Stand-up star shows youngsters how it's done
Rebecca Dunning, owner of Stand-up Paddle Boarding Shellharbour, was crowned 2025 open women’s Australian SUP surfing champion at the Australian titles at Phillip Island
Competing against rivals half her age has proven no barrier for Shellharbour's latest sporting champion at national level.
Rebecca Dunning, owner of Stand-up Paddle Boarding Shellharbour, was crowned 2025 open women’s Australian SUP surfing champion at the Australian titles at Phillip Island in October.
Rebecca is looking clinch a world title, having earned a spot in the Australian team for the 2026 ISA World SUP & Paddleboard Championship.
At 49, Rebecca was up against rivals in their 20s, but she felt confident after the first day of competition in Victoria presented ideal conditions.
“The waves were epic, and I was able to take full advantage of a superb right-hand reef break,'' she said.
''We had big, smooth, beautiful waves which made the whole thing so much more enjoyable. It didn’t feel like a competition – just a really fun day in the surf.”
The next day was the complete opposite, with surf “that was messy, had different swells coming in plus the wind to contend with”.
It was a much harder surf to handle, so a bigger board was needed to help balance and better match the conditions.
Not having a sponsor, Rebecca doesn’t have a full complement of competition SUP boards but managed to borrow an Infinity board from a sponsored rider and her husband’s to complete her finals.
“In the second final, I had to go for balance over a shorter board which offers more manoeuvrability.”
Rebecca also competed in the challenging Battle of the Paddle technical race, which involved three laps of a flatwater course at the stunning Cleeland Bight Beach in Cape Woolamai. Although she won her category – 40 to 50 years – she came second overall, and only the winner goes on to compete at the world championships.
As a mum, wife and small business owner, the hours of training needed to compete at world championship level are going to be a big challenge, Rebecca says, not to mention the cost of getting to the venue, expected to be in El Salvador.
With talk of SUP surfing becoming an Olympic event under the surfing umbrella at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, Rebecca could be a contender for the inaugural Australian Olympic SUP team.
