SUP My Race is a Facebook Group for Stand Up Paddleboarders around the world and is where you will find the longest running distance challenge group for SUP Paddlers anywhere on the internet.
I use Facebook to run the group for various reasons but there is one area where Facebook fails, maintaining persistent links to get to important posts in the group. Which is why this blog post exists!
In this blog you will find the rules for the Time Trials I run in the group every month.
Before diving into the Time Trial rules here is a post explaining how this all came about and some of the reasons why the group is run as it is The SUP My Race User Guide
This blog post contains the rules and guidance for the SUP My Race Time Trials
 |
| The EO SUP Nebula FW is a fantastic Time Trial board but you can use any board to take part. |
What is a Time Trial
A Time Trial is a continuous effort over a set distance against the clock. After starting the paddler must not stop their GPS tracker until they have finished paddling, if the paddler needs to take a rest their timer must keep running.
SUP My Race Time Trials
In 2024 there will be two Time Trial competitions each month in the group, a 5km and 10km TT.
Each monthly challenge runs from the start of the first day of the calendar month until the end of the last day of the calendar month. Paddlers have until 05.00 GMT on the second day of the following month to post entries, any entries posted after that deadline will not be counted.
For Example
- The February 2024 challenge ended at 05.00 GMT on 2 March 2024
- The December 2024 challenge will end at 05.00 GMT on 02 January 2025.
There are no prizes, the time trials are for fun.
The Rules
- Each Time Trial competition will run for a calendar month, January, February etc.
- There are two distances, 5km and 10km.
- Your Time Trial entry MUST start and finish at approximately the same place. There is a whole section on this below.
- Elapsed Time is the time used for the Time Trial, not moving time or any other metric.
- The maximum distances for Time Trial entries are 5.1 KM and 10.2 KM.
- There is a time limit of 1 hour for the 5km TT and 2 hours for the 10km TT.
 |
| Start and Finish together |
What to post
- Post an image on SUP My Race from your activity tracking app that clearly shows the date, distance paddled, elapsed time and a map with your GPS trace.
- The screenshot you post with your data must clearly show that your entire activity was on water. If I cannot verify that your route was entirely on water then your activity will not count.
Start and Finish Accuracy
All paddlers should try to start and finish in the same place. In order to encourage as many paddlers as possible to participate the requirement for the start and finish to be in exactly the same place will only be enforced for faster paddlers as follows:
- 5km Time Trial Men - Any time faster than 33minutes (9.09 km/h) will have to start and finish at exactly the same spot.
- 5km Time Trial Women - Any time faster than 37 minutes (8.11km/h) will have to start and finish at exactly the same spot.
- 10km Time Trial Men - Any time faster than 67 minutes will have to start and finish at exactly the same spot.
- 10km Time Trial Women - Any time faster than 75 minutes will have to start and finish at exactly the same spot.
For slower entries, the start and finish must overlap by a good margin, for Garmin users the start and finish pins should overlap by at least 30%, for other apps they should be as close as possible.
 |
| Original activity |
Editing your entry
- It is tricky to get a good time and judge your exact distance and start then stop your device at exactly the right moment. Therefore, paddlers can edit their entries, the start and end must be together after the activity has been edited.
 |
| Time Trial Entry cropped in Strava |
Data Requirements:
- Distances must be in Metric, KMs only.
- The screenshot must clearly show where you started and finished your activity, the distance and the elapsed time.
- Strava users must include the account name in the screenshot and set Strava to hide the start and end of the activity, this then shows in grey on the map and allows me to see the start and finish.
- Any 5km or 10km activity posted in SUP My Race that satisfies the Time Trial rules will be counted as a Time Trial.
- If activity includes GPS data which is obviously not on the water the post will be ignored, please remove any accidental walking to or from the water before posting.
- The normal challenge rules for posting your activity apply to the Time Trials - you have 7 days to post your activity and less time at the end of the month.
- Entrants must post their own activities.
Validating Entries
Validation is a simple, visual check on the data in the screenshot posted in the group. If I cannot see where the activity started and finished then it will not be counted as a Time Trial entry.
Validating the time taken is harder because it is quite simple to manipulate the timer data to improve the entry time. For slower entries this is not a concern for me but for entries at the top of the leaderboard I may ask for further data from the paddler before accepting an entry. If that data is not supplied then that entry will not be accepted for the Time Trial.
Verifying Entry Times for Garmin Users
From 01 June 2024 I will require more data for faster paddlers in the Time Trials who use Gamin Devices. If needed I will expand this requirement for all devices.
Over the last few months, I have spoken to several paddlers in the group about the Time Trials trying to work out how to stop a small number of paddlers who, I think, are manipulating their speed data in order to improve their times in the TT. This is usually done by stopping their GPS to rest before starting again.
