Friday, June 13, 2008

Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle: 25K Purse with 10K to First place... What!!!

The paddlesurf.net wireless is crackling... carrier pigeons are flying in- and bricks with notes tied to them are being hucked at my house. Here's the latest information I've got regarding the upcoming Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle Event (remember this info is unconfirmed- so take it with a grain of salt).

Here's a note I received detailing the event:

I’m writing in response to the webpage about the Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle.

The race will take place in October at Doheny just south of the rivermouth. There will be a pro money race with a total purse of 25k and 1st place will take home 10k.

The course will be laps around 4 buoys so all spectators can watch the action. For 10 miles worth of laps, each competitor will have to complete a running dash to a flag on the beach for every lap (distance of run not determined but will be relatively short). Boards cannot exceed 12’6”.

There will also be amateur class trophy races. Everybody is welcomed to participate in this event.

All entry fees will go to help the Surfing Heritage.

Rainbow Sandals is funding the entire event.

There will be more info to come for the event is still being planned.

If this is true, it's huge- the purse alone equals that of a major surf event and the format will be killer for beach spectators. Rainbow will be really stepping up to the stand up paddle plate if they do indeed sponsor this event- let's all hope it comes together. I'll definitely make the drive to see some manimals paddle their brains out. And no, beach runs and my specialized physique do not mix- I will be there purely as a spectator. What about you?



5 comments:

Jim Brewer said...

John-It's all true. Ron House and Sparky from Rainbow Sandals have been putting this all together for months. It's the real deal. OUT.

John Ashley said...

I'm receiving more and more chatter about this event- they did a good job of keeping it under wraps... but the cat's out now! And from the response I'm getting, people are stoked for a competition like this.

Anonymous said...

This event was so exciting! I can honestly say, it was the most fun I've ever had watching a contest. I can't seem to find much information on the winners online, though. I have some great photos of the event, but I'd love to see some professional shots.

JennyJ said...

Maria, i know they had professional photogs out there, but not sure they've posted yet... I can't find the list of winners either - i'll ask around and seed if we can't get them to update the website or post here.

JennyJ said...

more pics here. Men's winner was Chuck Patterson.