Meet Maximus Sijrier – SUP Racer from The Netherlands with big ambitions for his career in SUP

The recent ICF World Championships in Thailand was probably the biggest SUP racing event of 2023, with more paddlers taking part in more race categories than ever before. One of the largest fields was for the junior racers with around 70 young men lining up to test themselves against the world’s best. One of those young guns was Maximus Sijrier who, at 15 years old was taking part in his first World Championships. Chris from TotalSUP caught up with Max at the start of his 2024 season, fresh from the Gla Gla Race in France.

Hi Max, welcome to TotalSUP. I am sure that some readers will already know your name from your SUP 11 City Tour performance in 2022 but for those who do not know you let’s start with an introduction…

Hi Chris, thank you! My name is Maximus Sijrier but everyone called me Max, I turned 15 in 2023 which meant I could finally race at the ICF World Championships. It’s always the biggest event of the year and something I have wanted to do for a long time.

Fantastic, we know you as an ultra-long-distance paddler for those that do not know let’s start with an iconic event in The Netherlands, the 11 Cities SUP Tour

When I started to paddle longer distances, I knew that I wanted to become the youngest paddler to complete the 11City SUP Tour. That is the hardest distance event so I asked SEPA Trainers for their help, I was already friends with Bruno Hasulyo so this was a logical step for me and I was already using one of his BR1 boards so it was a good match for us.

Then, in September 2022, after months of hard training, I started in one of the toughest editions of the race so far but after all my hard training I finished the race with a win in the tour division with over an hour lead to the next paddler! 

Congratulations, I think that means you are the youngest paddler to complete that event?

Yes, I think that is a record that will last for a long time!  

And then I guess it was a logical step to start with, how can I say this, more ‘normal’ races? 

Ha! Yes, the 11 Cities is quite different to other races. After all the training for that ultra long distance event, I felt that it was time for the next step and I started to compete in races in Europe both against other juniors and sometimes against elite racers.

And then the next logical step was to go to the World Championships. But you must have done some other races first, to prepare?

That’s right, 2023 was a busy year and because I turned 15 I could race in my first ICF World Championships.

I started the 2023 season with the GlaGla Race in January (TotalSUP – Max won the junior men’s event in 2023) which is another iconic event and a real experience! Then throughout the year, I went to the SUP world festival Santa Pola, EuroTour events in Thun, Namur and Nordhausen, The Lake Rocks, the ISA World Championships in France and the European Championships in Portugal all building to the ICF World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.

A busy year of SUP Racing! 

Yes, this year has been great for gaining experience.

The ICF event in Thailand was, I think, one of the largest SUP events ever held. How was it for you? 

The ICF event was a super nice event with around 70 juniors racing in different disciplines, I focussed on technical and the long-distance race.

In Thailand, I saw you were on an NSP board and not your BR1?

That’s right, getting my board across the world was difficult and the NSP board was better for the conditions in the sea off Thailand. NSP were great and were really supportive in Thailand and earlier in the season at the World SUP Festival in Alicante.

In both events, I used the 21” wide NSP Ninja, I really enjoyed this board in Alicante and I knew it would be fast and stable in the conditions I was expecting in Pattaya. 

NSP did a great job getting all of us our boards and additional information and support around the races and on the beach.

I think it is great that NSP who already have one of the best SUP race squads can help younger paddlers get started on the international race scene, how was your experience in Thailand, as good as you had hoped?

Yes, absolutely! Being in Thailand with around 70 of the best junior racers in the world was so cool!

I arrived in Thailand on the 5th of November together with my mom, normally my dad comes with me to races but he could not get away from work this time. Luckily mom really loved going to Thailand! 

When we arrived the heat and humidity hit me and that really affected the way I felt. Very different to autumn in Europe! 

We Travelled to Thailand early to adjust and to train with my trainer (SEPA) and the other guys from the SEPA squad who were also racing at the worlds; Koman Nattapat, Daniël Hasulyo and Itzel Delgado. We spent a lot of time on the beaches getting used to and making final adjustments to our kit and getting used to the heat and humidity.

And then it was time to race, how did that go?

I decided not to take part in the sprint races because I’m not that good in sprints (TotalSUP – yet!) and I wanted to fully focus on the long-distance and technical races. 

So my first race was the long distance with 70 paddlers on the start line for a 10km race in front of the Pattaya beach, so cool!!. 

My start wasn’t so good and I needed to fight my way back to the front of the pack together with Vaic Garioud. When we caught the leading group Vaic kept pushing hard and paddled straight through them!  Unfortunately, I lost his draft because I couldn’t hold up with his speed through the traffic, he was so strong!

After things settled down I found myself leading the third group on the water and I was working hard to close the gap to the group ahead. Looking back I think this wasn’t a smart move for me, leading the group takes extra effort and makes it a little easier for paddlers following, then after 8 or 9km at the front the other racers got past me on the final stretch to the finish. 

I finished my first World Championships in twenty-first place, if I had been a bit smarter on the water I think I would have done a little better but I was not strong enough to make the Top 10 anyway so I’m ok with this outcome. There were some brilliant performances that day, those racers make me want to work harder for next year.

That’s a great race recap and I am sure that anyone who has raced will read that and know that we’ve all let paddlers draft us to see them pass at the end. Good experience for next time. How about your technical race?

I was a little disappointed about the technical race format, in my training I had focused on a 1km race with running but the heats were just 400/500 meters and no beach run. 

In my heat I had a poor start and found myself on the outside of the first buoy, I lost a lot of ground there, too much to get back in such a short race and I did not progress to the next round where the longer distance and beach turn would have been better for me, it was another learning experience. At the end I finished 39th overall out of 68 racers.

Now that you are back in Europe and have time to think about your first World Championships what are your main memories?

Thailand is amazing! The country and the people that live there were fantastic and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to go. The support from NSP was brilliant, they are a great company to work with and I enjoy racing on their boards.

I really loved the races and got a lot of knowledge that I will use to get faster in future. The ICF and their team created one of the best-organised events I have ever been to, their scheduling was strict and on point!

Moving into 2024 I know you’ve already started your season meeting Mr TotalSUP at the Gla Gla race

That’s right, it was good to see Mathieu there and to start my season at the GLAGLA Race in Annecy, France. This year the organisers made a change so the juniors could race the same course as the Elite men so that we could show how good some of the upcoming juniors are!

The start at the GlaGla is always kinda hectic so I decided to start close to Donato Freens, he always seems to know when the race director is planning to start! 

That worked out well for me because we both went on the gun… Donato is still too fast for me so I could not stay in his draft for long but I went around the first mark in 15th position and 3rd junior racer. Thomas Dusart was leading with Zeno Szabo in second place and that’s how we stayed until the finish.  

In the afternoon there was still a tech race to do and I refuelled myself and wanted to make up for my 3rd spot in the long distance. I really like the hectic short tech races with lots of turns and some running and it showed again this race managed to get to the 5th spot overall and kept both Zeno and Thomas behind me.

I love the Gla Gla Race and I am already looking forward to the 11th edition next year!!

Thank you, Max, for that great insight into your SUP Racing year. It’s hard to believe that, at age 15 you have already competed, and done well at the 11 Cities and at World Championship level. I’m sure we will see you here on TotalSUP again.

You can keep up with Max on his Instagram – Maximus Waterman and, of course here on TotalSUP.

On Max’s travels, he was assisted by the team at NSP with one of their Ninja SUP Race boards. You can find out more about this speed machine on the NSP Website

All images from the Sijrier family.