Surfskis on the start line at Guana Bay for the warm-up race this past Saturday afternoon.
Paddlers Stuart Knaggs and Jacqueline van de Raad finishing the 13km paddle on Kim Sha Beach in a time of 1 hour 15minutes.
PHILIPSBURG--The Friendly Island Kayak Association (FIKA) held a warm-up qualifying race for the Sint Maarten National Championships on Saturday afternoon. There were five single and one double surfski on the water, paddling a 13km course from Guana Bay, around Pelican Rock to finish on Kim Sha Beach in Simpson Bay. The National Championships, organised by the Sint Maarten Canoe Federation (SMCF) and hosted by the Friendly Island Kayak Association, will take place on Sunday 26 May, on the course of the Soualiga Challenge Reloaded. This race was last held in 2019, replacing the annual Soualiga Challenge from Gustavia to Oyster Pond, which ran from 2005 until it was cancelled in 2017, following the passing of Hurricane Irma. The new Soualiga Challenge Reloaded course sees competitors start at Île Fourchue and finish on Kim Sha Beach in Simpson Bay, paddling a distance of approximately 23kms. The race will start at 10am with the first paddler expected to arrive on Kim Sha shortly after 11:40am. The organisers are expecting seventeen competitors from both St Maarten and Guadeloupe.
