Stand Up Paddle Board? Not So Fast Says Castro
Earlier last month, Director of Sport Dave Castro weighed in on the issue of stand up paddle boarding, explaining why it had not been programmed in the CrossFit Games.
What he said: “The standup paddle board would take more skill specific to that sport and to that, way more than asking people who have never been in the ocean or never been on a paddle board to lay down on the paddle board and just paddle,” Castro said.
- “I was just resolute in that decision and knew, ‘hey we’re not doing stand up paddle boarding we’re doing prone paddle boarding’ because you could take someone from the Midwest that’s never been to the ocean, who’s never been on the water let’s say, the open water, and take people from all over the world, put them on that thing, lay down, and use your arms and make it happen.”
Why it matters: After Castro revealed, on July 4, that event 1 would be a “swim distance long…and paddle, distance even longer,” there has been rising speculation that it would be a stand up paddle board.
- The distance of the event has the potential to be quite long, according to city of Madison documents Morning Chalk Up uncovered that show three parks along Lake Monona have been approved for CrossFit’s use.
- It’s just under five miles from one park to the next on foot; a little less by water.
For what it’s worth: The 2019 French Throwdown sanctioned event programmed paddle boarding with a paddle but did not require athletes to stand up. Many athletes remained on their knees.
- The competition opener coupled a 500m paddle board with a 9.5k long distance run.
- Watch the event.
Go deeper: