Leg 3 of 7 · All legs

Stand-Up Paddleboard

Leg 3 of 7. Your road cyclist tags you at the lake, and you paddle the lake course standing up, on the lake bracelet. Then you hand the lake bracelet to your swimmer. Route plate and distance: /events/durango/maps.

Venue names are the 2025 locations, expected again. 2027 locations are confirmed after permits. Exchanges

Bracelet

Lake bracelet. Used only at the lake, by your paddleboarder and your swimmer. Your road cyclist starts it on its way with a tag.

The hand-off

Your road cyclist arrives at Lake Nighthorse Swim Beach and physically tags you. You start on the lake bracelet. Your board waits at staging for the tag-up, not in the water, so the hand-off happens on land. When you finish, beach briefly and hand the lake bracelet to your swimmer, who waits on the beach, not in the water. Only the two athletes and race officials go in the hand-off box. Exchange locations and parking: /events/durango/exchanges.

Full vs Sprint

Full: your road cyclist tags you and keeps riding straight away, on the clock. The two lake legs run alongside the road cycle. Sprint: your road cyclist tags you and waits at the lake until your swimmer finishes.

Minimum age

16 on race day. Provisional: these ages are under review by our counsel and insurer; if they change, every registered captain will be told directly. Any team with an athlete under 18 must have a captain who is 18 or over, and each athlete under 18 needs guardian consent and a named supervising adult present for their leg.

What to bring

  • Bib, worn where it can be seen.
  • Lake bracelet, worn by you for the whole leg.
  • PFD. Every SUP athlete wears a USCG-approved Type 3 or Type 5 PFD, in good working condition, serviceable, without major defect or wear. A Type 5 must be armed and worn.
  • Leash. Every SUP athlete is tethered to the board with a leash.
  • Board. Hard-shell and inflatable boards are both permitted.

Leg rules

  • No PFD, no start. Teams in violation are not permitted to start the leg.
  • SUP athletes stand while paddling. Resting seated, kneeling or prone is permitted only without forward progress. More than five strokes while not standing is a violation, and that is a 15-minute penalty for a first offence. Exceptions: discontinuing, or avoiding a hazardous condition.
  • Propulsion from paddle, waves and wind only. Sails, wind-catching clothing, drafting a non-competing vessel and other speed devices are prohibited.
  • Distress signals. Paddle in the air, waved or held erect = injured or in danger. Hand raised = need help, not injured. All athletes watch for these and summon safety staff.
  • An athlete who receives rescue or forward assistance must report it at the next exchange.
  • Your board is at staging for the tag-up, not already in the water.

Rules on every leg

  • Stay on the marked course. No shortcuts and no cutting corners, including when passing. (VLK-05.01)
  • Help anyone in danger. Athletes must assist, or summon assistance for, any person in danger on the course. Time lost giving genuine assistance is credited on application to the Race Director. (VLK-05.04)
  • Audio. Devices covering both ears are prohibited on the Road Cycling and Road Run legs and at every road crossing. Bone-conduction and single-ear devices are permitted everywhere. (VLK-05.07)
  • Ride right, pass left. On any shared or open-road segment, travel on the right and move left only to complete a pass. (VLK-05.08)
  • Centreline. On open-road segments, athletes may not cross the centreline. Details by segment are in the Athlete Guide. (VLK-05.09)
  • Outside help, one rule for all seven legs. Help from anyone not on your roster, like food, drink, gear or moving your equipment, is allowed only inside a published support zone. Mechanical help (a pump, a tool, a spare part, a hand with a repair) can come from anyone, anywhere it is safe and does not block the course. No pacing. No towing, pushing or drafting behind a non-competing vehicle, rider or craft. Help from an official or safety staff is always allowed and is recorded. (VLK-05.10)
  • Report a withdrawal. If you stop, report it to an official, at a transition, or to Race Command. An unreported withdrawal starts a missing-athlete response and is a violation. (VLK-22.04)
  • Carry your mandatory gear for your whole leg. Broken mandatory gear must be replaced before you go beyond the next transition. (VLK-24.01, VLK-24.02)

Penalties. Penalties are a documented warning, a 15-minute time penalty added to official time, or disqualification (VLK-25.04). The graded outcomes run warning, then 15 minutes, then Unranked, then disqualification, and each rule's repeat consequence is set in the penalty table. Some breaks are an immediate stop and disqualification, including no PFD, no helmet, a missed water check-in, dangerous road conduct or refusing an official (PEN-12). Deliberate course-cutting is a disqualification (PEN-08). A Wingmate or vehicle violation counts against the team (PEN-14). Time penalties are shown separately in results (VLK-16.07), and Race Command may stop any participant immediately for safety (VLK-25.02). The values are reviewed with counsel before the rule freeze, and any change goes out as a bulletin. The full penalty table is in the Race Bible at /rules.

Cutoffs. Cutoffs come from the moment an authority takes the course back, such as a road reopening or a venue closing, minus a clearance buffer for the sweep. They are never set from a guess at athlete pace (VLK-22.01). If an athlete has not reached the exchange by the hard cutoff, they stop and follow the sweep. The next leg starts under a cutoff override and, where the team can still safely complete the remaining legs, it continues as Unranked: recorded as a finisher, listed below the ranked teams, and not eligible for awards (VLK-22.02, VLK-23.02). Officials can also release a leg early for safety, venue or permit reasons. That is a safety override: no penalty, and the team stays ranked (VLK-23.02). An override start is not a penalty and is not protestable (VLK-23.04). Cutoff and override times are published later, with the course hours.

The full rules: the Race Bible.

Published later

Coming before race day, and emailed to every captain: course hours, cutoffs, wetsuit rules, water-safety details, set in writing by a qualified water-safety professional, aquatic-invasive-species requirements for boards, exchange maps and diagrams, race briefing, course conditions.