4.2 mile race in Portland, Maine August 31st

[raf]

We will be running our final race of the summer series this Saturday at 4:30 pm from Willard Beach in South Portland.  The top finishers in recreational, 12-6 and 14 will get prizes.  The registrant times are all up for grabs.  If we have good conditions, the leaderboards will change.  1st place will win a carbon paddle of choice (Kialoa or Quickblade).  Please call or e-mail for additional info.

Raf
owner of Soposup
www.soposup.com
207-317-0425

[Board Stiff]

This race series has been a blast! The course around Cushing Island is a lot more interesting than many of the similar length buoy races, with boat traffic, currents, and reflected waves bouncing off the back of Cushing all making for a challenging and varied set of course conditions. It'd be great to meet some more Zoners at this final event this weekend too.

Luke

[freetobeme]

Sounds like you have a great thing going up there Raf.  Id like to do something like this here on the Cape!

How many people have u been getting total on the avg?

[raf]

Its been a lot of fun, as well as a terrific training tool for me personally.  We have not had enough people turning out though.  I would like to get to 15 or so racers per session, but we have a hard time getting half that many.  I don't really know why.  I think if this was down your way you would get a lot more entrants.  We just don't have the numbers of confident paddlers you guys have down south (yet). 

Another issue is how to advertise the race beyond this site and Facebook, without spending a lot of money. 

The goal is simply to get a core of competitive paddlers together once a week, for almost no cost ($10 one-time registration fee), and to push each other to go a little faster and harder than the week before.  Next season I will make some fancy posters, and if we can get a couple other shops involved, we can offer better end of season prizes.

[freetobeme]

At least your giving it a shot and keeping it simple. I'm all for raising $ for charity and understand why some people race for the $, but sometimes racing should just be for the fun of it!

Yep, posters at grocery stores, coffee shops and post offices is how we do it on the Cape! I'm sure your race series will grow each season along with our sport!

[MaineSUP]

Another nice thing about running the same course week after week is that you can race against your own past times.

Looks like the tide will be coming in for this week's race and give us a push on the final leg.  If the offshore winds don't pick up this could be the week for record times.