Florence Paddle Games Joins 2019 APP Tour

FLORENCE, Italy - There are just a few weeks left before the main event of the 2019 international stand up paddle season. From Friday 10 May to Sunday 12 May, the Florence Paddle Games will be returning to Florence! The Tuscan capital will become the capital of SUP for three days, giving a welcome to the best athletes in the world and hundreds of fans. This year the event will be part of the EU Qualifier Series of the APP World Tour, the professional league of SUP. After Florence, the Tour will fly to London, New York, San Francisco and Paris. In addition to the Pros of paddle surfing, many amateurs are also expected for both the open and junior categories.

The Florence Paddle Games 2019 program

Photos courtesy: Florence Paddle Games

It will be a very rich and intense three days: Friday 10 May will be the opening ceremony, with clinics, tests and training sessions at the Racing Village, under the San Niccolò Tower. Everyone can try this wonderful sport thanks to the material available by the organization and by the technical sponsors involved in the event. The event's partner is Human Company, a Florentine leader in open air tourism in Italy, which will host sportsmen and organizers at Firenze Camping in Town where the opening ceremony with accreditation and a welcome drink will be held at 6:00 pm.

Saturday, the action starts with the Sprint Races. Short and spectacular there will be 300 meter elimination heats up to the big final. Sunday will be the historic Long Distance Race. The route will take place between the beautiful bridges of Florence with the famous passage under the Ponte Vecchio. Thousand of visitors will join the fascinating rounds of buoy just in front of the iconic bridge. The Pro race will have athletes paddle five laps for a total of 15km. The amateur and junior races will only require two laps. The show on the banks of the Arno is therefore guaranteed for the three days of world SUP in the town of the Italian Renaissance.

Safety is always the first priority

Photo courtesy: Florence Paddle Games

Having fun in the water is great but no one should forget the caution. All the participants of the Florence Paddle Games will be equipped with Kingii Wearable, the smallest floating device in the world. Kingii, in the new version is an armband designed and produced in Italy that is able to keep a person up to 130kg afloat. In case of need, the paddler just has to pull a lever to operate a self-inflating pillow that unfolds in just two seconds and after use Kingii is easily reusable: simply fold the cushion into its housing and replace the CO2 cartridge.

Florence Paddle Games is also a sporting event that respects the environment and will pay great attention to sustainability this year. Thanks to the collaboration with Treedom, the first 30 trees of the Florence Paddle Games Forest will be planted, to add more in the next editions. In addition to the sports events there will be entertainment programs provided thanks to the Cast 4 staff.

Registration for the event can be found here. 

For more news on the APP World Tour click HERE.