Fantastic weather and record number of participants at the SUP Chiemsee Island Marathon
Alois Mühlegger
· 23.09.2019
It became too tight at the start line for the main field, so the Race Class (82 starters) started the 12-kilometre race first, followed five minutes later by the Fun Class on the iSUP boards. Not over four kilometres as announced, as the great conditions meant that the turning buoy "unintentionally" slipped right in front of the Schlosskanal, making the 7800 metres a real challenge for the amateur paddlers. However, all but the oldest participant (82 years old) completed the course with flying colours.
In contrast, the top trio of the Race Class had their problems with the course. Although the route was pointed out at the paddlers' meeting and a course plan with the exact sequence (start - buoy 1 - Herrenchiemsee - Krautinsel - buoy 2 - buoy 3 - finish) was on display, the trio of Weidert, Teichmann and Petrak skipped the Krautinsel and cut it short. Disqualification at the finish was the result, so victory fell into the lap of the Italian Lorenzo Marchetti. Behind him, the Slovenian Marko Milenkovic crossed the finish line on the beach in front of the Kaufmann SUP Centre, ahead of the best German Jonas Pauldrach.
The women's podium was completely occupied by foreign athletes, Kristyna Babiankova (CZE) crossed the finish line ahead of the favourite Marion Seebauer (AUT) and Digna Tuca (LAT). The best German was Andrea Kämmerer in fourth place.
The youngster Max Pallares put in a strong performance, winning the men's field (29 starters) in the Fun Class ahead of Christian Eichmann and Ludwig Jungmayer. 17 women took part in the race, with Sarah Lindemann finishing ahead of Sandy De Klerk and Sonja Straub.
In this race, the youngsters (U16) on 12'6'' boards also had the opportunity to crown their Bavarian champion. The victory went to the non-Bavarian Hauke Schneider, but the "original Bavarian" Toni Meier, who finished directly behind him, was delighted with the championship title.
What went (almost) smoothly on the water went badly wrong at the award ceremony, the printer went on strike and so race director Alois Mühlegger could not honour the best with the usual results lists, but had to distribute the prizes for the various classifications with an oblique view of the computer, which was not always to the satisfaction of some paddlers. Sorry, now we need a new printer.
In addition to sports, free board and paddle testing was also offered, and exhibitors I-99, JP-Australia, YoloBoard, Starboard and RRD had plenty to do. And anyone who came to the beach thirsty after paddling was immediately quenched by Bitburger 0.0. There was also plenty of information from the Landesbund für Vogelschutz (State Association for the Protection of Birds), with two gentlemen informing the paddlers about the protected areas on the Ammersee, Starnberger See and Chiemsee.
All pictures of the event on
And here is the LINK to the results lists:
