GUEST BLOG - Chris Jones of SUP My Race

Photo by Thomas Varcher

SUP My Race is the longest-running online challenge for Stand Up Paddlers in the world. 

Each month, hundreds of paddlers take part, intending to complete one or more of the distance challenges, or they paddle as fast as they can in one of the Time Trials. In December of this year, it will be the Tenth anniversary of the SUP my Race Facebook group, so we thought it was high time we had a chat with the man behind the stats, Chris Jones, about his own paddling journey and the huge success of this idea.  

Chris, could you give us a brief rundown of your own SUP journey? 

Hi Sarah, that was a long time ago! The first time I saw a SUP was at Bantham Beach in South Devon in the spring of 2010. I was there early one morning and saw a paddler walking back up the beach with this HUGE surfboard. We had a chat, and the seed was planted. I got my first inflatable SUP, a 10’6” from Red Paddle Co soon after, and used that occasionally for about 12 months, just messing about with it really. A first-generation Red Paddle Explorer followed about a year after that, a board far more suited to my size. My first hardboard arrived in 2015, I think, and from there I have ended up with a garage full of SUPs!  

For those who don't know, could you let our readers know what SUP my Race is? 

SUP My Race is a Facebook Group for Stand Up Paddlers who want to challenge themselves to go a little further each month. Challenges run each month for 100, 150, 200, 250, 300km and more alongside the Time Trials. Thanks to some brilliant sponsors, it is completely free to enter. 

Entry could not be easier, take a screenshot from your GPS tracking app and post it in the group! Of course, there are rules, and there are deadlines for your posts, but that’s basically it. Paddle, track with a GPS, post a screenshot and repeat.  

When and how did you come up with the idea? 

It wasn’t my idea! The group was started by a Spanish paddler, Reuben, in 2015, and I was invited to the group by Crispin Jones in 2017. My first post was a 7 km paddle in Plymouth Sound on 4 November.  

After moving to Sweden in the Spring of 2018, I started to paddle more and more, and when Reuben decided not to continue with the group in 2019, I picked up the reins. The rest, as they say, is history.  

The FB Group currently has over 10000 members - has its success surprised you? 

Yes! When I started running the challenges, there were fewer than 450 members, with around 40 active paddlers and the challenges did not run each month. In 2024, the group passed 10k members, with over 800 active paddlers taking part in the challenges and multiple challenges that run all year. 

Chris out on the water

How has SUP my Race evolved over the last ten years, or has it remained the same since its inception? 

It has changed in some ways, but the core of the group is the same. 

Going back through the group to the beginning, you will find distance challenges and virtual races. As the group has grown, I have had to formalise the way the challenges and races, or Time Trials as they are now, are run - those rules again!  

Most of the changes have been made to help run a group with so many paddlers, but some have been introduced to make as level a playing field as possible for those who want to go faster and to make sure that cheating is minimised. I think the rules are dialled in.  

Have you always been a 'stats' man? 

Yes and no. My working life was with IT, initially as a coder (PL/1 if you’re interested, code I worked on in the early 1990s is still in action today), then as a Systems Programmer on IBM mainframes and finally as a data specialist working with some very, very large datasets and an interest in linked, open data. A stereotypical IT geek working on back-end systems away from users. 

You are the sole admin of SUP my Race, and it must take up a huge amount of your time with thousands of uploads a month - can you let us know the issues you face with it? 

The most important thing with SUP My Race is that 99,9% of paddlers in the group are awesome people who enjoy paddling nearly as much as I do. And they make it a pleasure to run the group.  

I have SMR dialled in for the way I work, and I spend about an hour a day looking after the group. Early morning coffee, check the group for spam or inappropriate posts, and collate data. Each leaderboard takes around an hour, including words for the Facebook post.  

I struggled with some aspects at first. The way it was set up was not scaleable for the numbers I have now, and I have redesigned the ‘data flow’ several times over the years. 

A turning point for me was accepting that I cannot keep all of the paddlers happy all of the time. I aim to keep 99,9% happy though! 

Chris and Michael Booth

Can you talk us through the different challenges you set for the paddlers each month? 

The original SMR challenge was to paddle 150km. I have experimented with different distances, but came back to 150km, 5km a day for 30 days. As the group grew and more paddlers were completing the 150km each month, I expanded the monthly goals and settled on 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300km.  

A small number of paddlers regularly pass 400km each month and, in August 2025, Andreas ‘Lucky’ Siebel smashed the record when he posted a total of 1313.13 km, lucky 13.  

The Country Challenge originally ran once a year. It is the most popular challenge in the group, and now it runs quarterly. For 2025, I am also running a year-long Country Challenge, one of the reasons I had to tweak my workflow, which is working well.  

