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Seine hosts world’s biggest stand-up paddle event
PARIS, Dec 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Around 800 paddlers braved tough conditions
on the Seine river in Paris to take part in the world’s largest stand-up
paddle (SUP) race Sunday.
The French capital was chosen to host the final of the SUP World Cup, but
as well as seeing 21-year-old Frenchman Arthur Arutkin crowned world
champion, the event also welcomed hundreds of aspiring SUP aficionados.
Many of the amateur paddlers donned colourful costumes for the occasion.
After a dawn start close to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the
contestants paddled their way past Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum,
the Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower before reaching the finish line at Quai
de Javel, in the southwest of the capital.
The amateurs raced 11 kilometres (six miles) while the professionals raced
13.5km on what was the final leg of the APP World Tour, the official SUP
World Cup since 2012.
“To do this sport you have to be strong, reactive, have good balance and
stamina for long distances,” said Arutkin. “It’s great we had a World Cup
event in France.”
Despite a fourth-place finish in 1hr 20min on Sunday, Arutkin did enough
over the season to end Hawaiians’ dominance of the competition to become the
first World Cup SUP champion from Europe.
BSS/AFP/ARS/2008 hrs