The hundredth bib went on Friday 19 September at 8.15 p.m. His name is Riccardo Pastorino, he comes from Genoa, he races for Unione Sportiva Quarto, and he signed up for the long distance, the Technical Race and the Dragon Race in one go. Eleven days after entries opened, the 2026 Very Flat Race is sold out.
A hundred places, not one more: that is the cap set each year with the managers of the Lake Aiguebelette nature reserve. It has been reached. Entries are closed.
Five nations on a Savoie beach
Seventy-eight French, twelve Swiss, five Italians, five British. And one Spanish paddler, Arancha Gonzalez, who will be on the Paddle Team Dragon collective board — which brings the number of paddlers on the water to a hundred and three, as Dragon crew members do not count towards the cap.
Twenty-six clubs will be represented. Savoie Paddle Club turns up fourteen strong, Rhône SUP Club six, Pagaies Club Thonon five. Lac d’Annecy Paddle Club and the Welsh of Cardiff Bay SUP Racers field three riders each, Oxford SUP Club and Paddling in Antibes two. And then there are the others: Unione Sportiva Quarto, Circolo Eridano, DELTA SUP ASD, Paddle Club Zürisee, SUP Genève, Yacht Club de Toulon, Doubs Paddle, Cannes Jeunesse, PASC Palavas, Varua Hoé — seventeen clubs sending a single bib to the start line.
Forty-two paddlers will race in no club colours. On this tour, independents remain the silent majority.
From twelve to seventy-four
The youngest entrant is twelve. Her name is Lou Jalmain and she already has an Alpine Lakes Tour overall ranking behind her. The oldest is Benoît Fernet, seventy-four, from Apprieu. Sixty-two years apart, the same beach, the same start.
In between: nineteen paddlers aged sixty or over, twenty-three women, and an average age of fifty-one. Fifty-four hard boards against thirty-seven inflatables — more than a third of the field. That is the simplest definition of what we are trying to do here: a race where the everyday inflatable starts alongside the machines of the fast guys, and nobody finds it odd.
What is really at stake on 4 October
The Very Flat Race closes the season. It has the biggest field of the 2026 tour, so it pays the most points — and both the 2026 overall standings and the club standings will be written that Sunday, not before.
Sixty-four paddlers are entered on the long distance (11.5 km), thirty-four on the short (4.5 km), two on the Kids Race. Thirty added the afternoon Technical Race, twenty-eight the Dragon Race. Prize giving and the overall standings at 4.30 p.m. on Sougey beach.
For newcomers: this is the eleventh edition, and the story of this race begins in 2015 on an engine-free lake, classified as a nature reserve two months earlier.
No bib? There are still three ways to come
The waiting list. There are always withdrawals in the last fortnight. Sign up here: we call back in order of arrival.
The shore. Sougey beach is open to everyone, entry is free, and a mass start of a hundred paddles on perfectly flat water is very good viewing from the bank.
A volunteer’s vest. A hundred-person race inside a nature reserve needs people on land. Write to us.
See you on Sunday 4 October, Sougey beach, Saint-Alban-de-Montbel. Registration from 8.00 a.m., first start at 10.00 a.m.