12 Marathons in 12 Countries

Carlos and Carolyn became the first people in the world to paddle a marathon on a SUP made of plastic bottles to raise awareness of the global issue of plastic pollution in the ocean.  They completed their first marathon on La Dordogne in France from Saint Julien de Lampon to Saint Cyprien. It was a spectacular route in stunning weather conditions and they completed the 26.2 mile/ 42.2 km course in 6 hours 45minutes (paddle-time) taking it in turns on their bottle board and the Explorace 12’6 SUP board kindly donated by Itiwit by Decathlon.  They went on to complete a total of 12 marathons in challenging conditions on rivers, reservoirs, lakes, the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas – in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovia and Montenegro.  They averaged approximately 4km an hour on the bottle board (the bottles create drag which make the board significantly slower than an ordinary board).  The longest paddle-time was 12 1/2  hours through the Drina Canyon in Bosnia & Herzegovina (where they actually completed 60km) and the shortest was 6 hours 35 minutes on the Danube in Bulgaria.