This weekend’s national championships in Great Britain are shaping up to have some high level racing as the UK’s top athletes look to win national titles and qualify for this year’s world championships in Abu Dhabi and… somewhere (as yet to be announced by the ever mysterious International Surfing Association). And it won’t just be the UK’s top athletes, as the start list has one notable international name who should be right at the front of the men’s race…

Holly/Annabel/Emily trio looking like gold/silver/bronze, but in what order?

GB team rivalries will make for close racing, particularly between the trio of Holly Pye, Annabel Page, and Emily Evans. These women have already faced off several times this season in races both at home and abroad, and their finishing order this weekend is anyone’s guess:

–> April, Head of the Dart (UK): Holly 1st / Emily 3rd

–> May, Barcelona SUP World Fest (Spain): Annabel 15th / Emily 17th / Holly 20th

–> May, World SUP Festival Santa Pola (Spain): Emily 18th / Holly 21st

–> May, Exe Bay Ocean Race (UK): Emily 1st / Annabel 2nd

Top 4 will qualify for the national team, so these three won’t be too stressed about qualifications, but it should be a good fight for national titles in the distance race on Saturday, and the technical and sprint racing on Sunday.

All three are experienced international racers, though Annabel Page is the newest to international racing at just 20 years old coming from SUP surfing. Despite being a bit more recent to the pro scene, she’s already made a splash: Page finished on the podium with 3rd place at the Sancti Petri SUP Race behind two of the fastest women in the world: Mariecarmen Rivera (Puerto Rico) and Duna Gordillo (Spain).

 Holly and Emily both have experience representing their country (or countries between England / Wales) at the world championships, and have earned strong international finishes in both recent years and months. Holly dabbles in more than SUP racing too, and you might recognise her name (and voice) from co-hosting the Rise & Glide podcast. She’s also recently started working on her foiling skills, the hottest hobby of more and more top SUP racers.

An international guest ups the ante

On the men’s side, one non-British name on the start list should make the racing even more interesting than usual: Donato Freens of the Netherlands. The 20-year old has been on a run this season, racing at practically every major event and racking up podium placements as he goes. This weekend, he’s coming fresh off two wins (distance and technical) at the Lake Rocks SUP Festival in Austria, where he successfully defended his title from 2024. Freens could be the favourite particularly in the long distance and technical races against the Brits, but top UK paddler Blue Ewer will do his best to challenge the Dutchman and perhaps have the advantage of racing on home country waters.

Blue may be young (born in 2001), but he’s a seasoned pro having another strong year on the international circuit.  In the long distance races at the recent World SUP Festival Santa Pola and Barcelona SUP World Fest, Blue finished 8th place ahead of some impressive names including Titouan Puyo, Christian Anderson, Clement Colmas, and more. At Santa Pola, he also finished ahead of Donato Freens by several minutes though that was after Donato had finished ahead of him at SUP Sitia and Agios Nikolaos. At Sancti Petri less than four weeks ago, they were separated in the technical final by just two places, with Donato ahead by 9 seconds.

The chase pack

Chasing Donato and Blue will be Hector Jessel, Will Keetley, and Joey Jones. The 19 year old Jessel won multiple GB SUP National Champion titles in 2024 (where Ewer wasn’t racing) and just finished 5 minutes behind international pros Manuel Hoyuela (Spain) and Bastian Grimm (Germany) at the GB SUP series long distance Llandegfedd Pursuit three weeks ago. Jessel just edged out his compatriot Will Keetley by about 10 seconds.

Keetley has a number of international races under his belt, so is also likely to take one of those top 4 spots to qualify to represent his country at world championships again. At 21 years old, he’s still a developing athlete to keep your eye on this weekend and beyond. We could see a tight race between Jessel and Keetley for 3rd place, or even higher.

Joey Jones represented Wales at last year’s ISA World Championships in Denmark, and has been working hard over the winter to get faster. He won the Exe Bay race a few weeks ago just ahead of his Team Wales 2024 teammate Emily Evans. At Llandegfedd Pursuit, Joey was about 7 minutes back from Hector and Will, so he might not be quite up to speed yet but could be right there to challenge the quicker guys if something goes wrong for them.

Fortunately for the chase pack, Donato is unlikely to go after a spot on Team GB (being from the Netherlands) so all four of Blue, Hector, Will, and Joey should be solid bets to qualify unless, of course, the racing plays out differently which is always a possibility…

A new bridge between elite and amateur paddleboarders

In between the elite racing, Sunday morning will feature an AquaPaddle for elite and amateur paddlers alike. The free 5km “timed paddle” (not a race) is essentially ParkRun for paddling. If you haven’t heard of ParkRun, it’s an international phenomenon where runners all over the world will show up at their local park on a Saturday morning for a free, 5km timed run. AquaPaddle is only a few years old but already offers free paddles all around the UK, almost every Sunday morning. Perhaps someday soon, it’ll follow the ParkRun model and spread all around the world.

AquaPaddle and GB SUP announced a partnership earlier this year where several of the GB SUP National Series races will include AquaPaddles this year in an effort to bring more amateurs to elite races and more elite racers to AquaPaddles. The founder of AquaPaddle, Brett Scillitoe, told SUP Racer: “Working with GB SUP, we hope to show recreational paddlers how to get more from the sport. And just as much as the personal challenge that comes from joining an AquaPaddle, we want to centre the known benefits (both physical and mental) and joy of simply being out on the water.” Between GB SUP and AquaPaddle, perhaps the gap between elite and amateur SUP paddlers will shrink just a little bit more, and remind all participants of why we paddle.

Flighty forecast for Falmouth, but races will proceed

The weather forecast has had race organisers refreshing Windy every five minutes for days on end, but with the sheltered location at Falmouth Bay, everyone is feeling optimistic that the racing will be able to continue without disruption. Unfortunately the kids races (“nippers”) have been cancelled, but the rest of the schedule is looking to proceed mostly as planned. Located along the stunning Cornish coast in South West England, Falmouth Bay may not be the most convenient location for much of Britain but it is beautiful and ideal for safety with the Gyllynvase Surf Lifesaving Club based on the same beach. It’s a well trodden race course too, particularly over the summer as every other Friday night, 30-60 paddlers from all disciplines (SUP, prone, surfski, outrigger…) pop up for “Rock up and Race” to practice low stakes distance racing on the sea.

SUP Racer will be covering the racing IRL this weekend, so be sure to follow @supracer on Instagram to stay abreast of all the action.