It takes a special kind of paddler to do an ultra, but to do an ultra where you don’t really go anywhere? The racers who sign up for Last Paddler Standing are a certain kind of special. And yet, their numbers are growing.

35 paddleboarders will start this “loops ‘til you drop” backyard ultra on Saturday, and by sometime Monday morning (probably) only one will be left standing as the winner (unless that paddler doesn’t finish their final lap within the hour, in which case the race wins). To stay in the race, they must complete a 3.3 miles (5.4 km) lap on Lake June in Winter (Florida) every hour, on the hour. It’s the fourth year of the event, and its highest number of entries yet. And many of those entries are returners, including a record number of 48’ers.

Each year so far, the race has stretched to at least 48 hours. That’s when the length of each lap jumps up to 4.9 miles (7.9 km), significantly increasing the distance the racers have to cover within the hour. It’s pretty much sudden death for whoever is left, and it’s about this time that the race action starts to get spectators’ hearts pounding.

How many racers can paddle past 48 hours?

The elite few paddlers standing by 9am Monday become 48’ers. They’ve paddled more than 158 miles (255 kilometers) with no more than 5-15 minutes rest at a time and reached the long lap. In the first edition of the race, only one paddler made it to 48 hours and became the first winner: Italian Paolo Marconi, who wrote about his experience in “Racing the Quit Monkey”, published in English earlier this year. In 2023 and 2024, 5 paddlers reached the 48 hour mark. Many of them are back again this year to see how much further they can go past 48.

2025 will see five previous 48’ers on the start line: John Batson (2024 “winner”), John Knippers, Lindsey Tilton, Bobby Johnson, and Bruce Smith. And some first-timers have serious 48’er potential, including Yukon 1000 Record-Holder Brad Friesen and SUP 11 Cities / SUP Twelve podium paddler Carlo Arias.

The 48’ers

These five have impressive pedigrees, and it will be tough to split the difference between them.

John Batson is the favourite, being the only previous winner on the start line. Although technically, the race itself was the official “winner” in 2024. John was the last paddler standing, but strong winds meant he didn’t finish Lap 50 within the hour. So depending on how you look at it, John will either be hoping to become the first two-time winner of Last Paddler Standing, or aiming to take his first official win and beat the race as well as his competitors. A few weeks ago, he finished in 3rd place overall at Chattajack with a time of 5 hours 10 minutes, so he should be on form for LPS. John finished the 31 mile race just ahead of Michael Barron who will be racing his first LPS this year.

Lindsey Tilton made it to 48 at her first LPS in 2023, and she’s back now to find out whether she can complete the first long loop and make it to 49. She already holds the women’s record, so anything past 48 is simply extending her own record. But the bigger question is: could Lindsey be the first woman to win Last Paddler Standing outright? And will 2025 be her year?

Before the first edition of Last Paddler Standing, SUP Racer’s Chris Parker speculated on whether it could be the first gender-equal race format: “The beauty of this race is that most paddlers will exit the race by quitting rather than failing to make the cut. In other words, it’s not a race of physical strength but mental stamina. It doesn’t matter who’s fastest, all that matters is who’s toughest.”

Across the world of ultra running, women have increasingly been winning races and setting records regardless of gender. Maggie Guterl lasted 60 hours in 2019 when she became the first woman to win the Big’s Backyard Ultra outright. In 2020, Courtney Dauwalter won the event, one of many occasions where she out-ran a field of men to win a race or set a Fastest Known Time. The research is starting to catch on, suggesting that the expected performance gap shrinks between men and women over ultra endurance events.

Ultra paddling races around the world are increasingly seeing women winning outright. In the UK, there’s been a lot of buzz about women winning the non-stop Devizes to Westminster, a 125 mile ultra for tandem boats. The race, started in 1948, didn’t even allow women to compete until 1975 (not that that stopped them from racing). The first mixed crew to win was Lizzie Broughton and Keith Moule in 2015, and since then, there’s been a spate of mixed winners: 2019, 2024, and 2025. In 2025, a mixed gender crew took second place overall as well with a men’s crew in third. In the US, former ultra runner turned ultra paddler Salli O’Donnell frequently out-paddles men to win multi-day races like the MR340 and Alabama 650 (her achievements are too long to list here but summarised as: “Salli is the undisputed queen of ultra-distance paddle racing in the USA”).

