Booth crowned 2017 Australian SUP Champion

W.A representative Michael Booth, today took home with him yet another impressive win at the Australian SUP Titles held on Currumbin Beach, Queensland.

Completing the 18km marathon race in 1 hour and 38 minutes, Booth said he felt fit and confident leading into todays race.

“I knew I had put in the hours of work and hard training leading up to the titles, but I do still get nervous from time to time. I think that’s a good thing though,” said Booth.

Michael’s partner, Kristi, said she could sense that he was a bit restless before the race, but believes it’s Michael’s nerves that feed him the adrenaline to perform some of his best races.

“Michael didn’t race in the Australian Titles last year and I know how much he wanted the win today, so I am thrilled he was able to cross the line first,” she said.

The race started at Greenmount Beach and headed north to Currumbin, conditions were flat and clean with very little wind.

Not one to sit back and let others sniff his tail, Booth broke away fairly early on in the race and didn’t let anyone else get a taste for up the front once he had done so.

Booth said he knew it was going to be a tough race from the start until the Currumbin rock face and wanted to push the pace of the field early on.

“I made a few silly mistakes coming into Currumbin Alley and I knew Matty was going to try and get on my wash heading into the flat water zone.

“Once I broke away, I felt relaxed and began to sink into a steady, comfortable pace which I was able to hold throughout the remainder of the course”.

Having been travelling an extensive amount over the last six months, competing in Asia, Europe and the U.S, Booth expressed that it was nice to finally be racing in familiar conditions again.

Mixing things up from his usual training routine, Michael shifted his training focus to skills and technical drills prior to this week to help keep things exciting towards the back end of the season.

“Because the Australian Titles has both the marathon and technical race components, I have been focussing on down wind paddles and surfing as well as foiling, which I believe will really help me in the technical race tomorrow”.

With one of the most exciting events of the year ‘The Doctor’ just around the corner, Booth said his win today was a great confidence boost leading into the 27km paddle from Rottnest Island to Sorrento held next Saturday 25^th November in Perth, W.A.

Michael will be running a SUP technique and skills clinic on Saturday at Currumbin. For more information please follow the link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/michael-booth-gold-coast-skills-and-technique-clinic-tickets-39269441958