âBased 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.â
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 itâs 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
âLast year I had an amazing time racing at Conquer the Vedder and I canât 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 Iâve had marked on my calendar all of the off-season,â commented Blackfish Team Rider Evan Gerbrecht. âFor years Iâve 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 havenât raced before but loved exploring throughout a great day of racing. Canât wait to get back to the start line of this awesome event!â
Blackfish Paddles Team Rider Evan Gerbrecht; Photo by Scott Robarts
âWe 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 whatâs 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 [âŠ]
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 [âŠ]
There are stories that resonate strongly showing another dimension of stand-up paddleboarding. The focused, purpose-driven ones that demonstrate the versatility of our sport transcending the competitive and âlifestyleâ aspects of it. It was 2019 when we first talked with Norm Hann, Ocean Athlete, SUP Coach, Wildlife Advocate and Founder of a guiding company Norm Hann [âŠ]
World SUP Champion and the 2022 Yukon River Quest SUP Record Holder Lincoln Dews has joined Blackfish Paddles as the Sales Manager for Australia and New Zealand and the Head of Product Development, announced the Canadian brand specialising in handcrafted, high-performance paddles for SUP, surf and foiling. Lincoln has collaborated with Blackfish Paddles to develop [âŠ]
North America Starboard Team Rider, Tim Oliver, has been leading the charge on the fast-growing Canadian SUP racing scene and heâs now ready to take on the upcoming APP World Tour stops (watch out London!) and then more. A full-time firefighter and father of two girls, Tim has just punched his ticket to represent Canada [âŠ]
âWhen Iâm in the zone⊠pain doesnât seem so bad and my mind is clear and focused,â says Blackfish Paddles Rider Brad Friesen who has just won the Yukon 1000 SUP division completing the challenge in 7 days and 6 minutes, as part of the Pirates of the Yukon squad where he teamed up with Scott [âŠ]
âI know that Janneke Smits and Ella Oesterholt of  Team Yukon SUPventure Ladies , were prepared to the teeth which involved putting their inflatable Yster iSUP 17â3âx 26â Linear boards to the test in different conditions. The boards were their ultimate lifelines between the race start at Whitehorse to the finish at Dalton Highway Bridge so the boards just had [âŠ]
âVaĂŻc Garioud hails from New Caledonia and if his name sounds familiar that is because of his older brother NoĂŻc Garioud. VaĂŻc is a very talented paddler, surfer, foiler and a true lover of all things water. Like Emily Evans who has just joined Blackfish Team, he has been using our paddles for a while but [âŠ]
âWe are pleased to announce that Emily Evans has signed a two-year sponsorship agreement with Team Blackfish. Emily hails from Wales and has been using our paddles for a couple of years now. She is a hardworking and gifted endurance athlete who comes to SUP from the triathlon and white water paddling worlds. This is [âŠ]