SUP 11 City Tour 2022: 13 y.o. Maximus Sijrier becomes the youngest paddler to complete the 5-day race!

At only 13, Maximus Sijrier from The Netherlands became at the end of last month, the youngest athlete to complete the SUP 11 City Tour, a 5-day Ultra Long Distance race and one of the toughest in the world. Max conquered the 220 kilometers of the Dutch canals under a combo time of 25 hours, winning the “Solo Tour Men” division. Here is our interview with the young phenomenon who doesn’t want to stop there! (Full Results

Hello Max, can you tell something about yourself?

Hello, I am Maximus and I live in the Netherlands, all the way up in the North in the city Workum. Supping is my favourite sport since I was 9 years old and I just turned 14. The last few years I have competed in several national and international races. This year I got first place in the ICE Race Thun in long distance and technical U15, the Dutch youth championship in all disciplines and the Belgian youth championship long distance.
It was an honor to be asked to represent The Netherlands at the European championships (u18) in Denmark. The club where I sup is SUPkids Makkum and I still train there once or twice a week. Since January I have been training with SEPA to prepare myself for the Sup 11 city. In the end, I was training 6 times a week together with my father.

Congratulations on your sup11citytour. You’re now officially the youngest to ever complete it. How do you feel?

I feel great! Before I started I was a little bit nervous. Although I was determined to finish the whole tour I was anxious to see if I could finish all 5 days. As I started the tour, I became confident that I could do it. There were no big setbacks for me and I got through the days allright. At the end it took me 24:57,27 to finish the whole 11-city tour and was the fastest in the tour division.

Why did you make such a record attempt?

In earlier editions of the sup 11 city tour, I had already done the last day stage a couple of times and last year I did the weekend. Soon after I had finished the weekend stage last year I started thinking about when I could do the whole tour. At a certain point, I decided that I wanted to do it this year and become the youngest to do the entire sup 11 city tour. I love long distances and this is a real long distance race and an extra special one because this is so close to home. The second day even finishes in my hometown and the third day starts here.

What do you know about the previous youngsters who did the SUP 11 City Tour and how do you compare?

I met James Van Drunen a few times here in Holland, he is a really cool guy unfortunately I haven’t seen him in a long time. Connor Baxter the sprint legend who does not know him!! I had some contact with him about the 11 city and he was sure I would make it, since all the training he did as preparation was doing downwinders. Casper Steinfath is a true legend as well, all the crazy stuff he does in and around the water is really cool!!

Tell us about the toughest memories/moments from your race?

The toughest day was the third day, my shoulders were hurting pretty bad that day from the beginning. All days, except the first, there was a lot of wind. My shoulders got sore and all I could do was keep paddling after an hour the pain started getting less or I got used to it. The weather was hard and the last two days I was getting fed up with the strong wind.

What are the the happiest moments?

The parts of the tour where I could do a downwinder were good parts. I was happy with my finish on the first day and still felt strong after the firts 48 km. Obviously the last finish was my happiest moment, I could finaly stop paddling and celebrate my accomplishment and birthday. Lots of family was waiting for me at the finish and they were really proud of me.
Ooh, and the massages were also pretty good and something to look forward to!

What are your next challenges?

I look forward to keep improving myself in the sport. For next year, I hope to do more international races and my main goal is the European championship again in two years, where I hope to show that I have been training really hard in all water conditions.
Last words, I would like to thank Mom and Dad and my little sister for helping me with my crazy training schedules, Supkids Makkum for supporting me from the beginning and Bruno Hasulyo and SEPA for helping me with my training plans and equipment.

Results SUP 11 City Tour 2022