And the final is me, Christian, Connor, Spain's Aaron, and the final battle between the four of us. It was a really tough race every time from qualifying to the quarters and semi-finals, so I was very grateful that I was able to make it to the final four, and I reorganized my strategy with my coach and concentrated. At the start, Connor, who has long legs, took a little lead, but I was able to keep up with the paddling. However, the distance from the start to the first buoy was much closer than usual, about 60M. Conner, who was on the inside, entered the turn at the shortest distance, but the remaining three people, including myself, were almost side by side and all turned at the same time just behind Connor. (I can turn with both my right and left foot, but most players have a dominant foot, so here Connor, who is left-handed, turns with his stomach on the buoy, unfavorable turn.)  Only Conner is on the back side, so the distance from the buoy to his board is inevitably far. Christian put his board and went around the buoy inside. At that moment, Connor fell into the water. When Aaron, who was on the outside of the two of us, and I, who was on the outermost side, finished the turn at the same time. The river current made us slow down, and the became very unstable. Aaron loses his balance and falls into the water. I was in a really dangerous place, but I just barely endured it and didn't fall into the water. Christian got out of the 1st buoy and ran alone, finishing in the lead. I challenged Connor between the 3rd buoy and the goal, but Conner's power in the last spurt was so great that he finished 3rd. 

Immediately after the race, Connor complained to the organizer that his board had been hit by the first buoy. When going around the buoy as a SUP race rule, "If the back player is more than half ahead of the board of the front player, the priority is the back player. If not, the front player has priority." Christian, who was not more than half ahead of Conner's board, was judged to have obstructed the path of Conner turning in front, and was moved down to third place with a one-minute penalty.. And I automatically came second. Did Christian really block Connor's path? Or he didn't? There was a lot of controversy about penalties. Some say foul play, while others say, "It was Connor's fault that he fell. Christian didn't get in the way." As a fellow competitor, I think it's true that we bumped into each other, but I couldn't believe that it was "obstruction". The distance to the buoys was so short and it was clearly predicted from the beginning that the course would be chaotic. It is also true that there were scenes where boards and people hit many times from the qualifying round. I don't think it's fair to judge by rules only when complaints are made. That's why I thought that once the rules were decided, the organizers should make more efforts to ensure that the rules were followed from start to finish, regardless of whether they were qualifying or finals. Alternatively, I think it would have been necessary to rethink the course settings, such as increasing the distance of the buoys or increasing the angle of the turns to make it more difficult for the players to bump into each other. After the bitter experience of the previous blog (ISA Japan qualifying race), I made up my mind that "No matter what happens, I won't fall", and I have faced myself even more severely. Maybe it was because of that strong feeling that I didn't fall in the water when Connor and Aaron fell in the final. I think it's important to take it all positively, whether it's when I'm penalized or when someone else is penalized.

Then something unfair happened again. From the start of the race, there was a media boat for live streaming running side by side, but after entering the river, the boat that was next to the second group and picked up speed straight to the side of me in the lead. Powered boats naturally made wake, so Connor and Taguchi surfed on a small boat wave. (you can see on the live footage at 2:16:30~) My coach, who was riding alongside me on a bicycle, shouted at the media boat many times, but the staff on the media boat did not seem to understand the competition rules and let the boat go straight all the way to the finish line.. Under unfair conditions, I kept paddling alone. Actually, this situation was something that my coach/my father was worried about even before the race. So in the early morning race briefing, I raised my hand and asked in front of all the athletes, "After entering the river, can I ride the swell of the media ship?" APP organizer Tristan made it very clear: "We/you can't do that and we will never let the media boat move like that." (I'm going to uproad my youtube video later this month when it's ready)
It was very fortunate that the media boat happened to be shooting next to me until the end. If the boat had passed me in order to take a shot from the front angle of me, the following two padlers would have caught up with me.. It must have been quite stressful for my father, who assumed that risk before the race, and actually rode his bicycle from the riverbank and ran side by side. In the end, I'm glad I was able to hold on until the end and win the championship. I paddled downwind with 80% my effort, and I could saved my energy a lot, After entering the river, the flat water was in such a situation, so it was mentally painful.

これまで本当に沢山の海外遠征で、何度も苦い経験をしてきましたが今回はミスを最小限に終え、冷静を保つことができた事。それが総合優勝という結果につながったと思います。新たな収穫もあり、修正すべきところも見つかりました。これからもコーチのお父さんと一緒に工夫してきた練習と色々な技に更に磨きをかけます。最後に後援会の皆さんやスポンサーの皆さんも応援ありがとうございました。既にお伝えしている通り今週末22日（土曜）は神奈川県で報告会があります。久しぶりに再会する人や新しい出会いを楽しみにしています、今回、都合が合わなかった方は次の機会に是非ご参加いただけたら嬉しいです。よろしくお願いします。次の大きなチャレンジは9月末のISA世界選手権。昨年史上最年少16歳で二冠をとった僕は、今年17歳で前代未聞の三冠（スプリント・テクニカル・ディスタンス）に挑みます。この飛行機も後少しで日本に到着します。帰国したらまた気持ち新たに次へ向かって頑張ります！！！


keep paddling. 荒木珠里

I have had many bitter experiences in many overseas tours so far, but this time I was able to minimize my mistakes and keep my composure. I think that led to the overall victory. I learned new techniques and found areas to fix. From now on, I will continue to refine the practice and various techniques that I have devised with my coach's father. Finally, thank you to all the supporters and sponsors for your support. As I have already told you, there will be a debriefing session in Kanagawa this weekend on the 22nd (Saturday). I'm looking forward to seeing people again after a long time and meeting new people. thank you. The next big challenge is the ISA World Championships at the end of September. Last year, I won the double crown at the age of 16, the youngest in history, and this year, at the age of 17, I will challenge the unprecedented Triple Crown (Sprint Technical Distance). This plane will arrive in Japan soon. When I return to Japan, I will switch my mind again and keep paddling. 

Shuri Araki