Stand Up Paddle Race in Paris, France

Stand up paddling racers shadowed by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Photo Courtesy: Nidecker.

PARIS, France – Saturday December 4th 2010 was a historic day for the SUP world with the first ever SUP race across Paris. 100 riders were registered, but due to poor weather conditions (air temperatures below 0°C /32F and water temperature below 5°C/41F, strong winds and snow forecasted) the local authorities only authorized 30 riders to take the start.

At 6am, the riders met at the European Microsoft headquarters, one of the event sponsors, to have a typical French breakfast and get dressed for the race. The riders’ meeting was at 6h45 and at 7h15 everyone jumped on the buses provided by the organization to go to the start, close to the "Bibliotheque Francois Miterrand" where the boards were waiting for them. The competitors got to the start at 7h45 still in the dark to do the last pre-race preparations such as installing the fins, not easy in freezing temperatures and when you need to break the ice out of the finbox, and warm up... The race started on schedule at 8h20 under a cold but beautiful sunrise. Eric Terrien, riding on a Nidecker 14', took the lead from the start.

He had a hard time after 15minutes of racing when he actually overheated as a result of being overdressed. A few minutes later he decided to take off his gloves, which ended up being a good of cooling down. Still too warm and with no fluids to drink, but too competitive to give up, he used all of his mental strength to keep going and concentrated on his paddle technique to manage in keeping a comfortable lead. The determination paid off: he won the first SUP race ever across Paris, 11km in 1 hour 03 seconds.

For those interesting in a 14' board, the Nidecker SUP R&D team is currently working on a 14' production board based on the successful prototypes used by Eric in the Jever SUP World CUP, the Paris Crossing as well as other pan European races. Eric would like to thank all his Sponsors for their support in helping him to become the undisputed European Race Champion in 2010. Eric’s Sponsors: Nidecker Sup, Kiola, Olukai, Magma Custom Boards, Eastpak, Hawaii Surf Paris, Loulou’s Homemade.