This year the Women’s SUP Race at the Carolina Cup was probably one of the most competitive ever. Fiona Wylde, who finished 4th last Saturday, shares the story of this epic competition.
As anticipated, the Carolina Cup is a rough one! 13 miles of hard paddling is difficult no matter what division you’re in. This year’s women’s fleet was as competitive as always. At the start most of us, excluding Annabel and Terrene got worked in the shore break, but were lucky to recover quickly.
Annabel was a machine off the start and within the first three miles had already set a pretty good gap. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep up to Annabel, but I was able to get on the draft with Terrene, Sonni, and Candice. From there is was about 10 miles of switching off pulling the draft train and sustaining enough energy to sprint at the finish. With the last two miles to go, Candice put a small gap of a board length on Sonni, Terrene and I. It was just long enough so we were not able to catch up. I sprinted past Sonni just before the buoy and was in third paddling to the finish, but Sonni managed to grab the only little piece of backwash to push her half a board length ahead of me when she hit the sand. Sonni got me by 2 seconds to take third and I settled for fourth with Terrene right behind in 5th.
I would have to stay that it’s super exciting with how hard the women are pushing each other, but also working together when we’re near each other. Just outside of the top five are three girls who are absolutely crushing it and any race will be right up inside that top five, if they’re not already; Shae Foudy, Lexi Alston, and Erika Benitez. These lovely ladies are only a couple year’s younger than me, but they’re paddling so strong, showing that women’s stand up paddling is heading in an extremely positive direction! So that’s the 2016 Carolina Cup in the books! Can’t wait for the next one!
For more information on Martin Letourneur’s sponsors, visit
Welcome to the dedicated 2024 ICF SUP Worlds page! Here, you’ll find the latest updates on one of the year’s biggest SUP events, taking place in Sarasota, Florida, from 20 to 24 November. As the official media partner for this landmark event, TotalSUP is here to keep you updated on all the action, from thrilling […]
With downwind foiling booming all across the globe, Starboard has unveiled two groundbreaking products just in time for two major international Downwind SUP Foil events in France – the Crozon Foil Festival and LAST Les Ailes de Saint Tropez. The Ace Foil Lightning board and the Foil Blade are designed to push the limits of […]
Anik Wild, the co-founder of Tahoe Watermans Landing, provides an insightful glimpse into Lake Tahoe’s allure as a premier destination for Stand Up Paddling and other paddle sports. With its stunning alpine landscapes and crystal-clear waters, Lake Tahoe offers a unique setting for paddling enthusiasts year-round. Anik’s journey from a career in ski racing to […]
Jay Wild, a prominent figure in the US paddling community for close to 20 years, offers insights into the thrilling 2024 Tahoe Downwind Championships, set for August 17. This event, the second stop of the prestigious Tahoe Waterman Paddle Racing Series, promises an exhilarating challenge for all ocean paddle craft enthusiasts. With the breathtaking backdrop […]
As the 2024 SUP racing season reaches its midpoint, we sit down with Hoichan Kwon, head of SUP Racing at the International Canoe Federation (ICF). Reflecting on a thrilling first half of the year, Hoichan highlights the successful integration of opportunities for juniors and the significant turnout at key events, such as the Spring SUP […]
A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of joining Seychelle for her first training camp of the year with co-host Larry Cain from Paddle Monster in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Seychelle and Larry hosted 18 athletes that came from all over the United States, Canada, and even Europe! We stayed in a house […]
As an industrial engineer with a passionate love for the ocean, Mark Travers the current owner of Honu paddle boards believes that the lifestyle of stand up paddling creates something magical that everyone should be able to experience. Every product is designed from the ground up, carefully considering every detail, component and construction method. Each […]
The 2024 Infinity Speedfreak squad has been boosted with several new singings for 2024 including a young, ambitious racer from North America, Campbell Carter. If you do not recognise his name then Chris from TotalSUP can help you get to know this future SUP star. Hi Campbell, welcome to TotalSUP! Thanks, Chris. It’s great to […]
The long anticipated wait for Starboard’s 2024 new race SUP line up is finally over! We welcome back Starboard’s SUP Brand Manager Ollie O’Reilly to reveal the new and improved race board models – the beloved All Star and Sprint boards. The Tiki brand continues to thrive going into the 2024 season especially with these […]
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!