Faaker See: "The Lake Rocks" SUP Festival 2025 inspires paddlers and spectators - Freens, Weber and Kocsis win

"The Lake Rocks" SUP Festival 2025 at Lake Faak in Austria was the meeting place for the international SUP scene for four days. From 29 May to 1 June, over 1,000 athletes from 27 nations competed against each other in six different competition formats. The event was not only part of the SUP Alps Trophy and the ICF World Ranking Series, but also hosted the Austrian SUP National Championships for the first time. According to the organisers, the festival is the largest paddling festival in the Alps-Adriatic region and one of the most renowned flatwater events in the global SUP scene.

Four days, four SUP disciplines

The event focussed on a different SUP discipline on each of the four days. The event kicked off on 29 May with an iSUP boardercross race on the Drau in Villach city centre. Normen Weber from Germany and Sabine Fischer from Switzerland came out on top here. This was followed on the second day by the speed race over 200 metres, in which Normen Weber and Csillag Virág Kocsis from Hungary proved to be the fastest paddlers, as well as the team race, which was won by the Austrian celebrity team Stars4Future.

The third day of the festival was dominated by the Long Distance Pro Race over 12 kilometres. Donato Freens from the Netherlands and Esperanza Barreras from Spain secured victory here. A fun race took place at the same time, in which Norbert Hödl from Austria and Marin Hoeboer from the Netherlands triumphed. The crowning finale on Sunday was the Tech Race, a challenging 1,000 metre course with a beach start, portage and finish on the beach. Donato Freens and Csillag Virág Kocsis once again came out on top here. They were followed by Michael Booth from Australia and up-and-coming German star Benyam Bossack. Pro Race winner Esperanza Barreras from Spain and Kyriaki Logotheti from Greece completed the podium in the women's race.

Positive balance for the organisers

Michael Spanring-Sternig, Managing Director of the Villach Tourist Board, draws an extremely positive balance: "The Lake Rocks SUP Festival 2025 was a complete success - in terms of sport, organisation and tourism. For four days, Lake Faak became a stage for top international performances and genuine hospitality. I am particularly pleased that we were not only able to inspire the international SUP community with the festival, but also attract many visitors to our region and its diversity."

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