“Third time’s the charm”: Costa Rica’s pro athlete and endurance paddler Carlo Arias to take on the 2026 SUP 11-City Tour's Non-Stop 200km race. 

Ultra-endurance paddlers are a rare breed - athletes who willingly step into discomfort and uncertainty, chasing the limits of what’s physically and mentally possible.

Carlo Arias is one of them, and as he puts it, unapologetically: “I am doing hard stuff for fun, so I will fail. It is inevitable.” Hailing from Costa Rica, he is a multi-sport athlete with a deep love for SUP racing and a lifelong competitor with roots in surfing and running.

It’s this mindset that drives him into some of the toughest SUP challenges on the planet, including the legendary SUP 11-City Tour - an ultra-endurance paddle race covering 220 kilometres (136 miles) over five days through the northern Dutch province of Friesland.

Carlo already has two finishes (and a podium) under his belt, but last year his race was cut short - and this September he’s back for the gnarly 200km Non-Stop race to finish what was left unfinished. 

We caught up with Carlo to dive into his racing and endurance philosophy, and his focus for this year’s challenge. 

Hi Carlo, you’ve just confirmed your participation in the SUP 11 City Tour - what is it that draws you to such demanding endurance formats? 

Well, to be honest, I think I love the sense of freedom you get from ultra endurance. You escape from different scenarios, feelings and thoughts in ordinary life and enter a completely different state - different scenarios, different feelings, different thoughts - and that state is what I chase, what I want.

What’s beautiful is that I keep doing these types of events just to keep seeing where my limits are and what my body is able to handle. Also, and it will sound a bit cliché, but pain is probably what I look forward to the most. I think the idea of something being painful is what drives me most, and the experience of that.

I know I’m young and my body is still healthy, but one day it won’t be the same, so right now I’m grateful I can put it through these kinds of demanding situations for hours - so why not do hard stuff?

I’ve tested my body before and I know it can handle a lot, so every season I want to push it further and further to see where my limits are and how my body reacts.

Reflecting on last year, where your race was cut short, how has that shaped your mindset coming into this edition?

It wasn’t the best experience with the DNF (Did Not Finish) actually, also because it was a rough injury, so I had to recover and do therapy.

After last year’s race I entered a pretty difficult mental space, from September last year until March this year. During those months, I wasn’t really enjoying paddling. I even raced three times between October and December, and each time I was just looking to feel something rather than focusing on racing.

I stopped paddling from January until the end of March. After that, I picked myself up, faced my thoughts and the difficult memories around it, and finally realised what that DNF meant to me and what it taught me.

Now I understand that failure isn’t the opposite of winning or succeeding; failure is just a path to success. Failing doesn’t define you - it makes you YOU. I am doing hard stuff for fun, so I will fail. It is inevitable.

Now I’m having the most fun I’ve had in a long time while paddling and training. I’ve been embracing the loneliness and the pain through it. My body, soul and mind are still aligning, but I feel in the right place.

I have unfinished business in Fryslân, so I’ve got to keep the hunger alive.

Was there a moment where you decided, “I’m coming back for this”?

Yeah, when I realised it, this is a pretty special edition for me. You see, the SUP 11-City Tour  was my first ultra event back in 2023. It was my third international SUP event.

In 2024, this race gave me my first international podium, finishing third.

Three years later, I’m going back to the 13th edition of the non-stop event, and I’m looking to get my third crossing of the SUP 11-City Tour. I see a lot of threes in there, and you know what they say: “third time’s the charm”.

That’s when I realised I wanted to go back one last time, but I wanted to keep it special, so I decided to go for the non-stop instead of the 5-day event. Because, why not?

Have you made any specific tweaks or refinements to optimise for endurance and consistency? 

Absolutely, talking about physical training… first I did a pretty big block of strength work at the beginning of the year, along with another big block of ultra running, so I am feeling really strong with a solid endurance base.

There are also some changes in paddling because it’s a different kind of race. The 5-day event is a fast race - everyone goes super hard from day one. The non-stop is more about embracing all the kilometres at once, in a single effort through the day and night, so it’s a different game and a different training style. I still want to go fast, but I have to be smart about it.

Mentally, I’ve started practising not thinking, just executing. The more I think, the more I complain; the more I think, the more excuses I create. Lately I’ve just been doing things - plain and simple, getting it done.

And eating lots of bananas, because: “Monkeys don’t cramp.”

You’ll be racing on a Blackfish Paddles setup - what makes that your choice for an event like this?  

Yes, I will be using the Blackfish Yukon 520 paddle and the Blackfish WS241 (Weed Speed) fin. I think the choice is easy for me. I tested the Yukon paddle in every ultra I did last year and, for me, it’s the perfect fit. It’s really stable, which I need when I’m going through tough moments.

The paddle is also super solid and powerful in the catch, so even if I relax a little, it still keeps pushing you forward.

For the Weed Fin, it’s simple: the canals there are full of weed, so I don’t want any problems with that. Right now, I don’t know which board I’m using yet, but I will get it right.

What are you most excited about heading into this year’s race? 

First, I’m really excited to put myself in a very uncomfortable situation like this, where I will experience every kind of pain and thought. When the race becomes just gruelling, non-stop kilometres, I think this is where I thrive the most when I’m 100% healthy.

I’m also excited for the thrill of doing the same route I’ve been doing over the last years, but all at once. I think the experience will be completely different and beautiful, probably less stressful, but we’ll see.

And obviously I love going back to Fryslân - it’s probably my second favourite place in the world, after home. I just love seeing my old friends and making new ones. I have a lot of friends there, so every time is really special.

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Photo by Edwin Wekstra / Courtesy of SUP 11-City Tour