En Belgique, le printemps a commencé le 30 avril, lors de la première manche du Belgian SUP Tour : le Paddle of the Kempen. Cette compétition, co-organisée par Kempen SUP, le plus gros club de paddle belge, donne le coup d’envoi pour une saison de paddle bien chargée : 12 compétitions aux formats variés, allant de la Longue Distance classique à l’Ultra Longue Distance en passant par des Championnats de Belgique Sprint et Technical Race.
Une centaine de compétiteurs étaient dans les starting blocks. Certains participants des Pays-Bas, de France et d’Allemagne, sont venus rejoindre notre élite belge pour se jauger en ce début de saison.
3 parcours étaient proposés :
– 12,4km pour les élites
– 8km pour les amateurs
et
– un parcours adapté aux kids, de plus en plus nombreux !
Chez les élites, notre compétiteur australo-belge Kaelan Lockhart a pu éviter un podium entièrement batave avec :
1) Joep van Bakel (Champion des Pays Bas)
2) Kaelan Lockhart (Belgique)
3) Ricardo Haverschmidt (Pays Bas)
Kjell De Bruyn, le Champion de Belgique en titre, blessé, s’est vu réduit au rôle de spectateur.
Chez les femmes, en l’absence d’Ella Oesterholt, le podium était ouvert:
1) Annelies Loots
2) Deborah Wouters
3) Lesly Adriaensen
Les amateurs et les kids aussi, sont venus nombreux et tous ont apprécié les nouvelles formules adaptées à ces compétiteurs en devenir !
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