After missing last year’s Catalina Classic because he broke a leg surfing, and finishing sixth in 2009, Brad Thomas knew this might be his last chance to have his name engraved on the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race Perpetual Trophy.

Race Results

Thomas is 43 and his wife Jill, whom he met four years ago at a Catalina Classic awards dinner, are expecting their first child in two months.

Thomas was favored this year, but not heavily. The Redondo Beach“Shoulder Doc,” as he is known by the many lifeguards whose rotator cuffs he has repaired, defeated last year’s Catalina Classic winnerAdam Buckleytwo months ago in the Hennessey U.S. Paddleboarding Championships in Redondo Beach. But last month he had finished a relatively distant 12th in the Molokai Paddleboard Race, 34 minutes behind 10-timeMolokaiwinner and former Catalina Classic winner Jamie Mitchell. More significantly he had finished 13 minutes behind Australian Mick Porra, and six minutes behind Hawaiian Brian Rocheleau, both of whom would be competing in this year’s Classic.

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