MONEY SPLIT

TOTAL: $23,100 (not including the mixed-gender relay race)
Men: $14,500 (63%)
Women: $8,600 (37%)

PARTICIPATION SPLIT

(numbers are from the 2012 event)

ELITE RACE TOTAL: 191
Elite Race Men: 142 (74%)
Elite Race Women: 49 (26%)

DISTANCE RACE TOTAL: 337
Distance Race Men: 265 (79%)
Distance Race Women: 72 (21%)

OPEN RACE TOTAL: 398
Open Race Men: 313 (79%)
Open Race Women: 85 (21%)

OVERALL EVENT TOTAL: 926*
Total Men: 720 (78%)
Total Women:  206 (22%)

So basically women make up 22% of the competitors and are awarded 37% of the prize money. I’m not saying whether that’s right or wrong, I’m just sayin…

It’s also interesting to see that women have the highest relative participation in the Elite Race. I was certain that the numbers would have been closer in the Open Race; the theory being that, on average, women are newer to the sport than men and so their numbers should be greater in the beginners’ race. But apparently the opposite is true, at least for last year’s Battle of the Paddle.

* This overall number includes duplicates, so if a paddler entered all three races they were counted three times. Also paddlers that paid their registration but didn’t finish the race aren’t included.