WRIGHTSVILLE, N.C. — Camden resident Thor Emory captured third place April 28 in one of the events at the Carolina Cup, the largest Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) race on the East Coast that is held in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., each April. Emory squeezed out nearly 200 other paddlers in the highly competitive 14-foot class, completing the seven-mile, flat-water race in 1:05:03.

Emory, a team rider for the Massachusetts-based SUP brand Speedboard USA, was just seconds off the second-place finisher and a little over a minute behind the winner, Emory's Speedboard teammate Terry Kent, who is a former Olympic sprint canoe athlete.

"I was pleased with the results, for sure," Emory said.

Emory and Camden resident Hampton Kew traveled together to the North Carolina event that is held annually during the last week of April. The five-day SUP gathering includes hundreds of paddlers competing in four different races, as well as SUP clinics, parties and gear demos.

"I have been training all winter, which is not easy in Maine, and the Carolina Cup is the earliest race of the season for me," Emory said. "When they called me up to the podium the announcer did not even know what 'ME' was. He got confused and said I was from Missouri."

Emory thinks that kind of unfamiliarity with Maine in the SUP world — a sport some industry experts say is doubling every year — is about to change. He is the founder of the first annual Lobster SUP CUP, a race set to be held in Penobscot Bay Aug. 10 and 11. It will be a two-day race from Rockport to Belfast, stopping in Lincolnville Beach.

"I love going to these fantastic, well-run events like the Carolina Cup," Emory said. "But I have to say that the Penobscot Bay offers some of the best conditions and most beautiful settings I have ever seen for a SUP race. Once the SUP community discovers Midcoast Maine in a big way, we are in business."

Emory says he had intended to race in the Carolina Cup's grueling Graveyard Race, a 13-mile race that includes a surf start and finish. Many of the top paddlers in the world were on hand for the Graveyard this year. But Thor's Speedboard USA ocean board is still being crafted and he was forced to compete in the shorter and more protected Money Island Race.

"I really wanted to do the Graveyard, but between my lack of the right board, a head cold, and the choppy conditions, I backed off for this year," he said. "It was really impressive watching the pros compete though and I learned a ton, which will serve me well for next year."