Florida Cup!

After the disaster of a race in Key West and a really trying week at school, I did NOT want to race at the Florida Cup, which is quite unlike me. I love to race and compete, especially in a fun race practically in my backyard. At first I wanted to ride tandem (two people paddling one board) with my friend Heather, but decided against it because it's important for me to only ride boards from the company that sponsors me. So instead, I got to ride the Batmobile!!! It's a super fast black carbon fiber board with "wings" going out the side and it even has a Batman logo! It's designed like a sprint canoe by my mentor and hero, 5 time Olympian and owner of Quickblade Paddles, Jim Terrell. 

The day of the race I felt like crap. It was a tough week at school, I was feeling drained, and to make matters worse, I broke my phone the previous night. Even out on my warmup I felt shaky, like I wasn't even going to be able to finish. Then I surprised myself again-I absolutely CRUSHED the race. The Batboard was fast, .2 miles per hour faster than my regular board, which is huge, especially in an 8 mile race! I wiped out both of the Women's Elite Divisions and felt great after!!

As much as I am cheered by my successes I'm even more stoked when my friends and mentorees succeed!! I could not have been more proud of them this weekend. 3 of my friends at only 14 killed the female short course race, taking first, second, and fourth!! Two of the guys around my age did really great too, taking first and second in their race :) I was so stoked for them and really proud of the kids I train with. After the awards ceremony I had to run off to collect some soil samples and meet my friends to work on a school project. I left straight from there to attend the post race party at Gator's. 

On Sunday we had more sprint races! This is awesome for me because I really like sprint race formats and it's a great place for SUP to expand into. It ended up being just me and 2 of my friends in the girls' sprints, so it was pretty fun. We all have the same brand and type of paddles and boards, so that was super cool too! It was tough and we worked hard, and I was happy to say that although I won, the girls did a great job of keeping up with me and I'm sure they'll be chasing me even closer in the near future. 

So ends another successful weekend of racing, but this time close to home, which was pretty awesome. Still busy, but I'm starting to slow down and find some balance as school comes to an end and exams begin. Can't believe I'm going to be a senior soon!!!

xoxo, 

bailey :)