How do I Qualify for the 2011 Hennessey’s – WPA World Championship?

The SUP race scene is evolving and a new level of competition has emerged: qualifiers.

The 2011 Hennessey’s-WPA World Championship isn’t a show up and race kind of event. To qualify, you have to have been racing the long courses in the regional and/or the national series races. And doing well! We’re looking for the best racers in the world to come out and lay it on the line.

But we want all the good racers. So if you’ve been supporting your WPA regional and national racing series by providing strong competition, you’ve got a really good chance. Fun race and paddleboard competitors do not need to qualify to participant in the 2011 World Championship.

Once a paddler qualifies, his or her spot opens up in all subsequent races. You don’t need to qualify multiple times or in multiple board divisions. So let’s say a paddler raced at the Carolina Cup this year and qualified according to the criteria below. That paddler is in. That paddler can race is every other race in the series and their qualifying spot would go to the next not-yet-qualified paddler.

Need help finding results?  Check out the WPA’s “UPDATED World Champ Qualifying Spots – Results” post.

Here are the different ways you will qualify:

1. Have finished in the top 20% of your board division at the 2010 Hennessey’s International Paddle Championships (long course only). Qualified racers.

2. Finish in the top 30% of your board division at the 2011 Hennessey’s-WPA U.S. Paddle Championships, Saturday, July 9, 2011 (long course only). Qualified racers – pending race results.

3. Finish in the top 20% of your board division at any individual 2011 WPA National Race (must be a ranked division and have a minimum of 5 participants). Qualified racers – pending race results.

4. Finish in the top 5 in your board division overall in the 2011 WPA National Race Series (must be a ranked division and have a minimum of 10 unique participants). Qualified racers – pending race results.

5. Finish in the top 5 in your division overall in the 2011 WPA Regional Race Series (must be a ranked division and have a minimum of 10 unique participants). Qualified racers – pending race results.

6. Finish or have finished in the top 20% of the following international races:

• 2011 11 City Tour (solo participants only)
• 2010 Australian National Championships (7 and 15 mile courses)

And finally, the WPA and Hennessey’s reserves the right to hold 20 spots to invite selected paddlers to participate in the 2011 Hennessey’s WPA World Championship race that may not have access or the ability to participate in any of the listed events.

Also, participants do not need to be current WPA member if you have qualified under options 1 and 2.

Keep an eye on worldpaddleassociation.com for more details!