荒木珠里メルマガvol73（2024年12月6日） から引用

みなさん、こんにちは。荒木珠里です。先月末11月20日〜24日の間、アメリカ・フロリダ州で国際カヌー連盟が主催するICF世界選手権が開催されました。前回のメルマガでもお知らせした通り、僕は中距離テクニカルレースと、長距離ディスタンスレースに出場しました。そして結果は、テクニカルレースで準優勝、ディスタンスレースでは優勝することができ、長年目標としてきた「世界SUP主要4団体統一」を果たすことができました。まず初めに、みなさんたくさんの応援ありがとうございました。皆さんにいい結果を報告することができてとても嬉しい気持ちです。


Hello everyone. This is Shuri Araki. Last month, from November 20th to 24th, the ICF World Championships hosted by the International Canoe Federation were held in Florida, USA. As I announced in my last newsletter, I participated in the middle-distance “technical race” and the long-distance “distance race”. As a result, I was able to come Silver in the technical race and Gold in the distance race, achieving my long-held goal of "unifying the four major world SUP organizations." First of all, thank you all for your support. I am very happy to be able to report this good result to you all.

テクニカルレースの翌日は11.5kmのディスタンスレースでした。人工のカヌー競技場で行われたレース、僕が得意とする風と波が全くなく、まるで鏡の上を漕ぐような、僕は最も不利な状況でのレースでした。実際LIVE配信のアナウンサーも「平水のダッシュ勝負でシュリが勝つのはとても難しい」と言われていました。本当にその通りです。もし風、波があれば、小さい頃から沖縄の深い外洋の海でお父さんと培ってきた力を生かして勝負できますが、今回はそういうわけにはいきません。全くの無風のレース、僕より数倍体格が大きな海外の選手たちを相手に10km以上の体力勝負は、とてもハードルが高いチャレンジになることはわかっていました。お父さんと綿密に組み立てた戦略を頼りに挑みました。

The day after the technical race was the 11.5km distance race. The race took place in an man made canoe arena, and there was no waves, which I am the best at, and it was like paddling on a mirror surface, so I was in the most unfavorable conditions. In fact, the announcer of the live broadcast said, "It will be very difficult for Shuri to win in a flat water sprint." That is really true. If there was wind or waves, I could have used the strength I had many experience with my father in the deep open ocean of Okinawa since I was a child, but that was not the case this time. I knew that a race with no wind and no wave, and a physical challenge of over 10km against powerful athletes who were  all bigger than me would be a very high hurdle. I took on this challenge with a carefully planned strategy, together with my coach.

Now, moving on to the race, as expected, the race progressed with a leading group of 5 to 8 people. Again, all people around me were much more powerful than me, so sometimes the leaders would speed up and the group would get disorganized, so It was a race that really required a lot of intelligence and wisdom. With just 2km left to the finish line, the atmosphere became tense as we got closer to the end. Then, 600 meters before the finish line, I suddenly increased my pace and took the lead. No one could follow me and I was able to win by a large margin. This was unexpected, as we had assumed that there would definitely be a few people who would follow us to the end. Of course it was tough, but I'm really glad that I was able to show the results of my 4 months of training camp in Okinawa. My trainer/father, who accompanied me on his bicycle throughout the race, came up with many strategies and patterns. I would like to thank my father who raced with me, my mother who supported me through the tough training camp in Okinawa, and everyone who always supports me. I would not have been able to win this gold medal without your support.

まだSUPは新しい競技で、さまざまな団体や異なるルールが存在します。これまでは世界チャンピオンが団体ごとに何人も存在する状況でした。しかし今回ようやく僕が世界SUP主要4団体すべてで金メダルを取って「統一」できたことによって、SUPがもっと一つになっていく動きに繋がってほしいと思います。僕はSUPレースを始めた10年前から常にレジェンドパドラーの背中を追いかけてきました。彼らは常に”どんなコンディションでも強い”、オールラウンドのパドラーでした。もともと僕が得意とする荒れた海域に加えて、今回の平水コンディションで世界一という大きな目標を達成した今、次の大きな目標は「オリンピックの金メダル」です。僕の妹はじめ未来を夢見るジュニア世代のこども達のために、SUPのオリンピック種目化を全員で目指していけたら、こんな素晴らしいチャレンジ人生は他に無いと思います。

SUP is still a new sport with only a decade of history, with many different organizations and rules. Until now, there have been many world champions in each organization. However, now that I have finally won gold medals in all four major SUP organizations(APP/Euro Tour/ISA/ICF) and been able to "unify," I hope that this will lead to a movement to unite SUP even more. Ever since I started SUP racing 10 years ago, I have always followed in the footsteps of legendary paddlers. They were always all-round paddlers who were "strong in any condition." In addition to winning the Ocean Paddling/Euro Tour, which is my forte, now that I have achieved my big goal of becoming the world's best in flat water conditions, my next big goal is an Olympic gold medal. If we can all work together to make SUP an Olympic sport, I don't think there could be a better challenge in life for my sister and other aspiring juniors. 

