With the 2015 Australian N1SCO Tour well underway and Melbourne and Adelaide an awesome success, it was exciting to head inland to the Nations Capital for the next tour stop. Our hosts for the day were Capital SUP and Wetspot Watersports, and the arena was the amazing Kingston Foreshore. With some strong support from the local businesses of the Kingston Foreshore such as The Dock, Chong Co. Resturant and Bar, 38 Espresso Café, The SUP’ing Caveman and of coarse Wetspot Watersports, the event was always bound to be a hit with the competitors.

The day started out with a forecast for 30+ degree temperatures and fine weather, which it surely delivered. The Kingston Foreshore set up was perfect for N1SCO racing with the foreshore landing running along side the sprint coarse, allowing spectators and competitors alike to get right up close and into the action. With a great turn out of Men’s, Women’s and Junior’s competitors, we soon filled all 55 odd competitors into their respective heats and it was time to get things under way.

The 200m Sprints were as always packed with energy and excitement as the day kicked into gear with tactics, brute power and untouchable speed delivered by some of the hot shots. However much of the excitement was watching the handful of beginners getting into it and giving it a go for some of which was their first race and even first time on a SUP. In the Men’s it was Paul Mackie making waves and keeping at the front of the pack, while Melissa McManus on her return to Canberra from last N1SCO event, stepped straight back into he action and her preferred placement at the front of the fleet. The Junior’s were awesome, and took to the task of the 200m sprint with no hassles, Ethan Garbutt taking it for the Junior Boy’s and Cate Hunter leading the Junior Girl’s to the line.

By now all the competitors are getting the idea what N1SCO is all about, and that’s not standing around waiting, non-stop action and with that we flew straight into the 400m Sprints. With the full fleet stepping back to the start line and ready to exercise the power of Naish ONE 12’6”, we smoked through 10 heats to leave us with basically a carbon copy of the leaders in the 200m. Although now warmed up the likes of Peter Garbutt, Matt Scott, Angela Crawford, Joanna Nelson, Sebastian Mee, Josh Hunter, Eliza Evans and Fleur Evans kept our leaders humble putting in some serious speed.

Thanks to The SUP’ing Caveman a quick game of X-SUP kept our muscles warm and everyone entertained as we had a quick break for lunch before getting the first waves ready for the distance race. The Distance race was a scenic lap of the Kingston Foreshore Island complete with low-lying bridges and tight canals. Although the fleet thinned a little by this point, the endless energy was electric as two waves of 20+ paddlers lined the edges of the Island. A massive special mention to Ethan Garbutt of the Junior’s for taking on the challenge. Again the results seemed to be a little repetitive for the first place getters, but the field was tight and all paddlers put in a great effort.

As always with our N1SCO events, it is essential to finish with a relay race. This is often the highlight of our competitor’s day, and a great way to top the day off. And in craziness, the relay fired into motion, the interesting and very challenging transition area on the floating Naish Fun Deck made for amusing and wet transfers between teammates and rivals and definitely kept the public entertained. In the end it was the visiting team from Jervis Bay “Team Husky” that came away with the gold, closely followed by “Team Peka” and “Wetspot Team”.

After a great presentation and tonnes of lucky draws, vouchers and giveaways it was great to hear how much fun everyone experienced.

A huge thanks you to all the sponsors, The Dock – Kingston Foreshore, 38 Espresso, Chung Co. Restaurant and bar, The SUP’ing Caveman and Wetspot Watersports.

And of coarse a big well done and thanks to Capital SUP and Wetspot Watersports for putting together such a great event.

Full list of results as follows;

 200m Men’s
1^st Paul Mackie
2^nd Scott Hunter
3^rd Jon Bell

400m Men’s
1^st Paul Mackie
2^nd Peter Garbutt
3^rd Matt (caveman) Scott

Distance Men’s
1^st Paul Mackie
2^nd Jon Bell
3^rd Scott Hunter

200m Women’s
1^st Melissa McManus
2^nd Angela Crawford
3^rd Joanna Nelson

400m Women’s
1^st Melissa McManus
2^nd Angela Crawford
3^rd Joanna Nelson

Distance Women’s
1^st Melissa McManus
2^nd Angela Crawford
3^rd Joanna Nelson

200m Junior Boy’s
1^st Ethan Garbutt
2^nd Josh Hunter
3^rd Sebastian Mee

400m Junior Boy’s
1^st Ethan Garbutt
2^nd Sebastian Mee
3^rd Josh Hunter

Distance Junior
1^st Ethan Garbutt

200m Junior Girl’s
1^st Cate Hunter
2^nd Fleur Evans
3^rd Eliza Evans

400m Junior Girl’s
1^st Cate Hunter
2^nd Eliza Evans
3^rd Fleur Evans

Relay
1^st Team Husky
2^nd Team Peka
3^rd Wetspot Team