Judit Vergés Xifra

Running down the water’s edge, Hayley Nixon leapt onto her surfski. As she took her first stroke, the paddler next to her, floundering, clipped her ski and she half fell out. Frantically she recovered her balance, only to be hit and almost knocked out again. “Just. Move. Please!” she yelled…

In a desperate all-out, red-lining sprint, the two paddlers put everything they had into the last 300m to the finish.  50m to go and Noé Pelizza surged forward, …but the nose of his black surfski ramped up the back of the next wave and he slowed – just as Esteban Medina, nose down, accelerated onto the run behind him…

“Kenny flew off the line,” said Sean Rice. “I had to consolidate, stay on his wave to the buoy. I knew I couldn’t give him an inch… I went hard for 3km to try to open a gap; looked around, he was still right there!” And what he didn’t know was that “Flash” Gordan Harbrecht was also right behind him…

The paddlers were dicing in the first big international race of the European season: EuroChallenge 2018 off La Vila Joyosa, Spain.