SUP 11 Cities:  eat, paddle, eat, paddle, eat, sleep; repeat for five days

Words: David Partridge
Photos: Mayola @mayola.phtgrphs

Dream a SUP event with challenge and scenery, one that attracts the nicest paddlers on the planet, one where there is a sense of determined paddling but also great food, relaxation, chilling with friends old and new, massage, and easy living. Welcome to SUP 11 Cities.

The Paddlers Perspective
I love this event (The SUP11Cities: A race with heart and soul) 

I want to infect you with the charm, excitement and sense of being part of a very special SUP family.

This year (2026), paddler numbers were a little down; entries tend to fluctuate. Next year, a group of Scottish Paddlers, the Cassie Salter Nottingham crew and many others are looking at it. It looks like 2027 is a big year for UK entries. 

How do you enter? The details are all laid out on  sup11citytour, and entry opens in October.

1. Just do it
2. Don’t overthink; the organisers really have a plan for everything.
3. The only choices for you: Non-stop

Non-stop as a team relay
Race (5 day)
Tour (5 day)
Both non-stop and race!

Weekend or Sunday only entry
So sign up; it may seem a little expensive at first, but it’s brilliant value. The entry price includes briefings, safety cover, lunch, massage, and post-paddling food and drink, plus a travelling SUP village where you can leave your board, sit, chat, and drink beer or coffee. 

Can You Do It?
Huge numbers have paddled the Trent 100 or Race to the Castle, Skeddadle, and other medium-distance events. Although the best paddlers in the world take on the SUP11 Cities, I can assure you most of us are in a slower league. Anyone who has completed a distance event or two is likely ready, and with the event happening in “SUPtember,” you have time to get paddle fit. I enter the Race category, as Race or Tour cover the same distances, with additional rest stops for Tour paddlers.

I have shared accommodation with elite paddlers: Bruno Hasluyo (who won the event 6 times!!) Peter Mulhauser and Dorthe Nielsen. These icons make you very welcome and even offer you the chance to train with them. This year I shared the water with Peter again, Fabio Barbosa, Ryan Owens, the charming French paddler Phillipe Ker Rault, and the brilliant T-shirt sponsor David from Lahaina. On warm-up day we had a lovely paddle in Makkum, around the docks doing intervals, new for me. Peter led his routine of sprints, race pace and recovery paddling. Ryan, Fabio, Mark Kruisheer, and I all soaked it in. This sums up the family: you paddle shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest paddlers, and all they want is for you to enjoy it.

So in short: Yes. If you have paddled 50km, you will be capable; get a bit of training in, tape your fingers or wear gloves, savour the massages and get good rest each night.

The Non Stop is a different league decision. This year Allistair Swinsco and Alison Rennie again took on both Non Stop and the 5-day race on their tandem. They have now done this 200km circuit 11 times. That’s about London to Athens! Other UK Paddlers to ask would be Mark Salter (another Non-Stop and Race competitor) or Andy Clarke. Patrick McCormack from Ireland has also done both the Non-Stop and 5-day, coming in on the podium most days this year.

Which Board?
What about board choice? Both Fabio and Ryan entered 2025 in the Tour on inflatables. They had good times, but realised hard boards would be better. The great advantage of the 11 Cities is that over the entire distance (just over 200km), there are only two portages (and one of these is at a lunch break!). 

The water is generally flat, except for some churned-up canals on start lines (but you can avoid the mayhem!) or, if it gets windy, waves on the open meres. (more later). Boards get left each day at the resting places, and there are no difficult exits and entries. 

Most competitors or Tour paddlers are on hardboards. Hugo Vernhoult, a veteran of 10 SUP 11 Cities paddles, paddles with a bucket and litter picker his way along the route.

Sleep
There are two choices for organised accommodation; 

Traditional Netherland sailing boats provide (quite small) cabins, showers, breakfast and communal dining/sitting areas. These park close to the finish each day and follow the course. If they moor further away, the organisers put a shuttle bus on if you don’t feel up to walking 500m!

The holiday homes are where paddlers share modern, comfortable houses with washing machines and drying space. The holiday park is in the middle of the route, so each morning transport with minibuses takes you to the start, usually a 30-40 minute drive. Here, paddlers have a little more space, but it’s again a great opportunity to forge wonderful relationships. Phillipe brought honey, homemade fruit juice and the Hungarian trio Csaba Grozli, Etelka Dobi and Arpad Seper huge boxes of grapes. 

There are plenty of other options; Alison and Allistair stayed in small hotels. If you have luggage, you can leave it at the holiday home or on the boat. If it needs transporting, there is a bag drop which leaves at each start and ends up at each finish. There is also a second drop if you want it for the lunch break, so if you have bespoke hydration, etc this gets taken to the midway point each day.

Paddle
The first paddle is traditionally a tour around Leeuwarden as a ‘prologue’, cancelled this year because it was raining (we all went to the bar in the SUP school instead!). After registration on Tuesday, drop off your board at the start and have an early night!

Wednesday morning, jump off the boat or arrive by minibus at the start around 08.00. Coffee awaits (tokens provided at registration convert to food and drink). There is a WhatsApp group briefing detailing the weather, highlights of the day, and where to ring the bells (an essential part of 11 Cities drama).

Starts are divided into Tour and Race categories. Pick up your board, head to the start and paddle.

The routes are easy to follow with signs on the riverbanks and usually a paddler or two in front somewhere. Drafting is encouraged, and faster Race paddlers quickly settle into draft trains; slower paddlers help each other out on headwind sections.

The scenery is stunning, varying day by day: open canals, quaint villages, cities, big shipping canals, fields with Friesian horses, cows, lots of windmills, sections through woodland (the jungle on Day 2) and sections of open lakes, especially on the first two days.

