13/09/2025
Recap of the 200k non-stop SUP 11-City Tour.
After three times in the 5-day edition – and winning my age group in 2022 – I thought I had closed that chapter. But my buddy Mark kept saying: “The only mythical version is non-stop, just like the skaters back in the day.”
WELL… WE DID IT.
It was magical. It was hell. It was brutally HARD. Saturday 8 a.m. I started steady and quickly took the lead. Not my best day, but not a bad one either. Through the night things went fine, until around 1 a.m. my right leg started acting up. At first I thought it was lactic acid, but it turned out to be thrombosis. I could no longer get off the board by myself, ended up peeing in my pants, and needed help every time to get back on.
The last hours were purely mental. Push through or give up. 30 hours straight.
The biggest victory? Choosing to give up a higher podium spot just to make sure I’d finish and taking 3rd place. Sometimes accepting a loss is the greatest win.
BIG THANKS to my crew – Mark, Ronald, Sheila, Martine and Filip – impossible without you 🙏🏻👊🏻
And to the home front for letting me train so much and all the support , and the physios for patching up this aging body every week 😎