Garmin Connect reports three times for each activity:
- Total Time - when the watch was active, this does not include time when the activity was paused.
- Moving Time - when the athlete was moving.
- Elapsed Time - this is the time from the moment the activity started until the activity ended.
Garmin Connect displays the Total Time with the map and date, this is the data on the screenshots posted in the group. The Total Time does not include any time when the activity was stopped.
From 01 June all paddlers that use Garmin devices for the Time Trials who post fast times will have to include extra data with their post showing their elapsed time. All that is needed is an additional screenshot from Garmin Connect, feel free to hide any other data on that screen you want to keep private, all I need to see is the Timing Section as shown in this example
For this paddle, I started training with some rest intervals (watch not stopped), had breakfast (watch stopped) and did some garbage picking (watch not stopped). This is a great example of the three times Garmin report.
As you will see below, the Garmin summary does not include the time my watch was stopped, and this is how some paddlers were, I believe, manipulating their entries for the Time Trial.
Fast times are set out in the blog post with the rules and they are:
- 5km Time Trial Men - Any time faster than 33 minutes (9.09 km/h).
- 5km Time Trial Women - Any time faster than 37 minutes (8.11km/h).
- 10km Time Trial Men - Any time faster than 67 minutes.
- 10km Time Trial Women - Any time faster than 75 minutes.
If the extra data is not included with your post I will ask for it, if it is not supplied your time will not count and will not be included in the results.
Equipment
- The maximum board length for the Time Trials is 14 feet. I have no way to check board length but if I think you have submitted a Time Trial using an unlimited board I will not count your effort.
Entries
- You can enter as many times as you want each month but only your best result in each distance will count.
- My decision on Time Trial entries is final. I will not enter into any debate by phone, messenger or in comments with individuals regarding their entries.
Start And Finish Guidance
Garmin and Strava are the most popular trackers used in the group, data from any tracker is valid for the Time Trial but I must be able to easily see the start and end of your effort and, of course, your Time Trial data must include a username, map, the date and the distance.
- Garmin Users - the green and red pins for the start and end must be overlapping by at least 30%. For faster paddlers, the start and end must overlap completely.
- Strava Users - please set Strava to hide the start and end of your activity, this then makes them grey on the screenshot and I can easily see where they are. They must be very close together for your effort to count.
- Other trackers - The start and end must be easy for me to identify and they must be very close together.
Top Tip for Garmin users
If you are using a Garmin device to record your activities and taking part in the TTs then it is a good idea to change from the default 'smart recording' to '1 second' recording in the settings on your watch. On my Fenix 6 this is an option under 'System' in the settings menu but it may be in a different place on your watch.
When you do this you will be able to crop your activity to 5km exactly, not 5.01km which is a common distance logged for the TTs. At the sharp end of the competition paddlers are moving at just over 2.5m / second so that extra 10m recorded will take about 4 seconds.
When you do this you will be able to crop your activity to 5km exactly, not 5.01km which is a common distance logged for the TTs. At the sharp end of the competition paddlers are moving at just over 2.5m / second so that extra 10m recorded will take about 4 seconds.
Why does that make a difference?
Changing from smart recording to 1 second recording means you have much better granularity with the data, you record more data points.
On older devices smart recording was used to save storage but that is not so much of an issue now. Even with a set distance in a workout using 1 second recording will give you a more accurate track and probably better time because you are telling the watch to get as much data as it can and not letting an algorithm decide for you. Because our speeds on water are relatively slow I found that there was a difference.
If you Google "Garmin Smart Recording V 1 second recording" you will find that virtually every tech website recommends changing to 1 second. To quote from Train As One
"Whilst Garmin state that Smart Recording ‘only affects the data that is written to the file for storage’, it is our experience that this is not really true, and can result in significant periods of data loss, i.e. gaps in the data that can span many minutes. And whilst, if running at a constant pace your velocity might be fairly stable (though a cursory look at velocity traces suggest otherwise), heart rates can fluctuate more significantly. This obviously becomes problematic for analysis and subsequent interpretation for training plan generation"
Fast Is Fun
Paddle fast, have fun!
SPONSORS
I am very lucky to have three great sponsors for the group and their support means that participation in the challenges remains free for all paddlers. If you are looking for new kit or for help with your training then please check them out.
BOOTH Training- personalised plans from a SUP World Champion to make you a better paddler
EO SUP - the best looking high performance paddles available
Airboard - Making iSUPs since 2010 and snow-bodyboards for much longer
Change Log
May 2024 - updated to clarify entry times. Some tidying up of text.