SUP Man of the Year Award - The Final Stretch

In the final week of voting, four men have separated themselves from the field of stand up paddle candidates. Which one will have the strength and support to take 1st place in this year's SUP Man of the Year competition?

Antoine Delpero, Bart de Zwart, Eric Terrien and Kai Lenny lead the pack in this year's SUP Man of the Year voting. Who will come out on top when the dust settles?

SAN DIEGO, California – We are getting down to the wire folks and it looks like we have a foot (or is it a paddle?) race to the finish. We are now in the FINAL WEEK of voting for this year’s SUP Man Award. Think of it as the last kilometer in a 10K SUP distance race. The field has been separated by strong ocean currents, stiff headwinds and mighty cross chop.

Four men have distanced themselves from the rest of the pack and from our vantage point on the beach, we are able to make them out as they wring the last drops of energy from their core.

Antoine Delpero is leading the pack and all of Biarritz is cheering him on, pushing like the swell of a northern-hemisphere winter storm for their champion to cross the finish line first. Delpero, cast from a strong longboarding background, recently took first place at the Britany, France portion of the Stand Up World Tour and is looking to ride the energy and support from his fans to another victory.

Charging up in second place and strategically placed in Delpero’s wake, Bart de Zwart is digging deep to overtake Delpero in the final stretch. No stranger to endurance paddles, Bart recently completed a 5 day solo SUP from the Big Island to Kauai, a journey that carried him over 300 miles of treacherous ocean. Even more recently, and off the heels of his epic SUP journey, Bart took home 2nd place in the Triple Crown Of SUP, a multi-race event in Hawaii that combined for over 57 miles of grueling paddles.

Downwind of Delpero and de Zwart, Eric Terrien is holding onto a strong 3rd place position and is poised to make a final jump ahead of the two should they slip. Hailing from France, Terrien says on his website that, “I’m travelling too much to have a home spot!” Testing waters and waves across the globe, Terrien has cultivated great skill on a stand up paddle board, winning a long list of races and awards to prove it.

Kai Lenny rounds out the group in 4th place and as the youngest candidate to be nominated for the SUP Man of the Year award, he represents a new generation of stand up paddle athletes. At only 18 years old, Kai is grabbing serious attention at SUP events around the world. He was the winner of the 2011 SUP world tour Sunset Beach Pro and also traveled to Antoine and Eric’s backyard to win the 2011 La Torche Pro SUP event in France.

Make sure to place your vote now before the polling closes on July 31st.

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