We’re just 72 hours away from what is guaranteed to be the coolest SUP race of the year (pun intended), the Aragas “Magallanes Paddle Challenge” in Patagonia, Chile.

This is the first stop of the 2013 Stand Up World Series, which is clearly jumping in at the deep end as paddlers will battle for $20,000 in a ridiculously awesome location. But here’s the coolest part: 45% of that $20k goes to the winner, meaning one paddler will walk away with $9,000 in their hands. Not bad for a weekend’s work…

That’s big. One of the single biggest winners’ checks ever in fact. And from all reports we can expect quite a few more $9k prizes being handed out during this year’s World Series.

But who’s going to claim it?

Connor Baxter and Kai Lenny will be renewing their SUP racing rivalry on the iceberg lake and should start favourites, though don’t look past Casper Steinfath… The young Danish Viking is no doubt still on a post-Peru high, having shown against Jamie Mitchell and co that he can match it with (and beat) the best in the world.

No matter who wins the $9,000 though, we’ll keep you posted with photos, videos and full results of the race over the weekend. In the meantime take a look at the Magallanes Paddle Challenge video promo to see what’s in store…