The first test of the Spanish race calendar took place on Sunday April 8 in the Cantabrian town of San Vicente de la Barquera , near the beach of El Tostadero. UPDATE: with video!

The race had been moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather conditions and the course was adjusted to a total distance of 8 kilometers and 920 meters in a four-lap circuit in the bay of San Vicente, strong currents due to a high tide coefficient gave drama to it.

Roman Frejo (Starboard), Spanish Champion in the 14′ class and recently representing Spain at the ISA World Champs (winning copper)  dominated the race in absence of Ramon Blanco and Belar Diaz who had other duties to attend to. He led the race from start to finish. Local Barbara de La Maza (from Loredo) won the Ladies’ Race.

Here is what Roman told me after the race.

Congratulations, Roman, on winning the race! Tell us about it! How did it go for you?

Hola Petra! Thanks, today’s race was really fun, we were glad to finally start after some weather problems that changed the date form yesterday to today.  The biggest handicap was with the tides, the coefficient today days was very high, and we started the race into a dropping tide droping tide which created a very strong current. The circuit was made of 4 laps, about 9 km, it was a very nice course, the start was in le mans style:

We had to run across the beach, grab the board and go into the water, that was funny, I fell in the middle of the run, rolled over and started running again. I somehow managed to still start first and hold the position for the whole race!

In the afternoon, there was the Open Race, a sprint race for all on the same 10’ boards in a knock-out format, I won that too!

Wow! Well done! Now you can go and celebrate Easter 🙂

Congratulations to all winners!

RESULTS:

LONG DISTANCES (8 KM 920 meters):

12’6″ MEN:

  • 1º ROMAN FREJO (NAVARRA)
  • 2º NATXO RIERA (EUSKADI)
  • 3º ABEL OLAVARRI (CANTABRIA)

12’6″ WOMEN:

  • 1º BARBARA DE LA MAZA (CANTABRIA)
  • 2º SARA RAMOS (GUADALAJARA)
  • 3º NAGORE FONSECA (EUSKADI).

CATEGORIA ALL-ROUND:

  • 1º SAUL VIADERO (CANTABRIA)
  • 2º RICHARD BOLADO (CANTABRIA)
  • 3º DAVID ALONSO (CANTABRIA).

MEJOR JUNIOR: ALEJANDRO PEREZ (CANTABRIA)

;

OPEN RACE (CIRCUIT BUOY):

MEN: 

  • 1º ROMAN FREJO
  • 2º DAVID ALONSO (CANTABRIA)
  • 3º ABEL OLAVARRI.

WOMEN: 

  • 1º BARBARA DE LA MAZA
  • 2º SARA RAMOS
  • 3º ROCIO RAMOS.

ORGANIZER:

Escuela de Surf Costa Norte.

SPONSORS:

Ayuntamiento de San Vicente de la Barquera, Rip Curl, Ari’i Nui, Restaurante Augusto, Hula Bar, Madness Wetsuits, NSP y Manual.

COLABORAN (Patrocinadores del Circuito Cántabro):

Centro de Estética Silvia, Club Northwind // Northwind KITESURF & SURF School, Federación Cántabra de Surf y Federación Española de Surf.

More upcoming races: 

http://www.sup-guide.com/index.php/upcoming-sup-events-races