100-DAY COUNTDOWN BEGINS
ENGLISH RIVIERA SET TO HOST ICF SUP WORLD CUP AND PADDLE UK SUPER FESTIVAL
The English Riviera is 100 days away from hosting one of the country’s biggest water sports events.
The ICF SUP World Cup 2026 and Paddle UK SUPER Festival will take place from June 24–28. Paddle UK, with Torbay Council, is preparing for a week of international SUP racing, festival activities, and community celebrations.
About 200 elite SUP athletes will compete in sprint, technical, and distance races at Torre Abbey Sands. Experienced paddlers can enter World Cup races, with €9,000 in prizes in the open category.
“With only 100 days to go, it’s fantastic to be working with Torbay Council as excitement builds towards this summer’s event,” said Ashley Metcalfe, CEO for Paddle UK.
“We are working hard to deliver an exceptional SUP World Cup and Paddle UK SUPER Festival that will inspire more people to get on the water, grow the sport of stand up paddling, and showcase the English Riviera as one of the UK’s top SUP destinations.”
The Paddle UK SUPER Festival features family-friendly activities, entertainment, and open participation. Torquay waterfront and Paignton pier will host races, live entertainment, food, and community festival events across beaches, harbours, and promenades. Beaches, harbours and promenade areas will host everything from festival races and SUP Polo to food, entertainment and trade stands.
A highlight will be an attempt to break the World Record for most SUP paddlers on the water, expecting about 1,000 participants, viewable from surrounding Bay locations. The event welcomes all, with Have-a-Go sessions and relaxed races for beginners, making it an ideal weekend for families and those wanting to try paddleboarding.
The World Series SUPolo features on June 27th (https://windsurfer.co.uk/SUP_SUPolo-Masters-Tournament.htm). A fast, exciting, and a little bit wild, watch or jump in to play this action-packed water sport.
Race Director Brendon Prince said: “The festival will cover everything from introductory beach sessions to advanced adventure paddling, offering a range of experiences for participants of all levels.
“The event demonstrates that Torbay is a premier SUP World Cup location, inviting visitors to experience and explore the diverse journeys paddleboarding offers.
“The leverage an event gives you to create legacy is fantastic.”
Torbay Council’s Cllr Jackie Thomas, Cabinet Member for Events, Tourism, Culture and Corporate Services, said: “We are thrilled to be hosting the 2026 ICF SUP World Cup and SUPER Festival here in Torbay. Our stunning coastline is the perfect stage for this global event, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for residents and visitors to come together and celebrate everything that makes the English Riviera so special.”
Further Information:
To learn more or register for the event, please visit www.superfestival.paddleuk.org.uk.
https://paddleuk.org.uk/sup-world-cup-and-paddle-uk-super-festival-100-days-to-go/
SUP Mag UK 
Why not a single word about the SUP Polo tournament taking place as part of this event? Last year hundreds of people were entertained throughout the day by the polo matches taking place in the inner harbour, and there was an opportunity for people to have a try themselves. This was a prominent part of the event but it’s not mentioned anywhere. It’s not too late to tell people about the SUP Polo taking place. The local radio station were talking about it live after they discovered it was taking place and questioned why they didn’t know about it beforehand. It’s a great spectator sport and the quality of play is world class with the best teams in Britain playing against each other throughout the day.
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Apologies. We reproduced what was sent to us. We have added details on the SUPolo event.
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SUP Polo is also a big part of this event and a massively fun and entertaining spectator sport which will be running alongside this festival in the inner harbour. 100’s of people watched it last year? Why no mention in this article?
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Apologies. We reproduced what was sent to us. We have added details on the SUPolo event.
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Great that you’ve amended the article to mention the SUP polo – but perhaps there should be an article follow-up? There will be opportunity for beginners to have a go, but how to actually take part in the tournament is missing (“jump in to play” is a bit vague and potentially negligent advice!).
It really was one of the highlights of last year – we amassed quite an audience, many of which asked us afterward why on earth there had been no local advertising, let alone any in the SUP newsletters. The polo proved to be such a massive crowd draw on the day, wouldn’t it be great if this year people could plan to come and watch or have a go in advance, rather than just happen upon it? It definitely helps to promote SUP as so much more than just paddling in one direction (which the vast majority of the population seem to think it is, and that it requires almost zero skill or water awareness … would be good if we could help to change that dangerous and limiting view!).
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The page is what we received from Paddle UK. If you have a press release on the SUPolo part of the weekend, then by all means send to us and we’ll upload.
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I am disappointed that you have not given much prominence to what became undoubtedly the most popular activity in the 2025 SUPER FESTIVAL. SUPolo has been around in the UK since 2014 with national tournaments regularly taking place since 2016.
The Torquay SUPolo Tournament of 2025 attracted loads of spectators which due to their social media postings, grew to literally hundreds of spectators by midday. Most of the spectators hadn’t seen SUPolo before and asked why it had not been promoted prior to the event…
After a number of spectators contacted Torquay social media (Spotted Torquay) telling them how entertaining SUPolo was, Spotted Torquay came down and started reporting on the Tournament which resulted in even more spectators turning up.
Spotted Torquay posted a video they took in the morning which got over 1,100 likes, 108 comments and was shared 75 times which received over 94,000 views. The next day “SUP North Devon” re posted the video “ https://www.facebook.com/reel/1061287982522846/ “ and got a further 4,400 views and commented “Every Town should have a Sup Polo Team”…
Brian Johncey
Tournament Director / Umpire
World Series SUPolo
National SUP-Polo League
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The page is what we received from Paddle UK. If you have a press release on the SUPolo part of the weekend, then by all means send to us and we’ll upload.
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Let’s hope Paddle UK are also reading these comments…
I will send you a press release regarding the SUPolo Tournament for publication
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