Ariel Amaral

Stand Up Paddleboarding

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Ariel Amaral moved to Barrie in 2009 and, almost single-handedly, introduced the city to stand-up paddleboarding. She joined the Barrie Canoe & Kayak Club as its first SUP instructor, and went on to serve the club as a director and board member, running clinics, film festivals and paddle festivals that turned a novelty into a local sport.

On the water, Ariel has raced internationally for fifteen years and has been a member of Team Canada for ten. She represented Canada at the ISA World SUP & Paddleboard Championships in Denmark in 2017 and in China in 2018, at the 2018 PASA Pan American Games in Peru, and as Canada’s female alternate for the 2019 Pan American Games. Her strongest result came at the 2024 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships in Sarasota, Florida, where she took silver in Masters Distance and placed fourth in Masters Sprints.

Closer to home, Ariel won the 2017 Eastern Canadian Paddleboard Championship, and finished in the top three of that championship six more times. She has won the Ontario SUP Series women’s overall title three times — in 2014, 2017 and 2024 — and has placed second and third overall at the Canadian SUP Race Nationals. In 2023, she won both Masters Distance and Masters Sprints at the SUP & Surf Nationals in Jalisco, Mexico. Ariel competes across every discipline of the sport: technical, distance, sprint and SUP surf. In 2014, she won the Eastern Surf Association’s Aloha Spirit Award, and in 2023 she received the Ontario SUP Series Spirit Award.

Ariel’s endurance results reach well beyond the paddleboard. She placed third at the 2025 Chattajack 31-mile race through the Tennessee River Gorge, second at the 2026 Mattawa River Canoe Race over 64 kilometres, and first at the 2026 Raisin River Canoe Race over 30 kilometres.

For Ariel, giving back has been the constant. In 2012, she became one of the first women to cross Lake Ontario by paddleboard, covering 65 kilometres for the SUP4MS charity crossing. She founded Barrie’s Paddle 4 the Cure, which has raised more than $115,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society on Kempenfelt Bay, and she has volunteered with Aloha Toronto for fifteen years, paddling with children on the autism spectrum. She has coached at Olympia Sports Camp for a decade under Paddle Board Canada and the World Paddle Association, and she still teaches SUP yoga at the Allandale pool through the Barrie Canoe & Kayak Club through the winter.

A competitive athlete, business professional, and mother of two, Ariel brings her family to the races, fundraisers, and clinics. In her own words: “I love to use SUP as a vehicle for adventure, speed, discovery, instruction, fitness, friends, and above all, family.”

• Portrait painted by Sheila Romard

Career highlights:

• 2024 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships, Sarasota FL — Silver, Masters Distance; 4th, Masters Sprints
• Member of Team Canada since 2017; ISA World Championships in Denmark (2017) and China (2018)
• 2019 Pan American Games — Canadian female alternate; 2018 PASA Pan American Games, Peru
• Ontario SUP Series women’s overall champion — 2014, 2017, 2024
• 2017 Eastern Canadian Paddleboard Champion; top three a further six times
• 2023 SUP & Surf Nationals, Mexico — 1st Masters Distance, 1st Masters Sprints
• 2012 SUP4MS — first woman to complete the 65 km Lake Ontario crossing
• 2014 Eastern Surf Association Aloha Spirit Award; 2023 Ontario SUP Series Spirit Award
• Founder, Barrie Paddle 4 the Cure — over $115,000 raised for the Canadian Cancer Society