Ty Judson and Esperanza Barrera, Winners of the Madeira Island SUP Challenge 2022

Last weekend the Euro Tour circuit returned to the beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira for the second edition of the Madeira Island SUP Challenge. The race was a 12-kilometer course that took place in the bay of Funchal, passing through the headquarters of the Clube Naval do Funchal, in Quinta Calaça, and the Barreirinha bathing complex. The amazing views along the cliffs around the town of Funchal made the course once again, one of the most scenic ones on the European tour.

In the women’s,  the unstoppable Spanish champion and Starboard Dream Teamer Esperanza Barreras put her foot down won a third consecutive EuroTour race with a dominant performance from start to finish, just as she did at the Port Adriano Race in Mallorca and at the World SUP Festival in Santa Pola.

The battle for the 2nd place was fierce between Dutch athlete and Mistral SUP ambassador Petronella Van Malsen (2nd) and 3-time +40 ICF SUP World Champion Susanne Lier on Sunova (3rd) until the very last stretch of water. Izaskun Martin finished 4th and Michala Hendrichova made it in the Top5 beating the local hero Veronica Silva

On the Junior Women’s side, Leonor Jardim, from Centro Treino Mar, was the only athlete in competition covering the distance in 1:35:39 hours, also reaching the seventh position overall.

The consecration of the champions of the various events and categories took place Sunday at 12:00 hours, in the Village of Madeira Island SUP Challenge, located in the Naautic Center of São Lazaro, in the pier 7 of the Port of Funchal.

Organized by Clube Naval do Funchal (CNF) and DIÁRIO de Notícias, Madeira Island SUP Challenge integrates for the second year in a row a stage of the ‘Grand Slam’ of the European circuit Eurotour of the Stand Up Paddle modality.

The 2022 edition had about a hundred participants with a Prize Money of 4,500 euros with athletes from 12 different nationalities.

Top 10 Women:

1. Esperanza Barreras  @starboardsup
2. Petronella Van Malsen   @mistral_int
3. Susanne Lier   @sunova.sup
4. Izaskun Martin   @nspsurfnsup
5. Michala Hendrichova   @sunova.sup
6. Veronica Silva   @nspsurfnsup
7. Leonor Jardim   @naishsup
8. Flavia Fernades   @starboardsup
9. Carlota Duarte   @naishsup

On the men’s side, we had a clear favorite from the start with the presence of Australian powerhouse and NSP rider Ty Judson who has had some great results ever since his return to the competition at the Carolina Cup in April after a two-year break from the competition. He signs his first win of the year in 1:07:00!

Almost in a copycat race from Eurotour 2021 Starboard SUP teammates Daniel Hasulyo from Hungary and Leo Nika from Italy spent most of the race together, with Leo making a clear push on the last stretch that made the difference. His brother Claudio Nika came in 4th, getting his best result of the season so far. Closing out an almost entire Starboard SUP Top5 was Israeli SUP racer Liran Machlev who has competed at every stop this year so far with very consistent results and an impressive 10th place in Santa Pola, the most competitive race of this year so far, by far. It should also be noted that the best Portuguese in the competition was the Madeiran Tomás Lacerda, who crossed the finish line in seventh position with 1:14:04 hours and the Spaniard Daniel Parres, organizer of the World SUP Festival event the weekend before took the trip to Madeira Island to finish in 9th place and take a well-deserved family holiday.

In the Junior Men’s, who covered the same distance of 12 kilometers, João Olim, from Madeira, was the fastest. The current leader of the national under-18 SUP Race ranking, reached a time of 1:14:37 hours and ranked 8th overall. In second place was Francisco Pestana, from Clube Naval do Funchal, with 1:19:22 hours and, finally, the third fastest was Pedro Abreu, from Ludens Clube Machico, with 1:22:22 hours.

Top 10 Men:

1. Ty Judson
2. Leonard Nika
3. Daniel Hasulyo
4. Claudio Nika
5. Liran Machlev
6. Ben Moreham
7. Tomás Lacerda
8. Joao Guilherme
9. Daniel Parres
10. Francisco Pestana

Full Results