“Based in Squamish, BC, Blackfish Paddles are one of the top SUP paddle makers on the planet, with high-quality, hand-crafted paddles,â said Gary Robbins and Geoff Langford, Founders of Coast Mountain Trail Running and developers of the event concept. âWe at CMTR are incredibly honoured to be working with them on our Conquer the Vedder multi-sport race going forward.”
Photo by Scott Robarts
Conquer the Vedder 2023: Designed exclusively for stand-up paddleboards
Conquer the Vedder is designed exclusively for stand-up paddleboarding, trail running and gravel cycling/biking. Participants can choose between two race formats â SOLO (SUP â RIDE â RUN â RIDE course over 48km in total) and RELAY (SUP â RIDE â RUN course over 53km).
The current course records are 3h49m for the  Solo race, and 3h23m for the Relay race, though that relay team had Lina Augaitis-Dye (Canadian SUP Champion) and Michael Van den Ham (Canadian Cyclocross Champion) so it’s a steep challenge to better that time for a team.
âWe are excited to be partnering with Coast Mountain Trail Running and supporting their unique racing event in May. Conquer the Vedder brings together athletes from SUP, trail running and cycling into a multisport race and allows them to compete together,âsaid Peter Allen of Blackfish Paddles who competed in the last year event. Â âWe think it is a great concept and are looking forward to attending with our own Team Blackfish.â
Peter Allen of Blackfish Paddles; Photo by Scott Robarts
Conquer the Vedder 2023: Unique SUP location
Cultus Lake and Vedder Mountain offer unparalleled trail and water access with hundreds of kilometers of singletrack trails guaranteeing unique sports experience in one of the most scenic parts of the world.
Photo by Scott Robarts
“Last year I had an amazing time racing at Conquer the Vedder and I can’t wait to yet again compete at such an amazing location. While it can be a very challenging course and test of endurance, the community and fellow racers make it a race I’ve had marked on my calendar all of the off-season,â commented Blackfish Team Rider Evan Gerbrecht. âFor years I’ve competed in SUP racing but I actually grew up running cross-country and have gotten into biking a lot more since the pandemic so this race is a real blend of some of the best ways to get outside. As well, Cultus Lake and Vedder Mountain are two places I haven’t raced before but loved exploring throughout a great day of racing. Can’t wait to get back to the start line of this awesome event!”
Blackfish Paddles Team Rider Evan Gerbrecht; Photo by Scott Robarts
Brendon Prince, extreme adventurer, water safety & âblue mindâ crusader, World Record holder (8 WR to date!) and Blackfish Paddles Team Rider, is heading back to the sea! This time for 7 days and 8 nights of unsupported paddling and sharing educational content along the way to raise awareness for water safety. This World Record […]
If there’s one more thing that can be said about the SIC Gorge Paddle Challenge, one of the most compelling SUP races in our sport held on the 21-23 July 2023 in Hood River, Oregon, is that it transforms SUP athletes. Sooner rather than later they will come back and compete as foilers. In the […]
Blackfish Performance Camps return to Howe Sound! The next three three-day highly-focused SUP training camp organised by the Blackfish Paddles team will be held on 4-6 August 2023 in Squamish, B.C. Canada and led by three time World SUP Champion, Wingfoil Race World Champion and all-round waterwoman Olivia Piana. âI am super excited to announce […]
âStacked field of pro SUP athletesâ, âgnarly ocean conditionsâ, “incredible experience” and âan excellent event organisationâ are some of the recurring themes summing up the Madeira Island Sup Challenge (MISC) 2023, the EuroTour Grand Slam event, held on the Madeira Island this past weekend, a stunning archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean and located about […]
With stand-up paddleboarding becoming the UK’s fastest growing watersport in recent years, the conversation about water safety is paramount. TotalSUP caught up with Emily Evans, Blackfish Paddles Team Rider, SUP athlete, all-round waterwoman and Coach, to add her perspective to the discussion. Hi Emily, let’s dig right in: What’s in your SUP kit? This is […]
As of the past weekend, a new endurance stand-up paddle race format was successfully added to the UK SUP racing circuit. Brought by the Guinness World Record holder in SUP, adventurer, water safety crusader and Blackfish Paddles Team Rider, Brendon Prince, the SUP TWELVE event saw thirty seven paddlers taking on the challenge of a […]
“We are excited to announce that Olivia Piana is joining Blackfish! Olivia is an amazing athlete who has won multiple national and world championships in stand up paddleboarding and is now a pioneer in the foiling world. Today she is one of the leading female athletes in the growing sport of downwind SUP foiling and […]
“We are so excited to welcome Brendon Prince to the Blackfish Team. Brendon is an amazing athlete and someone with a passion and desire to see what’s possible on a paddleboard. We are honoured that he chose to use our paddles when he paddled around the UK and it is great to have him join […]
âOur Blackfish Nootka blade is a classic shape and a best-selling paddle. We have been working on building a more robust version for a couple years and the breakthrough came with the advent of SUP foiling. We had a number of athletes who had broken paddles while foiling and wanted to find a solution. The result […]
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