On Monday May 5th a message from the EURO TOUR that sounded like this made its round on social media:
“In our 11-year history at EURO TOUR , we are proud to have accomplished many things for the sport, and even though we are not ones to talk about them, sometimes a reminder of a few key facts is the perfect way to put things in perspective:
- In 11 years, 117 events and 621,000 euros given out in prize money. Not once was a payment late to any athlete.
- Every single Grand Slam event has had board transport for everyone, with professional media content delivered the day after the venue, including photos and highlight videos without delays.
- Every EuroTour event has always been open to anyone, without qualifications or wildcards. Our multiple champions over the years have consisted of the best athletes in the world, with a clear and unbiased point ranking system.
- Every EuroTour season is always announced months in advance to allow athletes time to prepare and plan their year — and yes, even in 2020 with four events.
So why are we telling you all of this? It is because while others fight for control of the sport, they call for multiple world championships, leagues, and qualifying events, and purposely create date conflicts to divide the athletes. We work with all organizations and federations, and we welcome anyone trying to improve the sport and create more opportunities for the athletes.
Unfortunately, we have seen many rise and fall through unattainable promises and standards that, while they sound great in a press release, often have little to do with the real world.
That is why, for stop number three of the EuroTour 2025 at the World SUP Festival in Santa Pola, Spain, the EuroTour race will be held on Saturday only — the traditional long distance race from Tabarca Island as a EuroTour five-star event with ten thousand euros in SUP prize money and two thousand euros for foil. The schedule remains unchanged, and on Sunday there will be a separate technical race as planned, but it will not be part of the EuroTour.
For the first time in our history, we were willing to hold a two-day event, but it is clear to us that our path remains — as always — to steer clear of polarizing politics and to focus on delivering the key things we promise, nothing more.
We look forward to seeing everyone in Santa Pola, Spain, for another great edition of the World SUP Festival.”
We also found this picture from 2014 when Casper Steinfath won the EURO TOUR. A classic moment in SUP History.
For us here at Stand Up Magazin, we were not quite clear on what exactly was going on. Why is the EURO TOUR pulling out of the second part of the race weekend, essentially no longer sanctioning the Tech Race on Sunday? We had to reach out and find out. Essentially, what happened was that the newly founded ESL was looking to take credit for prize money and rankings, meaning they wanted their full sticker and logo on the podium and prize money checks.
This raises a good point because, for us watching from afar, we were under the impression that the ESL was actually contributing money to the races. We saw the pictures from the Battle for Hercules and the Triple S Festival last weekend. People holding checks with the ESL logos on them made us believe they actually had something to do with the money. After the fact, we felt a bit naïve. Have federations ever paid prize money? They haven’t. To be fair, the EURO TOUR is also not the one who pays prize money, but they have secured payments, board transport, and media for events reliably for 11 years.
You can see in the pictures below: Fancy ESL checks – fancy ESL podium.
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Back to the story: The EURO TOUR denied the ESL’s request to sanction the Tech Race. The EURO TOUR made it pretty clear that if you want to be part of their tour, you have to contribute in one way or another. There are no free rides, and that is fair enough.
This is not an uncommon business model: Federations or organizations like the EURO TOUR or the APP sanction races, provide a certain infrastructure, and in some cases, get the athletes to show up. Nothing wrong with this; it worked for the EURO TOUR for that long. In fact, the EURO TOUR is the only constant and reliable tour where athletes are actually getting paid. We may hint that certain athletes are still waiting to get paid for some of their recent accomplishments. (More hint, not APP)
The bottom line is: The SUP sport is a free-for-all. Anybody can sanction anything or declare a tour. This is why we at Stand Up Magazin declared the SUPER SUP EURO SPRINT TOUR. We count the prize money and declare a winner in a historic moment. All jokes aside, you get what we are saying. In the USA, we are following how USA Ski is trying to take surfing from USA Surfing. In SUP, we have the ICF, the ISA, and now the ESL as official federations who want some sort of validation and control over the sport. What it actually does is divide the sport and the athletes. The best example of this was last weekend when we had two events: one sanctioned by ICF and the other by ESL. Instead of having the world elite racing in one place, we had them in two… too bad.
If we had one million people who would do an online subscription with Stand Up Magazin for 20 bucks a year, we would buy the entire sport, put all the elite paddlers under contract, get them paid, and put them on a tour like the WSL. No more federations, no more only one organization that focused on athletes and athletes only.
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