Race to the Castle 2025

350 Paddlers had signed up for the event, and nearly 300 arrived and completed the course, paddling from Nottingham to Newark Castle on the Trent River.

Words: David Partridge
Photos: Dave Fuller Photography

Billed as the biggest paddleboard event in the UK, this year’s Race to the Castle was an epic.

350 Paddlers had signed up for the event, and nearly 300 arrived and completed the course, paddling from Nottingham to Newark Castle on the Trent River.

The event (and indeed the Trent) has a magnetic attraction for SUP, and the capacity of 350 was reached many months before the event. Many paddlers were introduced to long-distance river paddling on the Trent 100, and this event is a natural follow-on (quite literally, as it departs from Nottingham, the finish of the Trent 100 course). Entries included German, American, and Irish paddlers and a big contingent from Scotland.

The event is open to leisure (adventure) paddlers and more experienced paddlers. It is an official Ultra competition with 40km of river descent and five locks and portages on the route. I tried to meet as many paddlers as possible (an easy task as the event has a great location with Welbeck Hall providing registration, meet and greet, results and a great after party). The Hall also acts as a logistics hub with a delivery service to return boards from Newark to Nottingham and to take board bags and clothing for the paddlers.

At the top end, the competition is serious. In the men’s 14-foot race fleet, there was a much-anticipated duel between Mark Salter (King of the River in 2024) and Paul Simmons (very much on form after a brilliant win at SUP12 just two weeks ago). The start had a big lineup with all the 14-foot inflatable boards, a couple of tandems and a couple of ‘unlimited’ boards. Martin Kerr had borrowed one of his Scottish teammate’s 18-foot weapon and sat on the line with Allistair Swinsco and Alison Rennie on their tandem and his wife, Angela Kerr. The team all reached podiums.

The start was frenetic, with Simon Nash cracking out a phenomenal start and leading at a high pace. I caught up with Paul (PJ) Simmons after the event. (There was no way I’d do that on the water!) “Yes, that was a shock. He was flying and a few others. I had a few issues and was caught behind, having to work hard to pull through. He explained he had bladder problems (for those not used to racing terminology, the bladder in question was his hydration pack, which popped). 

He had intended to carry seven litres of electrolyte-laden fluid to hydrate during the race. He also caught his leash around his fin, noting Simon and others pulling away; fixing it took a minute, by which time the other paddlers were almost out of sight. He, however, dug deep and admitted to ‘Olympic walking’, both heels firmly on the ground at each step but moving promptly within the no-running rule along the portages. I was making up time on the portages, but heaving the board up ladders takes its toll on your reserves”. He managed to get through to third place and was delighted with the podium.

Up in front, Mark Salter and Patrick McCormack were having a real duel. Patrick (the riverman of Graiguenamanagh, Ireland) had recently completed a SUP Ultra in Belgium, then the Devizes to Westminster. After the event, he calculated that he had raced 276km over three events, with six days of racing in 13 days and 82 portages in total. After swapping lead back and forth, Patrick looked like a winner as he rounded the turn mark and started upstream to the finish. Sensing the toll on Patrick’s body, Mark Salter took advantage, and both sprinted the final 1500m, with Mark taking the win by 40 seconds after 40 km and 4 hours and 25 minutes racing.

Patrick runs the Barrow Blitz, a 50km downriver race, the direct Irish equivalent of Race to the Castle (it starts in two weeks. You may yet get a place!!) The events are similar, so Patrick was well-placed to comment. “The organisation is perfect, enough but not too much information, a great WhatsApp briefing and lots of information about the course, portages and logistics”

What did Patrick feel as Mark sprinted through? “I was gone, the final turn and a bit of current to battle. Yeah, It was a great course until the last 1.5km! It was great fun, though, head down racing, I didn’t get to see much of the scenery.” 

Mark wasn’t sure about his 4 hours 25 time, “We have only run this twice, so the times are there to be beaten. It felt tough today. I struggled with a poor start, not feeling right from the first stroke and had some demons telling me to quit early on (I’m sure we all get those at times). It’s such a fun course with loads of surprises, twists and turns. I was playing catch-up after some of the locks, and the other chaps set a blistering pace (we averaged 10kmph padding speed, 9.5Kmph including portages, not including the 10 min rest stop)—such phenomenal competitors who were on fire. I had to work very hard today, with more than three hours being in ‘threshold’ heart rate. I like paddling upriver and timed my break away for the final 1.5km stretch. It was amazing to see so many people out there today having such a great time and achieving things they thought they couldn’t.”

What about that duel?  PJ said, “I was just delighted to podium and had to work hard. It’s great to see three Starboards and three Lima paddles coming through at the end. I’ll take that.”

The second woman in the intermediate-size inflatable fleet, Rebeccah Januszczyk, literally sang the event’s praises. At the mandatory 10-minute stop at Gunsthorpe lock, she hopped off her board and found her place in the Totally Vocal acapella choir, who serenaded all the paddlers coming through the lock. Helpers added fluids and snacks where needed, as well as occasional elastoplastic or blister tape! She didn’t stop there but jumped back on to finish at a blistering pace in the Adventure section, then danced the night away. (Definitely could earn a living for Duracell!). The choir was heavenly, matched by Brass bands and other impromptu entertainment all along the route. 

Karis Parker posted an amazing 5 hours and 11 minutes in the women’s battle, with Felicity Hurst and Angela Kerr not too far adrift.

I caught up with Nikki Downing, the Chelmarsh SUP lead. She and Martin Harrison took part in the Adventure Fleet and were buzzing after the event. “It’s so good that the event is inclusive and anyone can have a go; we have had relatively new paddlers, Jane Hemmingway and David Blakemore doing really well in the Adventure series, then Clare Todd coming in as seventh woman and Colin Todd 16th. Richard Fry fresh (or not!) from SUP 12 also went well. The club’s 5 km training on Sunday mornings has helped reassure paddlers that anyone can do this with practice and encouragement. I hope the club keeps fielding people at events to reinforce our in-house skills.”

The wrong team, led by Eric Armada, put in a sterling show, even though a team member dislocated a knuckle on a ladder. “Did you stop? No, just popped it back and paddled on, holding my paddle with thumb and index finger.” It is always great seeing so many familiar faces and sharing chats with all. There can be very few sports with such a deep and developed camaraderie. My inbox is full of apologies and “Let’s catch up at the skedaddle.”

We will explore the organisation in another article, but needless to say, it felt seamless. Bags arrived at Newark, boards were transported home, and the return buses provided a great opportunity for battle stories. Somehow, all the wonderful volunteers partied long and hard. Thanks to all of you.

Hallam Williamson best reflects the diversity of paddlers; he is from Boston, Lincs and came supported by family and completed the event on “My 10 foot 6 Lidl special” I asked about training “well I did do a fairly long paddle a few weeks ago but other than that just 1-2 km with my children” He was, as all competitors, flushed with his race “It’s a got to do isn’t it, I’ve spent three years just meandering around on my SUP, this was my first event it’s not about competing it’s about completing. It was gruelling, but I am on such a high.”

Full results are available at https://results.opentracking.co.uk/event/r2tc2025.

Cassie Salter is a social media guru, so check out Facebook and the event website www.race2thecastle.com

Entries will be open soon, on the same weekend next year, April 25th, and (sneak preview) Cassie has mentioned 500 places. I expect this will also sell out! Anyone who completed the event will add their reflections. It would be lovely if you could post any thoughts or pictures.