Plenty of barriers remain, and the lower number of women entered compared to men is one – Lindsey is still the only woman to have made it to 48. But to be having the conversation, and with several women racing for the first time this year with a goal of 48, makes this race all the more exciting.

Bruce Smith (“Ironsmith”) was one the 2023 48’ers with Lindsey who has the potential to push past 48. A few months ago, Bruce and teammate Mark Salter became the first overall winners of The Eliminator, a backyard ultra style race for teams. The Eliminator is another one of Race Director Greg Wingo’s diabolical designs, created in partnership with UK-based RD Cassie Salter. By the end of the 12 hour race, Bruce looked just as fresh as when he’d started. It was his win there that earned him free entry into this year’s LPS, and if his performance at The Eliminator was anything to go by, Bruce could definitely pick up his first LPS win this weekend.

Bobby Johnson loves the ultras. He’s raced every year of Last Paddler Standing, finished the Great Alabama 650 six times (of the total seven editions) and won his category nearly every time, and was part of the Mississippi Speed Record crew that broke the record in 2021. He hadn’t spent much time on a paddleboard before his first LPS in 2022, preferring kayaks and canoes, but has managed to improve his LPS result every year: 41 laps, 43 laps, and finally 48 laps in 2024. His jump to 48 in 2024 was particularly impressive given the windy conditions that made it harder and harder to complete loops toward the 48 hour mark. If Bobby can keep up his trajectory of earning more laps each year, he might well make it to the final lap in 2025.

John Knippers is a die-hard Last Paddler 48’er, he raced in 2022 at the first ever edition of the event where he was runner-up to Paolo Marconi – the 47 laps he completed that year became his lowest lap result. Since then, he’s always made it to 48. But finishing that 49th lap has been just out of reach for John. He has snagged plenty of other major ultra titles including becoming the first and fastest SUP to complete the Alabama 650 and taking the record for fastest SUP time on the Texas Water Safari. Will it finally be his turn to go beyond 48 and take the crown at Last Paddler Standing?

First timers with 48 potential

Brad Friesen has finally succumbed to the peer pressure to race Last Paddler Standing, and he’s ready to reach 48! Brad holds the Yukon 1000 SUP record (2022 with Scott Baste), but also the 72 mile South Dakota Kayak Challenge SUP record (2019) and the Mississippi River 145 (3 x SUP winner and record holder). Coming from Canada, he’s usually off the water by this point of the season thanks to snow and ice. But if he can manage Florida sun, this tenured SUP ultra record holder could well make it to 48 hours and beyond.

Carlo Arias has big dreams of becoming “one of the best ULTRA racers of all time”, and he’s just getting started. Unlike most of his competitors, Carlo is not yet 30 years old and he’s only recently realised his ultra potential and started to specialise in longer and longer distances. The Costa Rican finished in 3rd place at the 2024 SUP 11 Cities, 2nd place at the 2025 SUP Twelve (a backyard ultra style race very similar to LPS), and 1st place at the SUP King Marathon 100km this year. Billed as “The Ultimate SUP Challenge in Northern Europe”, Carlo won the Latvian “SUP King” or “Salaca 100” ultra in 10 hours and 34 minutes. So he’s proven that he can succeed in the 10-12 hour range, but the 48+ hours of Last Paddler Standing will be his greatest challenge yet. If Carlo doesn’t make it to 48 this year, keep an eye out for him in the future.

