This is an interesting piece of news we just discovered in the feed this morning: The ICF is partnering with the Carolina Cup… I instantly had some thought going trough my mind. Didn’t the Carolina Cup partner up with the APP just a few month ago? Wasn’t the C.C. traditionally a qualifier for the APP? (Could not find anything on the APP website right now about this.)
Partnering up with races is a common business model for organizations to sanction races. The EURO TOUR for example runs entirely on this model and the APP has partnered with numerous organizers in the past and present. We see this in Germany where local races are under the umbrella of the National Canoe Federation, or in Switzerland where the Surfing Association has partnered up with the Canoe Federation creating SUP Suisse. The only organization that has not done that, and they are kicking themselves probably for not doing this is the ISA.
Now the ICF is stepping in starting to sanction races across Europe namely the ICE Race in Switzerland and now the big coup is the Carolina Cup coming in April, as well as an event in Salzburg and Budapest.
I was going to write a whole lot more but then had to decide to rather speak it into a camera:
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This is the PR that just crossed the wire:
The International Canoe Federation is excited to announce it has teamed up with one of the biggest stand up paddle events on the planet as part of an incredibly busy 2022 SUP season.
The Carolina Cup on USA’s east coast attracts hundreds of paddlers every year, and this year will also double as an ICF ranking race for both technical and long distance courses as part of the ICF world series.
Under the memorandum of understanding, athletes competing in the Carolina Cup will have a chance to pre-qualify for the main draw of this year’s ICF world championships in Gdynia, Poland, avoiding the pre-event preliminary qualifications.
Carolina Cup race director Mark Schmidt said teaming up with the ICF was the perfect fit.
With the International Canoe Federation’s long established base in paddle sports, we look forward to being the first stop on the ICF point series that qualifies for their championships,” Schmidt said.
The Carolina Cup from April 30 – May 1 will kick off the ICF’s 2022 world ranking series. Athletes will then head to Thun, Switzerland, for the opening ICF world cup, followed by events in Prague, Salzburg and Budapest.
ICF SUP co-ordinator, Hoichan Kwon, said he was proud to have the Carolina Cup as part of the ICF SUP calendar.
We have an exciting event calendar lined up for this season, and now the Carolina Cup will take it to another level,” Kwon said.
Since 2015 the Carolina Cup has rightly been considered as one of the world’s premiere SUP events. It will attract many of the world’s best paddlers, so we re thrilled to be giving these athletes an opportunity to book their tickets to our world championships.”
The SUP world cup planned for Moscow has been cancelled, but Kwon is confident a replacement location will be announced soon.
Board rental and transport services will be available at all European events.