Booth Takes on Humid Hong Kong
By Lauren Barley
Michael Booth will return to race again this weekend in the Hong Kong International SUP Race held on Sunday 19th August.
After a highly successful Euro Tour Championship Title finish for Booth, it was in the best interest of his family and himself to take some well-needed time off last month whilst his father recovered from open-heart surgery.
Booth withdrew from the Molokai to Oahu World Championship held in Hawaii in July, making the tough decision to cancel his flights just a few weeks prior to race day.
“It was a challenging month or so seeing my dad un-well and it didn’t sit well with me to not be close to my family during that difficult time,” said Booth.
Now returning to race the end of the season in a focussed and ambitious state of mind, Michael aims to head into the Hong Kong International this weekend and achieve a great result, revamping his confidence and skills before leading into the major races that will be held across America over the next few months.
Whilst some time off from racing and travelling was needed, Booth was adamant his training would remain to a high standard whilst he wasn’t racing to ensure he was still positioned to see out the end of the year in his best form.
“Regardless of my normal routine being a little out of whack, I have still been working hard and doing a lot of training on and off the water”.
Michael has used the last month to profoundly focus on his online coaching business as well as the final stages of developing the MB Paddle range before a launching on September 1st.
“I have been putting in some long hours to try and modify and perfectly tweak my training programs and clinics to be the best they possibly can be as well as working on the launch my MB Paddle range.
“It’s going to be a big few months coming up, but I am excited to see what the back end of the year has in store for me!”
The 18km Hong Kong International race will be held for the fourth year running in Sai Kung – just outside of Hong Kong, where Michael will be hoping for a second consecutive win in this particular event over the weekend.
The conditions in Hong Kong will be extremely hot and humid, making the race distance heavily rely on solid endurance.
“it’s definitely not the easiest racing conditions over in Hong Kong, however it will give me a good idea of what to expect heading into ISA World’s which is being held in China in November”.
Michael will also be holding a training clinic from 2-4pm prior to race day at the VRC Club in Emerald Bay on August 18.
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