The University of Plymouth Paddleboarding Club (Plymunisup) set up and hosted our very own first competitive races for a sport that is so often seen as recreational.

We invited multiple universities all over the UK to join us on the Plymouth coast where we compete in a series of catagorised races using different types of paddleboards.

We ended with an award ceremony where Bangor paced third, Swansea second, and Plymouth first. Charlie Kay (University of Plymouth), came first in the single races too.

The races were a great day to meet people from other unis who all loved paddleboarding. We got to compete in fun and non-judgemental races and it was a great to work as a team within our club.

The races offered an opportunity for our club to truly foster a team spirit, I personally had fun, laughed a lot, and enjoyed meeting like-minded people from other Universities. I believe as a club this was important as it allowed our members to challenge themselves in a competitive way using skills they've adopted from the club, while also building relationships with other university clubs. - Aimee O'Neill, Chair.

The weather was amazing for the events and we couldn't have done it without the brilliant instructors at SW SUP and our amazing photographer Reece Foster (Instagram: @040photography_). "As a bystander the race was very enjoyable it was nice to see the stand-up paddle group interacting with other unis who share similar interests", Reece shares.

In total we had around 50 people compete in the races along with bystanders supporting their universities, and all ended up in local pubs nearby to celebrate and say our goodbyes. "I really enjoyed the sup races and found it to be a wholesome day with great people. I found it really fun and would love to do it again," Plymunisup member, Issy, shares.

Huge thank you to Plymunisup for organising the races, the feedback from our members has been really positive and I had a fantastic day meeting both universities. I hope we can do another event like this again as it was very well received and so enjoyable!!! - Swansea University Chair, Emily.

This was an amazing experience for our club, we got to paddle out in the sea and use the dragon and megsups for the first time. We want to extend a huge thank you to Plymunisup for making it all happen. We had a great time getting to know both universities everybody was so friendly, and we're looking forward to getting more experience like this again soon! - Bangors University Chair, Dione.