A true team paddle event has emerged in Tuscany, Italy, organised by Italian paddlers Martino Rogai and Susak Molinero, The event Battle of the Team (B.O.T) has been developed to share the paddle passion, it consists of 6 teams organising 6 different races over the winter period, a chance for Italy’s finest and passionate paddlers to join in battle to gain points for their paddle schools! A true team event!
Starting in 2015, in Florence with a circuit that only consisted of 1 race the circuit has grown in statue and now involves more than 6 schools from the region of Tuscany and 1 from Umbria. TotalSUP talks to blistering paddler Susak Molinero about the B.O.T
Hi Susak, Can you introduce the B.O.T?
We created the B.O.T to race over winter, it has given the opportunity for local paddlers, athletes, amateus and lovers of Stand Up Paddling alike all to meet up, train together and to compete alongside each other, it keeps our adrenaline flowing over the winter period, and is a great motivation to train hard over the winter.
We have 4 categories, pro male and female (8-12 km), then amateur male and female (3-5km), all boards up to 14” are allowed. This season we are thinking of introducing 2 new categories, Junior pro and Junior amateur!
The format of the race is that you race on behalf of your team. Each individual paddler wins points for their team, In each event the best three team are rewarded and the teams then will be given a rank the end of the tour. The important aspect is that it is the team that wins and not the just the individual athlete. Unity is Strength!! We have done this so that every club encourages involvement from every member, and it seems to be working!  The best thing about our format is that you don’t have to best for yourself, you have to do your best for your team!Â
We have 6 clubs/schools that host the races, they are Spot 1 SUP, SUP Salivoli, Firenze SUP, Circolo Velico Antignano, SUP Trasimeno, Castiglione SUP Experience, with Team Calasole, Maremma SUP Aventura coming along to join in the fun!
When are the races held?
The 1st event on the winter tour was held on 17th December in Cecina (Livorno), we had 37 paddlers on the water, The next was on the 28th January where we raced in our home spot on the beach of Salivoli in Piombino (Livorno) and there were 38 paddlers!!
After that, the next race was on the 11th February 11th on Trasimeno lake in Passignano (Perugia) in the Umbria region close to Tuscany, with 26 paddlers on the water! We had one race scheduled on the 25th February on the Arno river at the “Queen city” of Florence, but we had to cancel because of all the snow and the freezing conditions. But it has been reschedule for for Sunday 4th March.
We have 2 two other BOTs left in the series, one in Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto) on the 11th marchand the last one in Antignano (Livorno) onthe 25th march.
We have great support from paddlers who are normally found on the international circuit such as Martino Rogai (the founder of the BOT), Paolo Marconi, Claudio Nika, Federico Esposito, Riccardo Rossi, Chiara Nordio, Caterina Stenta, Susak Molinero, plus there are alot of weekend warriors out!
How do you register?
You register on site at each race, it is better to know beforehand how many paddlers will be competiting. The registration fee is 20 euro, this goes towards the costs for the clubs to organize the event. At each race we provide shower facilties, the insurance, drinks, lunch and aperitives, the perfect way to spend the day talking and sharing the same passion!!
Riccardo Rossi has been in the Infinity Speedfreak squad since he was racing as a junior SUP racer in Italy. As he prepares for the ICF World Championships in Thailand he took some time out of his schedule to talk to Chris at TotalSUP Hi Riccardo, welcome back to TotalSUP, it’s been a while. For […]
Several members of the TotalSUP Team have boards from SUNOVA Surfboards and we are SUPer happy to share some big-name additions to the SUNOVA SUP Racing squad before the 2023 ICF World Championships in November. Team manager and top SUP racer Christian Taucher has all the SUNOVA news Hi Christian, I hear you’ve been busy since our last […]
Picture this: a winding river, hidden in the heart of the enchanting Ardèche region of Southern France, with its mesmerizing landscapes, dramatic twists, and thrilling whitewater sections. This is the stage for the Marathon de l’Ardèche, an exceptional multi-craft event that has captured the hearts of enthusiasts worldwide. In our exclusive interview, Paolo Marconi, a […]
“We felt like rock stars” said about the event Andrey Kraytor who shredded the Sprint final to pieces and walked away with Gold. Agios Nikolaos On SUP 2023, ICF SUP World Cup and National Panhellenic SUP Championship, brought together elite national athletes and some of the world’s top riders and delivered on the promise: “This July […]
Over the past month, Starboard has been working hard behind the curtains to present a very competitive line-up of international athletes for 2023. With future recruitment announcements by the Tiki brand still on hold (drums…), 3 athletes and 1 adventurer have already been announced to make their entrance in the Dream Team: SUP racers Alba […]
28 kilometers awaited 110 happy SUP racers at the 2022 Marathon International des Gorges de l’Ardèche last weekend in Vallon Pont d’Arc, a renowned and historic long-distance kayak river event in the South of France opened to Stand Up Paddlers since 2016. Following last year’s event status as a Euro Tour regional event for the […]
2022 Busan SUP Open is one for the books. The 3rd stop of the APP World Tour in South Korea has been one of those events on this year’s SUP racing circuit that has showed what stand-up paddleboarding Olympics could look like with drones illuminating the sky in a spectacular opening ceremony to display the […]
Last weekend the Euro Tour circuit returned to the beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira for the second edition of the Madeira Island SUP Challenge. The race was a 12-kilometer course that took place in the bay of Funchal, passing through the headquarters of the Clube Naval do Funchal, in Quinta Calaça, and the Barreirinha bathing […]
Use of cookies
This website uses cookies in order to make it easier to use and to support the provision of relevant information and functionality to you.
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
3rd Party Cookies
We use a set of third party tools to provide information on how our users engage with our website so that we can improve the experience of the website for our users. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users. Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!