This year the infamous Slotenmere threw everything at us; big chop and whistling winds. Fabio ended up beached downwind and walked through fields to jump back on a canal; some of us battled through. Ribs and safety boats bounced through the surf, providing a ‘water taxi service’ picking up those who had had enough of swimming.

Trackers ensured no one got lost. It seemed as if wherever you were on the water, there were (soaked) volunteers in rescue boats near you. I have been involved in quite a few sailing and other events and marvelled at the efficiency of the safety crews.

For the Tour, there are a couple of rest stops each day; racers have one mandatory 15-minute lunch stop. Arriving at the resting place, you are given a stopwatch, pop your board on the side, fill up on noodle soup, sandwiches, snacks, gels whatever takes your fancy. There is rehydration, and you can refill bottles and use the loo. At 13 minutes, break off conversations, wander back to your board and remount for the afternoon.

Each paddling day is roughly 40 kms with the final day a 27 km ‘short’ section.

This is the Netherlands: a maritime climate; you can get rain or shine, the one guarantee is wind! Whichever direction it is in, there are hard slogs with a headwind at some point, but often also wonderful stretches of downwind.

Eventually, you reach the finish and get cheered in. Usually fellow competitors help you pop your board on a rack, show you the massage area or buy you a coffee or beer.

The Food
Eat, Paddle, Eat, Paddle, Eat, Sleep. The final feed is from a food truck on site or at a local restaurant. All competitors and tour paddlers share trestle tables and tales of the day. Your change of clothing or dry robe has arrived in the transport and is at the bag point. All you need to do is chat, eat, chat a bit more, then load up into the minibuses or walk down to the sleeping boats.

The food was excellent, fully carbohydrate loaded and a great way to finish another day’s paddling.

The Company
The biggest draw for me is the people. The organising team is brilliant; nothing is too much trouble for them. They are determined to use 19 years’ experience to make this the best paddle ever.

A huge team of volunteers makes it happen, and many end up as friends. My partner Maria volunteered this year and was embraced by proud Frisian people keen to show her the historic sights.

Volunteers seem to be on every bridge and bank along the way, cheering, playing music, and offering support, drinks, or personalised playlists from the boats: huge smiles and great good humour.

Lunch and finish are converted into SUP villages with daily mini award ceremonies, coffee and waffle vans, massage and always people keen to help. (Many are paddlers themselves). There is constant encouragement and congratulations.

All entrants catch the event’s unique atmosphere and are super friendly. Everyone is there for a great time and to be part of the great SUP family. It’s like every race you have ever been to on steroids!!

So a few quick words from some fellow UK entrants:

Annabel Ewer (who came through with a podium third place in her category in 28 Hrs 55 min total)
“The SUP11 Cities was an amazing experience, beautiful countryside and cities to paddle through. We had some gnarly conditions, Rain & wind, but some beautiful days too. The organisation of the event was brilliant, as were all the volunteers. All the participants were really friendly and lovely to mix with, and there were so many nationalities.

“I paddled an NSP Cheetah 21”, which was great and very comfortable. Still, I wish I had taken Blue’s Evo Carolina 20.5 or an NSP Ninja, which would have been quicker on all the flat water, apart from the lake crossing, which was very much side chop and wind; that’s when the Cheetah was great.

“If you get the chance, this is a great event to do, and sleeping on the boats was great fun as they are there when you arrive at each finish.”

Tom Gale weekend paddler
“I would advise getting the miles in before, as you are paddling a lot over four and a half days. Look at how you are going to take on nutrition while paddling. I had electrolytes in my water, but a lot had all the nutrition to keep them going in their water- saves trying to eat protein snacks on the go.”

Leanne Bisson has recorded some vlogs: https://www.YouTube.com/@pinkypaddles “Since I started racing in 2023, this was top of my list. The opportunity to go for it this year was utterly exhilarating. The hardest race/event I’ve done yet, but by far my favourite now! The entire experience becomes a village of a giant SUP family; to be amongst those from the UK who have done it before, like David, Alison and Allistair, was the icing on the cake. It was like getting a proper send-off on to a rite-of-passage adventure for any distance junkie. It’s incredible to see a variety of paddlers keep battling on, even when things take a turn. The most organised SUP event I’ve been to.”

Colin Baker
“This iconic event had it all: strong winds and lakes that looked like the open sea, peaceful rural canals winding through green farmland and pretty villages adorned with colourful flowers. My overriding memory though is that of the people, from the cheerful volunteers crewing the boats and aid stations to fellow competitors lending me kit when  I broke or lost mine. A challenging but rewarding experience.”

And for me:
“Once you arrive, you turn your brain into SUP mode and don’t think about anything else. Paddle, eat, sleep. Talk with everyone, form great relationships. Find your niche with fellow paddlers who are roughly the same speed. There is a competitive element, but more cooperation. If it’s windy, you tow each other along.”

Everyone who attends is a winner. Over 200 km, you bond into one multinational, happy family and have the best family party ever.

So Do It!
Decide on a category and consider accommodation options (but you can make this decision later).

Who is In?

Highlights and Race positions:
A 13-year-old Mylo van Bakel came second in the men’s race category with 22hrs 35, just a few minutes behind the winner, dad (Joep), who was just under 22 hours.

Peter Mulhauser third overall and first in the over-50s, closely followed by Patrick McCormack.

Marin Hoeboer at 15, leading the women with 24hrs 28

Alison and Allistair on their tandem: 23 hrs 16 in the five-day and 27 hrs 17 on the non-stop, only seconds behind the fastest relay team.

Results in full: https://sup11citytour.com/Yearly-results