Warm Winter, Global Vibes: Hungary’s Youth Pool SUP Challenge Grows International

From January 30 to February 1, 2026, Hungary will host the 8th edition of the Youth Pool SUP Challenge — an indoor paddling event unlike any other. Organized by Szabolcs Fodor and his team, this year’s edition takes a bold step forward with international ambitions and €6,000 in prize money for the Open categories. Blending competition and fun, the event transforms winter training into a festive poolside showdown for young and elite paddlers alike. Within 5 years, Hungary has become a strong force in the SUP world, hosting major events such as the 2021 ICF World Championships and the 2024 ECA European Championships, and boasting several world champions among its athletes. We caught up with Szabolcs Fodor to learn more about the story behind the event, its evolution, and how this unique format inspires the next generation of paddlers.
>> Registration (from November 7: https://supchallenge.events)

Hello Szabolcs, could you start by introducing yourself? Tell us a bit about your background, your connection with SUP?

Well, I used to be a flatwater canoe competitor in Hungary from 1991 till 2005, and after that, from 2006, with my canoeing partners, we founded a rafting team with 6 people who participated outside of Hungary in rafting events, and we were lucky because we were able to win one World Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009, and one Euro Championship in Italy in 2010 as well. After that, everybody had family and kids, and it was difficult to find a way to train together. I wanted to find a similar paddling sport that I could do alone and train when I had time, and I started to do SUP in 2018.

How did you become involved in organizing this event?

One of my friends from the rafting team who was also a flatwater canoeing racer – his name is Szabolcs Nagy (alias Szasza), already started to do SUP before me. At the beginning of the year 2018, we saw an indoor SUP pool race on the internet somewhere in Europe with Connor Baxter, and we loved it so much to have an event in wintertime with a summer sport in a swimming pool with a party and with a good feeling with the same guys like summertime, then we discussed we would like to organize something like that.

How would you describe the Youth Pool SUP Challenge to someone hearing about it for the first time?

This is a very good time after the Christmas time and cold wintertime to meet with your friends and race with them and have fun together. For beginners, also a good possibility to try this sport the first time in a warm pool with warm water to see how it is going before going on open water.

What makes this format special, and what kind of experience can young athletes expect?

What is strikingly different from traditional racing is that you need more skills to turn faster and in a narrow angle, because you have a smaller place, and in this case, it’s better if you are the fastest! If you don’t have enough force, here it is not as necessary as on open water where we have to paddle more distance!

What are the conditions like, and what makes this location ideal for a pool SUP competition?

The size of the pool (longer and wider), the size of the grandstand… good area to have the possibility of so many people together! And the last step is also important — to have licenses to be there!

Why was Sukoró and the Katalin Kovács National Kayak-Canoe Academy chosen as the venue?

It’s going to be the 8th Pool SUP Event since 2018 by us, and we tried more than 4 pools in Hungary, and that was the best location so far. The Hungarian Association has cooperation with Kovács Katalin Academy, which is also a good point because they are also a partner for us.

The event offers €6,000 worth of prize money and gifts for Open and Youth categories — how does this fit with your vision for supporting both youth and elite athletes?

€6,000 is the total value of prize money and gifts for the whole event. We wanted to have something more to give to the winners, not only a medal. We have sponsors, and that’s why we are able to do it. It means we will give prize money only in the Open category, around €2,400 for top 3 men and women, the other €3,600 we will give to the other categories with gift presents like waterproof bags.

For international racers, how easy is it to get to Sukoró? What’s the best way to travel there?

Sukoró is a nice city next to Budapest, it’s around 45 km by car. In the bulletin, we put every info about logistics and the city, but you can find flights to Budapest from anywhere and after take a train from Déli train station and go to Velence station, then take a taxi to Sukoró, or take a bus from Budapest.

And are there nearby accommodation options?

We also wrote this part in the bulletin: we have some hotels that we prefer, for example, Sporthotel Velence, https://sporthotelvelence.hu/

How would you describe the current state of SUP racing in Hungary ?

The number of Hungarian competitors is increasing every year, the Hungarian Federation is organizing more and more competitions for those who have competition licenses. We believe that the sport has developed a lot in Hungary and it will continue.

Finally, what do you personally hope participants — especially the young ones — will take away from this event?

We would like to offer this SUP sport event to anyone who comes to this Pool Challenge, those who didn’t try or are already racers and want to have a good SUP party in wintertime in board shorts! We will have sauna, warm water, good people, friends, DJ, good music… We want a good event with smiling people who have a good time together, and we want to inform the world about this indoor event so that others can do something like this, even within a cup series.

>> Registration (from November 7: https://supchallenge.events)