An outside chance

With an outside chance, there’s a few first-timers and returners who might earn the elite 24+ achievement and perhaps challenge for 48. Of returning paddlers, Laird Wharton passed that 24 mark in 2024 and kept going to complete 27 laps. Hailing from Australia, Laird says he’s aiming for 48 this year and wants to “push personal limiting beliefs” to unlock what’s really possible for him. Aleksey Synkov is back for his fourth year in a row and has paddled more than 20 laps every year he’s raced. He may be hoping to improve on his current record of 25 laps from 2023. Michael Carson has 50 cumulative laps under his belt from 2023 & 2024, having passed the 24 hour mark both years. He’s aiming for 48 this year, and says what he’s most looking forward to is “the deep deep pit of suffering and despair”.

First timer Michael Barron says he’s only aiming for 24 laps, but he won the 40+ master’s men category at SUP 11 Cities this year which shows that he has what it takes to go further. Jackie Gover has only been paddling for a year and half, but she has big dreams to someday win the SUP 11 Cities race, and she’s ready to go all the way at LPS. Tammie Hampton, another LPS first timer, is also aiming for 48. As for why she’s racing, Tammie said: “I love scheduled suffering.” That mindset should take her far in Florida! Alex Zowacki has set a first goal for himself of 30 laps, and if he makes it to 30, then he’ll target 48. Alex finished 14th at Chattajack this year, and managed to complete his practice laps in an average time of 36 minutes during a 10 hour training paddle in May, so he’ll just have to keep that up for another 20+ hours this weekend.

And who knows, there’s a few more first-timers who might just surprise everyone. Check out the full entry list at the bottom of this article.

How the action will go down

The race starts at 9:00am Eastern US Time on Saturday the 7th of December, but the live stream will begin from about 8:30am local. Every hour, on exactly the hour mark, paddlers will set off to complete a 3.3 miles (5.4 km) loop on Lake June in Winter near Lake Placid, Florida.

SUP Racer will be part of the broadcast team live streaming and commentating on the ground, following every loop and interviewing paddlers as the race progresses. The live stream will be free to watch on YouTube, and you can tune in any time from any time zone until the race ends sometime Monday. The team will be monitoring comments, so if you have any questions or need to catch up on what’s happened overnight, just drop a comment and we’ll respond live. The :55 mark of any hour is always a great time to tune in and see who’s on the start line or who’s missing from the start line, but the best action will happen around 9am local Monday morning when the lap length increases and the winner will be determined. That’s Monday the 8th at 9am Eastern US, 6am Pacific, 10pm Western Australia, 3pm Central European time, and 2pm in the UK.

For the past three years, the race has been held at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida, where the 2024 ICF SUP World Championships were held. This year, Last Paddler Standing will take place for the first time on Lake June in Winter, Florida. It’s part of a beautiful state park that’s further inland, right in the middle of Florida. With a new location, there’s always a higher chance of unexpected twists — the racers are just hoping that it’s less windy than Nathan Benderson last year so that at least one of them has a fair chance to beat the race itself.

Follow all the action via SUP Racer Instagram and Facebook, and the YouTube livestream. And please do leave your thoughts and questions in the comments! Our hardworking broadcast team will be eager to engage.

Last Paddler Standing 2025 Entry List

Board Number	Name
3	John Knippers*
4	Lindsey Tilton*
5	Bobby Johnson*
6	Alex Zowacki**
7	Karen Greener
8	Lindsay LeBlanc**
9	John Batson*
10	Aleksey Synkov
11	Carlo Arias**
12	Michael Carson
13	Julie Mitravich**
14	Chris Thomas
15	Bruce Smith*
16	Colt Reaves
17	Robert (Bob) Fournier**
18	Jackie Gover**
19	Bryant Ransom
20	Jon Rutishauser
21	Laird Wharton
22	Christian Logan**
23	Jeannie Johns**
24	Yulia Piatek
25	Michael Dolinar
26	Allen Alquist
27	Meral Amica Akyol
28	Mike Malone**
29	Tammie Hampton**
30	Jeremy Stanton**
31	Scott Ealy**
32	Gregg Peters**
33	Michael Barron**
34	Kirk Bumgarner**
35	Brad Friesen**
36	Lenin Henderson**