A Coldstream athlete and mother of two once again paddled away from a Surf Canada race with a championship title.
Lina Augaitis placed first in the Whipper Snapper SUP Canadian National Championships in Deep Cove, B.C., over the weekend (Sept. 17, 18).
The 41-year-old has established herself as one of the world’s top female standup paddlers, with four medals from the ISA World Championships in three different SUP racing disciplines.
Augaitis was also the first woman to officially complete the 750km Yukon River Quest Marathon Race as a SUP entrant.
The elementary school teacher had taken a few years off from SUP racing and said she wasn’t sure what to expect during last weekend’s race.
“I’m pretty happy to have my body and mind hold up and come away with another Surf Canada overall Canadian SUP championship title,” she wrote on her Instagram page. “I can’t feel my upper body. I felt the pressure when my daughter told me I better win first.”
Augaitis won the 18 km distance race as well as the technical course, which will earn her a spot in the ISA SUP World Championships in Puerto Rico.
“I will enjoy my sweet victory while it lasts cause it won’t last for long,” she said.
While actively training on Kalamalka Lake, Augaitis didn’t actually take up stand up paddle boarding until she discovered it by chance in California when she was 30 and now not only is she considered one of the best paddlers in the world she is also the SUP director of Surf Canada.
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@Jen_zee
jen.zielinski@bpdigital.ca
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