October 25, 2014
by Christopher Parker (@wheresbossman)

RESULTS: WPA Paddle Champs – Danny Ching, April Zilg, Ryan Helm Take The Wins


 
The 2014 WPA Paddle Championships is happening today at St. Pete Beach in Florida, with a couple of big names going for the cash and plenty of locals trying to keep up.

Following the Battle of the Paddle tradition, this afternoon (Saturday) sees the Elite Course Race while tomorrow it’s the distance event.

Right now it’s just after 1pm on Saturday and the main event is about to hit the water (with the likes of Danny Ching and Chase Kosterlitz starting as favourites) so check back shortly to see how it all went down

UPDATED FULL RESULTS below

Saturday – Course Race: Danny takes the win ahead of Ryan Helm and Chase, while April Zilg is the fastest of the women.

Sunday – Distance Race: Looks like Danny did the OC-1 division while Chase sat out this race (Chase has a pretty good excuse – he’s getting married today), which left the door open for Ryan to claim the win. Meanwhile April – a North Carolina paddler that probably doesn’t get the recognition she deserves outside of the East Coast – made it a clean sweep in the women’s.

Scroll down for the full results.

PHOTOS: Full event gallery | Day 2 gallery

The Paddle Championships is the year-end, showcase event for the WPA, or World Paddle Association. It’s an event with quite a bit of history, dating back several years to the original “Hennessey’s Paddleboard World Championships” in California (an event that helped lay the foundation for SUP racing as we know it). The WPA Championships were originally known as the World Championships but that moniker has since been dropped, with the event losing its appeal as a serious elite race in the past few years.

While they’ve done some great things in the USA, the WPA was never successful in expanding internationally, which is somewhat of an issue when your organisation starts with the word World. At a time when stand up paddle racing resembles the Wild West more than an organised sport, it’ll be interesting to see where the WPA fits in the future.

But for now, let’s save the debate and celebrate the 2014 Paddle Championship race for what it is: A race.

RESULTS: 2014 WPA Paddle Championships @ St. Pete

MEN’S ELITE COURSE RACE (14′ boards)

#NameTime
1Danny Ching0:47:55
2Ryan Helm0:48:48
3Chase Kosterlitz0:49:17
4Kieran Grant0:52:36
5Bill Kraft0:53:43
6William Swezey Jr0:54:05
7Matt Arensman0:54:47
8Byron Kurt0:55:43
9Austin Hollingshead0:56:28
10Brian Meyer0:56:46
11Mark Athanacio0:56:52
12Christopher Norman0:57:18
13Jeramie Vaine0:57:45
14Colin Mcphillips0:58:47
15Garrett Fletcher0:59:12
16Cristian Prado1:00:59
17John O'hara1:01:25
18Tyler Marshall1:05:34
19Gavin Ross1:06:41
20Nathaniel Richard1:09:10
21Corey Curtis1:11:47
22Jason Colclough1:14:58
23Heath Marston1:16:37
24Ricardo Chiari1:16:54
25Ian Ross1:16:58
26Stephen Chase1:17:28
27Mark Ingemi1:18:58
28Conrad Garcia1:26:21
29Al Simmons1:27:08

WOMEN’S ELITE COURSE RACE (12’6 boards)

#NameTime
1April Zilg0:51:11
2Helga Goebel0:52:08
3Kimberly Barnes0:53:52
4Dani Schmidt0:57:47
5Mary Scheerer0:59:23
6Melissa Trinidad0:59:31
7Bernadette Leach0:59:45
8Lexi Alston1:01:38
9Shari Hymes1:07:10

DISTANCE RACE

#NameTimeClass#Division
1Ryan Helm1:09:31Men's 14'140-491
2Garrett Fletcher1:10:35Men's 14'218-391
3Kieran Grant1:11:26Men's 14'318-392
4Jeramie Vaine1:11:29Men's 14'418-393
5Christopher Norman1:11:39Men's 14'518-394
6Bill Kraft1:11:50Men's 14'640-492
7Matt Arensman1:11:50Men's 14'718-395
8Brian Meyer1:11:50Men's 14'818-396
9Rand Perkins1:12:36Men's 14'950-591
10Austin Hollingshead1:13:07Men's 14'1017U1
11Corey Taylor1:13:29Men's 14'1118-397
12Mark Athanacio1:14:22Men's 14'1240-493
13William Swezey Jr1:14:49Men's 14'1318-398
14Jim Valenti1:15:29Men's 14'1450-592
15Trip Saunders1:16:01Men's 14'1518-399
16David Starr1:16:32Men's 14'1618-3910
17Joey Huempfner1:16:52Men's 14'1717U2
18John O'hara1:16:57Men's 14'1850-593
19John Sekas1:17:36Men's 14'1950-594
20Jamie Twigg1:17:39Men's 12'6118-391
21James Farber1:17:45Men's 12'6218-392
22Gavin Ross1:18:00Men's 14'2018-3911
23Nick Bjork1:18:16Men's 14'2118-3912
24David Dean1:19:14Men's 14'2250-595
25Carmine Pici1:19:40Men's 14'2350-596
26Dennis Navarrete1:20:10Men's 12'6340-491
27Nathaniel Richard1:20:10Men's 14'2418-3913
28Cristian Prado1:20:31Men's 12'6418-393
29Quintin Chiapperino1:20:38Men's 12'6517U1
30Connor Rush1:20:43Men's 12'6617U2
31Tyler Marshall1:21:30Men's 12'6718-394
32April Zilg1:21:37Women's 12'6118-391
33Helga Goebel1:21:39Women's 12'6218-392
34Kimberly Barnes1:21:47Women's 12'6318-393
35Stephen Chase1:23:25Men's 14'2518-3914
36Chris Rockwood1:24:17Men's 12'6817U3
37Lexi Alston1:24:38Women's 12'6417U1
38Kevin Haigis1:24:41Men's 14'2618-3915
39Will Compton1:25:32Men's 12'6960+1
40Melissa Trinidad1:26:09Women's 12'6518-394
41David Martin1:26:50Men's 14'2740-494
42Mike Ross1:27:22Men's 14'2818-3916
43Mary Scheerer1:27:36Women's 12'6650-591
44Bernadette Leach1:28:12Women's 12'6750-592
45Ian Ross1:28:39Men's 14'2918-3917
46Lance Chambers1:28:58Men's 12'61040-492
47Andrew Dickey1:30:11Men's 14'3018-3918
48Claudia Klenke1:30:26Women's 12'6840-491
49Will Marston1:30:44Men's 12'61117U4
50Karrie Mcfadden1:30:52Women's 14140-491
51David Rush1:31:39Men's 14'3150-597
52Shari Hymes1:33:42Women's 12'6950-593
53Al Simmons1:34:08Men's 12'61260+2
54Richard Rodriguez1:34:20Men's 12'61350-591
55Rachel Ferguson1:38:11Women's 12'61018-395
56Emily Ghosh1:41:05Women's 12'61118-396
57Asia Kop-rojas1:43:50Women's 12'61217U2
58Dani Schmidt1:44:51Women's 12'61318-397

Click here for the raw results + results from the Open Race