I ran my first 5 km TT a few years ago, and it proved to be popular. Now the 5 km and 10 km run each month, winning one of those is an achievement. Luckily, I have had a few wins over the years.  

Team England seems to be pretty dominant within the group - has this always been the case, or does it ebb and flow between certain countries? 

Team England were late to the SUP My Race party!  

The first time Team England appeared in the Country Challenge Hall Of Fame was when they won in July 2022; before that, they were nowhere to be seen. They then disappeared again until September 2023, when they won again, and they took bronze in the next challenge.  

Since then, there have been 6 Country Challenges, Team England have won 4 of those and were third in another. In addition, they are out of sight in the first year-long challenge, although Australia won the first month of the year. 

In total, I have run 19 Country challenges with winning teams from England, Australia, Italy, Germany, Poland, France, Latvia and Sweden. Germany leads the medal table with 10, closely followed by Australia and Italy on 9, with England on 8.  

Despite the recent English domination in the Country Challenge, there has never been an Individual Challenge winner from England. Two from Scotland, though and as an Irishman, I’m claiming some of the Swedish wins, Thorsten is part Irish.  

I am fairly new to SUP my Race, but I do feel I have upped my game and pushed my paddling further because of it. Did you think this concept might inspire all paddlers and encourage them to do the same? 

Good to hear, that is exactly the purpose of the group!  

In a way, the name of the group no longer represents the overwhelming majority of paddlers who post; the group has always been about getting out there and enjoying your time on the water and encouraging paddlers to go a little further. Racing is just one part of the group.  

Are there some stat highlights from over the years that you would like to share with our readers? 

There have been hundreds of highlights for me, many would be insignificant to anyone else, for instance, helping someone get their first post sorted out. That might sound trivial, but with 41 different countries taking part, the majority of paddlers do not use English as their first language, and it can be tricky. 

The milestones I maintain for paddlers; seeing new personal bests for paddlers is always good. And those personal bests often feed into incredible real-world performances for some; this year, paddlers from SUP My Race have featured in many events around the world. Recently, Marco Teodosio won the 11 Cities non-stop, Vira Lemekha has a European Championship win and several fantastic performances at the top level, and Wietse de Boer finished third in the 11 Cities stage race, where several paddlers from the group put in amazing performances. And that’s just 2025; there are countless other highlights from previous years.  

Other, more obvious highlights are those paddlers who go long. Really long.  

It is easy for me to spot a paddler who is aiming for a big total. Watching the bar being raised is inspiring. Volker was the first to 400km in March 2020, then 500km by our current record holder, Andreas in September 2020. Then Volker again, passing 600km in 2021, and Ilze Olina pushed that to 650 later the same year. Andreas paddled past 850km in April 2022, then Aristos with 960 km in September 2022, and that record stayed for nearly 12 months.  

Then, Thomas opened the 1000 club with his Yukon adventure and more, Duncan extended that a year later on the Rhine and this year… 1313,13 Andreas. Over 42km a day, every day. Astonishing.  

You have got some great sponsors for the site - would you like to give them a shout-out? 

Thank you, the sponsors are the reason that the group is free for paddlers.  

Let’s start with Boothy and Booth Training. In February 2022, I started to work with Booth Training on my paddling, and having a chat with him about my progression still feels a bit surreal. I am a bit of a fan of the Aussie waterman and would confidently argue that he is the best male SUP paddler in the world. GOAT. 

Airboard came on board in February 2024, their Rocket Light iSUP is simply the fastest inflatable SUP I have ever paddled; it is not far off a hard SUP in the right conditions. Remarkable bit of kit and sooooo light!  

And NSP. The most recent sponsor and the one that has made me reevaluate my paddling more than any other. The Carolina Evo is the most capable all-around board I have had the pleasure to stand on, it really can do anything. I am still learning how best to use it and the Vivace paddle that the team at NSP sent me. 

I am also super happy to be working with Solite EU, warm feet this winter! And USWE in Sweden for their different approach to hydration.  

I would also like to say thank you to previous sponsors who have all supported me on my SUP adventures.: McConks in the UK, EO SUP in Latvia, and Palm Equipment in the UK.

Chris enjoying his NSP kit

How can people support you, Chris? 

If paddlers like the work I do on SUP My Race, then I do have a Buy Me a Coffee page, the group and this paddler absolutely run on coffee! SUP and Fika, there’s an idea for a new group!  

https://buymeacoffee.com/supmyrace 

Follow Chris' own Blog here: https://rideandpaddle.blogspot.com/ 

SUP my Race Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/509865939182902/ 

Well, there you have it – a great explanation of such a popular idea for all paddlers, not just those who race. Why not check it out, get involved and push your paddling just that little bit further. Thank you so much Chris for all your hard work and your contribution to our Guest Blog series. Happy Paddling!