Take two sports that shouldn’t meet, add 12 hours of non-stop action, throw in an East European powerboat racer with a sense of humour, and you’ve got Lithuania’s most unlikely tournament format of the winter.
UIM F2 racer Edgaras Riabko is bringing his motorsport mindset to the padel court, participating in Lithuania’s first 12-hour endurance tournament inspired by long-distance racing formats.
The double UIM F2 European Champion is among the participants in the Padel Endurance 12H by Paradis tournament in Kaunas. And if you’re wondering what padel is, you’re not alone.
Tennis in an Expensive Greenhouse
Padel is tennis and squash’s overachieving child. Played on a 10 by 20 metre court inside four-metre glass and mesh walls, it’s doubles only with one crucial difference: smash the ball into the glass and watch it ricochet back into play. Spain, Argentina and Portugal now have more padel players than tennis players. It’s tennis for people who enjoy geometry.
Le Mans Meets Glass Box
The tournament mirrors endurance racing formats. Eight teams compete simultaneously across four courts for 12 hours without interruption, with players rotating in and out while team managers direct strategy. Replace “lap times” with “game scores,” “fuel” with “energy drinks,” and “tyre wear” with “blistered hands” and you’ve translated Le Mans to padel.
Organised by Padel Vibe 24/7 Club, the event emerged from the club’s connection to motorsport. Many members are involved in motor racing. The “Blitz” games they’d been running apparently weren’t exhausting enough.
Riabko told Kauno Diena:
Say what you want about padel, but you can’t beat spending time with good company staying active. I signed up immediately. I even sponsored a prize.
Our 2020 photo of him expertly pulling pints at an event in Kupiškis suggests he knows how to celebrate properly, which might explain his enthusiasm for a 12-hour glass box marathon.
The man that changes his hairstyle more often than Sydney Sweeney has sponsored a prize for the tournament, though what a powerboat racer offers as a padel prize remains delightfully mysterious. An old DAC hull seems impractical for court dimensions.
Basketball Royalty on Standby
Tournament organiser Sonata Marcinkevičiūtė said registration filled rapidly. Basketball icon Paulius Jankūnas expressed interest but faces a schedule conflict. The 2.05-metre-tall Žalgiris Kaunas legend with 15 Lithuanian championships and 392 EuroLeague games brings certain tactical advantages to any court sport involving a net. If he eventually makes it to a padel court, opponents might want to reconsider their lob strategy.
Whether the motorsport-inspired format becomes a fixture or remains a creative one-off depends on how many participants can still walk after 12 hours.
But given that Riabko routinely spends time in his cramped DAC cockpit while being bounced across water, a glass-enclosed court probably feels like a spa day.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
