A choppy start to the 2025 Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race set the tone for the 32 mile competition from Catalina Island’s Isthmus Cove to the Manhattan Beach Pier on Sunday.
Conditions improved once, but not much after the paddlers crossed the channel and reached the R10 buoy, just off of Palos Verdes.
Jack Bark, 31 of Torrance, placed first in the men’s unlimited division at 5:14:50. Last year, Bark broke the Catalina Classic record, becoming the first paddler to finish under five hours. His time was 4:54:45.
Bark maintained a substantial lead throughout the race, finishing 16 minutes, and more than a mile ahead of second place finisher Tristan Sullaway, a San Diego lifeguard. Sullaway finished third last year.
Lance Lerum, of San Diego, came in third at 5:38:51.
The top three women finishers all raced stock boards (under 12 feet). Yurika Horibe, of Japan, placed first in 6:31:47, in her first Catalina Classic. Emily Bark, of Torrance, who won last year’s stock race, placed second in 6:45:25. Kayla Coscino, of Laguna Beach, finished third in 7:01:21.
Toa Pere, 16 of Oʻahu’s North Shore, placed first in the men’s stock division in 5:56:38. His father, Guy Pere, won the inaugural 1997 Molokaiʻi to Oʻahu, a 32-mile paddleboard race across the Ka‘iwi Channel.
David Thomas, of Hermosa Beach, finished second in 6:05:53. Foster Campbell, of San Diego, was third, in a time of 6:10:15.
The 131 paddlers were the most in the race’s history.
For more information, visit CatalinaClassicPaddleboardRace.com. ER
