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Roughly 400 contestants! For the SUP phobic, the Battle of the Paddle 2009 was simply sudden death. The two day battle broke down into four events: Age Group (4 miles) and Elite Race (4 miles) on Saturday and Long Distance (10 miles) and Relay (8 laps) on Sunday.

Putting aside the Waterloo showdown of warriors with paddle in tote, the big surprise of the event was a 14 year-old. This alleged pubescent (Slater Trout, HI) came second in the elite class, only two minutes behind none other than 8x paddle world champion, Jamie Mitchell, AUS, who completed the 4-mile track in 1:07:45; Danny Ching, James Billy Watson, and Chuck Patterson came in 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively. The Elite Class had all paddlers riding stock boards (<12.6"). Mitchell took the$10K purse, Trout $3K, and Danny Ching $1K.

On the long distance track, unlimited division, from Doheny State Beach to San Clemente Pier and Back, totalling approximately 10 miles, Danny Ching took the prize, completing the course in  1:33:51 on a 19-foot Ohana board. And also riding an Ohana, Rob Rojas came in 3 minutes behind, at 1:36:18. The infamous Chuck Patterson came in 4th at 1:38:49.

Conditions were difficult all throughout the event, with lots of chop, strong winds, and a fair amount of waves, especially during low tide. The Battle drew nearly 1,000 spectators on Saturday and several hundred on Sunday. Vendors came in full force and Drew Brody painted a gigantic mural on site, taking him a total of 12 hours to finish. That's my quick report on this years Battle of the Paddle.

For more, stay tuned to Mylocallineup.com and the debut of the Stand Up Television on My Local Lineup TV, coming up in November. The first episode will feature several interviews, including Gerry Lopez, Chuck Patterson, Jamie Mitchell, Candice Appleby, Dave Kalama, and others.

In the meantime, while you wait for the launch of Stand Up Paddle Television on My Local Lineup TV (every 3rd week of the month, starting Nov. 2009), here are some pics from the Battle of the Paddle for you to enjoy (see pictures - free registration required).