City Surf Series: Enter The Zigzag Durban Surf Pro SUP Race

by Chris Couve | May 15, 2018 | SUP Events, SUP Racing

The Zigzag Durban Surf Pro presented by Graham Smith Surfboards, which takes place in Durban from this Friday to Sunday, will be the first of the final three City Surf Series events to include a Stand Up Paddle race.

Surfing South Africa’s Stand Up Paddleboard partner, SUPSA, will coordinate and present the Two Star rated SUP Race 5km race during the Zigzag Durban Pro presented by Graham Smith Surfboards, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 19^th at 8 am. Paddlers should gather at North Beach at 7.30am for a pre-race briefing.

Sunday is the holdover day if conditions are not suitable for racing on Saturday.

Download Zig Zag Durban Surf Pro SUP RACE ENTRY FORM here >>

The race will start and finish between the piers during the surfing event, allowing spectators the opportunity to watch some of South Africa’s top Stand Up Paddleboard athletes racing 14ft race boards around a triangular course.

South African SUP Team members Tom and Tarryn King from Cape Town will both be competing in the Longboard surfing as well as taking on some of Durban’s top SUP racers for the R8000 in prize money which will goes to the top three finishers in the Men’s and Women’s divisions.

SUPSA Vice President Jackie De Billot, who is currently South Africa’s top ranked woman racer, is the Race Director and she has designed a challenging but fun course for the 5km race.

It will be held over three laps with paddlers going out through the surf, around a triangular course at the backline and back to the beach where a run transition after each lap will bring the action right onto the beach.

A fun social race will also be held to give less experienced paddlers the opportunity to get involved.

Paddlers keen to participate in the professional 5km race should confirm their entry by emailing Jackie de Billot at vicepresident@supsa.org.za. Early entries cost R100 and beach registration from 7.30am on the day will cost R120.

“Stand Up Paddling South Africa (SUPSA) is very excited by the opportunity offered to the sport of Stand Up Paddleboarding by our partner Surfing South Africa and Accelerate Sport to participate in the City Surf Series. Being a relatively new but fast growing water sport we appreciate the financial and logistical support that our inclusion in this series brings for ourselves and our sponsors, and we are exploring ways to expand this relationship to our mutual benefits in the future” said Dave Maxwell, President of SUPSA.

Gary Grant, Managing Director of Accelerate welcomed Stand Up Paddling to the programme saying “We are delighted to have SUPSA included into the remaining three events of the City Surf Series. This further entrenches our strategy to create a festival of surfing and coming together of the general market but also adds great additional value to our partners. We look forward to this trial period with SUPSA, so that we can include it into all our events in 2019”

Surfing South Africa is the recognised governing body for the sport in South Africa and is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), the African Surfing Confederation (ASC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA). SUPSA works with Surfing South Africa as a partner and all national SUPSA events held in South Africa are sanctioned by SSA