SUP My Race Monthy Challenge Rules

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 monthly challenge rules, both the Individual Distance Challenge and the quarterly Country Challenge.

Before diving into the monthly challenge 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

The monthly challenge rules

Every month on SUP My Race I run an Individual Distance Challenge. Every quarter, in March, June, September and December I also run a Country Challenge.

The challenges run from the start of the first day of the month to the end of the last day of the month.

Each monthly challenge closes at 05.00 GMT on the second day of the following month. Any activities posted on SUP My Race after that deadline will not be counted. Two examples

The January 2024 challenge ended at 05.00 GMT on 2 February 2024.
The December 2024 challenge will end at 05.00 GMT on 2 January 2025.

There are no prizes, the challenges are just for fun.

Individual Challenge Rules

What to post:

Post an image on SUP My Race from your activity tracking app that clearly shows the date, distance paddled 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.

Deadlines:

Activities that are posted in the group more than 7 days old will not be counted in the challenge. This is a simple check on date only and is not a challenge to post as late as possible!
At the end of each month, you have less time to post your activities. Each monthly challenge closes at 05.00 GMT on the second day of the following month.

Data Requirements:

Distances must be in Metric, KMs only.
The minimum distance for activities in the challenges is 2km, every activity that is less than 2km will be ignored. Activities will not be added together as that makes rectifying any error reported to me much harder to find.
Strava users must include the account name in the screenshot.
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.
One post per activity, that way I won’t miss any and it really helps me if your GPS data is in the first image you post.
Entrants must post their own activities.
Post activities as soon as possible after doing them.

Processing Data

I will ‘like’ your post once I’ve added it to a spreadsheet. If I have not liked it within 24 hours please let me know.

Ultra Distance Events

Paddlers who want to post ultra-distance activities will need to pay attention to the detail in their map, if it is not clear enough for me to verify their activity then it will not be added.
If an ultra-distance event starts in one month and finishes in the next month paddlers will need to split their entry by month. Failure to do this will mean an invalid entry for both months.
Race results are not valid data sources for SUP My Race.

The challenges:

The distance goals for the SUP Challenge are 150km, 200 km, and 300+ km.

Invalid posts:

Posts with no GPS data or that break the challenge rules (advertising, inappropriate content etc) will be deleted. Facebook will send an automated message with the reason why it was deleted.
Posts that are too late will no longer be deleted but I will comment telling the poster that they missed a deadline and that their distance will not count.
Posts with links to data or that include a video with data will be ignored.

Leaderboards

Weekly leaderboard for the Individual Challenge, usually published every Monday morning.
Weekly leaderboard for the Country Challenge, usually published on Wednesday morning when there is a Country Challenge.
The results for the monthly Individual Challenge are usually published on the morning of the second day of the following month.

The Country Challenge Rules

The Country Challenge competition runs every March, June, September and December. It is a simple total of the distance completed by paddlers from the same country. I publish a weekly leaderboard for the Country Challenge and a result after that month's challenges have ended.

Year-Long Challenges

I maintain running total for the year for each paddler that takes part in the monthly challenges. Alongside this I also keep track of paddlers personal best distance each month and, new for 2024 I intend to maintain a year-long total collated by country.

Frequently Asked Questions

Thankfully the number of questions I get asked has decreased over the years as the rules have matured and I've learned how to make them clearer, but if you do have a question, that is not covered in this list, message me and I will see what I can do.

My total is wrong, fix it!

I am only human and, occasionally make mistakes. However, in my experience it is more likely that a paddler forgot to post an activity. It is really easy to check posts in the group, find your last post and click on your name, this will (usually!) give you all of your posts in SUP My Race in date order.
If I did miss an activity or made a mistake simply tag me in a comment on that post and I will sort it out.

My total is wrong, fix it!

The next most common cause for complaint is when paddlers have posted activities that are less than 2km long. These are not added to your total and activities cannot be combined to make the minimum distance. This rule was added to cut down the work for me checking totals, in the past when paddlers had posted hundreds of very short paddles in a month then told me their total was wrong it takes me a lot of time to find them all, then check them, then report back that they didn't post as many as they thought!

Why can't I use miles?

Kilometres are an International Standard measurement, a mile is not. Using a standard unit of distance means distances are directly comparable and I do not have to take time to convert other units or take time to check your conversions. KM only.

Why do you want me to put my GPS first?

So that I can see it quickly. If it takes me 10 seconds longer to process each activity on SUP My Race that adds up to an extra 5.5 hours per month of extra time for me, and that is in a quiet month! I would prefer to go paddling.

I paddled with my friend, can I use their GPS?

No, you must track and post your own activity.

I forgot to start my watch at the start of a race, can I use the result instead?

Again no, you must track and post your own activity.

My tracker does not have a screen with the date, distance and map.

That's unfortunate as they are mandatory in the group challenges. I need all three, together, to validate your entry. If you cannot supply them in the format required then please check out a different tracker. if that is no possible then make sure that there is data on each screenshot that tells me this is one activity.

I walked to and from the car park with my tracker on ...

Most GPS apps have the facility to edit or crop or trim the start and end of an activity. If you post with a significant part of your track on land I will not add it until you have edited it. If your tracker lacks that functionality then there are free tools on-line that will help you correct your file.

I could not post my activity within the 7 day / end of month deadline

Again that is unfortunate. The two deadlines are there to help me manage the group, 7 days is, for the overwhelming majority of paddlers more than enough time to get a single screenshot posted in the group. The end of month deadline means I can get the result published quickly and I do not have to keep track of two separate months at the same time for long.

I changed my Facebook account name and my year long total is wrong

I use the Facebook account name in the spreadsheets I use to collate data, if you change your Facebook account name then you will have a total for each account name used in the group. I will not make a change to previous months.

Please make an exception for me this month

I've made exceptions for paddlers in the past and always regretted it. Every paddler in the group is treated in the same way, we are all equal.

Why do I have to tag you in a comment if I edit my post?

When you tag me in a comment I get a notification from Facebook, then I will know when you have updated your post. I am not able to randomly check to see if you update your post or chose not to. If you tag me in your post I get a notification every time someone reacts to your post, please do not do that!

You should use the end time of my activity not the start!

All tracking software that I am aware of gives the start time of an activity, some apps provide an end time but most only report duration. I would therefore have to work out the time an activity ended for the overwhelming majority of activities which would add hours to the time taken to run the group each week. For 99.9% of paddlers their activity is completed in one day and end time is not needed.

I used a battery saving mode on my GPS so my map is wrong.

This is a problem with battery saving, it can produce weird GPS results. You will need to use software to sort out your map and distance if they are not good enough for me to validate your activity. If you post a weird map or distance I will ask you to correct it.

I need to tell the group about my new sponsor!

The group has sponsors and their support gives me something for the time I put into the group. If any paddler shares a post that advertises anything I will delete it, I frequently ban advertisers and individuals that share inappropriate posts.

I do not like the way you run the group, change it!

There is only one answer to this, goodbye!

Ride and Paddle

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