Capetonian Tyra Buncombe became the 2019 ISA Woman’s World Long Distance Prone Paddleboard Champion, after winning the 18km race in brutally hot conditions in Playa El Tunco, El Salvador, last week. On the day, numerous competitors in both the Woman’s Stand Up Paddleboard, as well as the Woman’s Prone Paddleboard Races, completed the three lap course incorrectly and were disqualified.
Buncombe, 20, a member of the South African Stand Up Paddleboard team, correctly navigated the course amid the confusion and was awarded the gold medal as the first racer to do so.
The championships concluded on
Monday December 2 and included various stand up paddle and prone paddleboard race disciplines as well as stand up paddle surfing.
The six-member South African team are competing against 150 athletes from 27 countries in the eighth edition of the annual event.
In 2018 Capetonian Tarryn King became the first South African gold medallist at the event, winning the Woman’s Stand Up Paddleboard 200m Sprint Race.