最後に皆さんにお知らせです。今月の22日と26日に、沖縄のマツダ北谷店ショールーム、株式会社イングラムさまの本社会議室をお借りして、「荒木珠里2024報国会」を行いたいと思います。報告会という名前ですがサポーターの皆さんに直接会って金メダルを見ていただきですし、何よりも直接感謝の気持ちを伝えられたらとても嬉しいです。是非みなさん参加してください。久しぶりの再会と、新しい出会い、そして全員が楽しい交流の時間になることを楽しみにしています。
On the 22nd and 26th of this month, we would like to hold the “Shuri Araki 2024 Honorary Meeting" at the Mazda showroom in Okinawa and the Ingram Co., Ltd. headquarter building. Although it is called a report meeting, I would like to meet all the supporters directly and share the gold medal, and would love to tell thank you directly from my heart. We are looking forward to long-awaited reunions, new encounters, and a fun time interacting with everyone. 

僕は全ての結果は命と同じで先祖から受け継いだものだと思っています。帰国してすぐに熊本のお墓参りをしにいきました。僕が今、自由に、平和にパドルできるのは努力だけでは到底不可能で、これまで頑張ってきた多くの人たちのお陰です。僕はお父さんからそれを学び、いつもそれを心の奥に大切に暖めながら遂に世界の頂点へ辿り着きました。この世にはもういないけど、いつも空から見守っていてくれる祖先こそが最大のサポーターだと思います。心から感謝しています。今年最後の大舞台、本当に厳しく難しい挑戦でしたがご先祖様にも最高の金メダルの報告ができました。

日々のトレーニング管理、遠征時の調理、マッサージ、Youtube編集、そしてレース本番のサポートと、毎回とんでもない仕事量をこなしてくれるお父さん、本当に感謝しています。表彰式の翌日からも、妹のかなかのボードを持ち帰るためにフロリダ州からなんとテキサス州のダラス国際空港まで、約2000kmの長距離運転をしてくれました。この仕事量こそが金メダルに匹敵すると僕は感じています。ICFに向かった本当に厳しく苦しい長期合宿でしたが、トレーナーのお父さんには頭が上がりません。逆境の中でも一緒に闘ってくれて本当にありがとう。沖縄で留守番をしてくれたお母さん、かなか、ティアレもいつもありがとう。先ず何より先に大切な家族に金メダルを持ち帰ることができました。いつも応援いただいている後援会の皆さん、スポンサーの皆さん、サポーターの皆さんも本当にありがとうございます。今回のICF世界選手権に向けてAmazon販売しているKeep Paddling.応援Tシャツもご購入してくださってありがとうございました。

僕はまだ18歳、まだまだ成長しますし、学ぶべきことがたくさんあります。自信過剰にならず、現状に満足せず。来期も更にハードに挑戦します。皆さん沢山の応援本当にありがとうございました！！！

keep paddling.

荒木珠里 

I would like to thank all the supporters, sponsors. I would also like to thank everyone who purchased the keep paddling support T-shirts that were on Amazon sale for this ICF World Championship.

This last big stage of the year was a really tough and difficult challenge, but I was able to report the best gold medal. I am very grateful to my trainer/father, who handles an incredible amount of work every time, including daily training management, cooking,  massages, YouTube editing, sponsor management, and support for the actual race. The day after the award ceremony, he drove over 2000km from Florida to Dallas International Airport in Texas to bring back my sister’s new board. I feel that his amount of work is comparable to a gold medal. We got through really tough and difficult long-term training camp together every single day. Thank you for fighting alongside me even in the face of adversity. And thank you to my mom, and my sisters, who stayed at home with me in Okinawa. First and foremost, I was able to bring the gold medal home to my precious family.

At the last, I’d like to thank to my ancestors, and our heritage. It would never have been possible to paddle freely and peacefully like I do now through our own efforts alone.

My father and I always kept this in our hearts and finally reached the pinnacle of the world. I'm grateful to our supporters, who are no longer with us here today, but are surely watching over us from the sky everyday.

I'm still 18, I still have a lot to grow and a lot to learn. I won't be overconfident, and I won't be satisfied with the current status. I will challenge myself even harder next season. Thank you so much to everyone for all your support!!!

keep paddling.

Shuri Araki

「荒木珠里後援会」は本人が毎月綴るメルマガを年間購読していただけるサポーターを募集しています。2024年度も引き続きメルマガをお楽しみいただきたい方、また新規登録を希望される方は会員登録をお願いします。