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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesVI Stand Up Paddlers Hold Monster Event

VI Stand Up Paddlers Hold Monster Event

Todd Clements leads the Open Class to the finish.The Virgin Islands Get Up Stand Up Paddle Board races looked like a beachside village had quickly erupted at John Brewers beach Sunday.

Tents dotted the beach representing primary sponsor Monster Energy Drink, as well as the sign up tent, PlasticFreeOceans.Org, DJ/sound tent, and Virgin Sea Glass.

The VI Stand Up Paddle Team put on the first organized SUP races in St. Thomas in a tightly organized and well run event. Racers came from Puerto Rico and the BVI for the event and some participants hailed from as far as California and Canada.

The first half of the day saw races for 17 Elite racers and 30 Open racers, with a kids race and a relay race scheduled for the afternoon. All racers were wearing their green Monster competitor T-shirts for the race.

The courses for both the Elite and Open divisions started from the beach and proceeded toward the airport breakwater, then north towards the old V.I. Hotel beach club, and back towards the starting point on the beach. When racers reached the beach, they had to jump off their boards, run through a "chicane" section on the beach, grabbing water cups like marathon runners, then remount their boards and start off on their next lap. Boards were moved 25 yards from start to finish of the chicane section by an efficient conveyer of junior volunteers from the Skim Slam Caribbean team.

The Elite racers did four laps of the course during their race, while the Open class did two.

When the paddles stopped splashing and the boards hit the sand at the end of the Elite race, Colin Butler of St. Thomas was first, Eric Walker, also of St. Thomas, was second, Heather Baus of Puerto Rico third, followed closely by Jim Baus of Puerto Rico.

Anticipation built as the big group of Open racers lined up on the beach and the announcer counted down to the start. At the start call, 30 racers pushed off from the shallows and jumped up on their boards and started stroking west. By the first mark the herd had broken into a clumpy line of green jerseys. When the racers approached the beach cheers and lots of Monster Energy whistles urged the racers through the beach chicane and into their second lap. To the second round of cheers, Todd Clements of St. Thomas took first, Jim Rosebury, St. Thomas, was second, John Flynn, Puerto Rico, third and Jose Belcher, St. Thomas, fourth. Susanne Yeo of California was first woman and Sylvie Scott of St. Thomas second.

A lunch break followed, and and R. Charlie Schultz of UVI Agricultural Extension Service St. Croix spoke on "Plastic Pollution."

The afternoon Kids Races provided some of the day’s highlights. Children were divided into two groups. The under-nine age group did one lap of a short beach side course, including beach chicane run, and the ten and older group did two laps. The Baus family of Puerto Rico scored again, with Savanna Baus winning the 5-9 group. The leaders of the 10 and over division were not available Sunday night.

Event organizers Colin Butler and Adrianne Baird thank the many volunteers who made the event a reality.Elite class winner and event co-organizer Colin Butler said, "We’ve been going over to Puerto Rico and racing there, and we wanted to put on an event that would make it worth while for the Puerto Rican paddlers to come to St. Thomas."

Organizer Adrianne Baird thanked Carol Pazik of West Indies Corp for all the support from Monster Energy Drink, which included bags, beach set ups, coolers, and lots and lots of cheering and support.

The Skim Slam Caribbean team helped the "Kid Machine" chicane team and announcing. St. Thomas Rescue stood by shoreside in case of emergency and VI Eco Tours helped with the water side. Baird also thanked the Art Center at Maho Bay for the race prizes. Baird and Butler both thanked all the volunteers and helpers for making the first VI Get Up Stand Up event a success. The VI SUP team had a beach clean up the day before the event and promised to leave the beach cleaner than they found it.

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