3 questions to Sonni Honscheid before the French Championships & POP Race in Talloires

Hello Sonni ! It’s your 3rd Alpine Lakes Tour race this year ! Are you addicted to the Alpine Lakes 😉 ?


YES!! 😉 Besides a great organization, the Alpine Lakes races are hold on really nice places. I don’t get to paddle in lakes so often, so it always has something really special to it. Returning to Talloires this weekend means a lot to me, this place brings back a lot of really good memories from beginning of this years GlaGla event.
Besides the racing aspect, it’s always nice to see so many people at the start line sharing the stoke for this sport. Specially at this times I noticed how important it is to reconnect with the paddling community, go out there, have fun, race agains each other with open hearts, just enjoying this moment and the opportunity to actually do this!!


2. The long distance is 18 km long : do you like this kind of distances ? How to manage your race, how do you manage long efforts ?


I love long distance, I’m not really a ”technical” or a “sprint” paddler. When I paddle long distances, I feel the absolute freedom – that’s the feeling it got me addicted to paddling 🙂 . Long distance, it’s the same like with the other disciplines, you practice for it, main thing you focus on, it’s your endurance. On a long race, you also have to work on your nutrition and hydration during the race. I highly recommend to built this in your training from the beginning, so it becomes a routine. They are some really good powders on the market you can add in the water of your hydration pack which provide you everything you need for a long paddle. I made the experience myself, sometimes you get so distracted with your surroundings that your forget to drink/eat. When you feel thirsty or hungry, it can be already too late to avoid fatigue and going down on your performance.


3. This year the practice of paddleboarding has increased enormously everywhere, how do you see the future of our sport?


Yes, it’s crazy!! Stand Up Paddling seems like the perfect “Social Distance” Sport 😉 – specially in Europe it increased a lot. I think that many people who tried SUP for the first time, see the benefits it offers and will continue with this sport. It´s good for the fitness & mind, good for yoga on the board, it’s a family sport, you get to explore many beautiful paces out of a different perspective, you get a tan 😉 and on top of all – It’s fun!! Many people need a good motivation to have a goal when they go out paddling/training. That´s why I think that the Alpine Lakes tour event, it’s a great “first race” for a recreational paddler to take part in. It´s also important to guide those people, show them the right paddling technique to be able to get the maximum out of SUP, avoid injuries and have a good time on the water!

Résultats Tropical Race results (Geneva – Geneve)

Des conditions épiques pour cette reprise de l’Alpine Lakes Tour 2020 ! Cette course, qui n’était pas prévue au programme a été ajoutée pour permettre à tous ceux qui se languissaient après 3 mois d’interruption de reprendre la compétition. La bise soufflait sur Genève et a transformé la longue distance en un double upwind / Downwind ! Ludovic Teulade l’emporte chez les hommes en 1:06 et Sonni Hönscheid chez les femmes en 1:09

Epic conditions for this resumption of the Alpine Lakes Tour 2020! This race, which was not planned in the program, was added to allow all those who languished after 3 months of interruption to resume competition. The wind was blowing over Geneva and transformed the long distance into a double upwind / Downwind! Ludovic Teulade wins in men in 1:06 and Sonni Hönscheid in women in 1:09

Les participants à la longue distance ont eu à faire 2 boucles alternant upwind sur 2,5 km et downwind sur la même distance. Les participants à la courte ne faisait qu’une seule boucle. Certains inscrits sur la longue ont ainsi basculé sur la courte en ne faisant qu’une seule boucle.

Long distance participants had to do 2 loops alternating upwind over 2.5 km and downwind over the same distance. Participants in the short distance did only one loop. Some registered on the long distance have thus switched to the short by making only one loop.

Merci aux bénévoles et à l’équipe du Tropical Corner

Encore plus que d’habitude un grand merci à l’équipe des bénévoles qui ont assuré l’organisation de la course avec l’équipe du Tropical Corner en l’absence de l’organisateur de l’Alpine Lakes Tour indisponible.

Even more than usual, a big thank you to the team of volunteers who organized the race with the Tropical Corner team in the absence of the organizer of the Alpine Lakes Tour unavailable.

Les inscriptions pour l’étape suivante, l’Alpine Lakes Tour Canal de Savières et Lac du Bourget (initialement prévue les 18 et 19 avril) sont ouvertes ! Suivront l’Alpine Paradise Race (12 et 13 septembre), les championnats de France eaux intérieures (10 et 11 octobre) et la Very Flat Race (1er novembre) !

Registration for the next stage, the Alpine Lakes Tour Canal de Savières and Lake Bourget (initially scheduled for April 18 and 19) is open! Then we will have the Alpine Paradise Race (September 12 and 13), the French Inland Water Championships (October 10 and 11) and the Very Flat Race (November 1)!

Résultats Tropical Race