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Asbury Park resident Ryan Matthews [above and right] has won the SEA Paddle NYC race around Manhattan for the second year in a row.

Mathews, 30, finished the 25 mile course in 4 hours and 35 minutes, which was the fastest overall. Competitors can compete standing up or in the prone position. Matthews — an area lifeguard for 15 years — competed in the prone position.

The race, held Aug. 9, benefits autism charities, the Surfers Environmental Alliance [SEA] and Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. This was the event’s seventh year.

One hundred forty people started the race and 51 finished, Matthews said. This year the most difficult conditions were the winds, which buffeted the course at speeds of 25 miles per hour, he said.

Those conditions, however, favored Matthews, who purposely trains in the wind.

“My goal this year was to train in only windy conditions,” he said. “It’s not always who trains the most, it’s also who the conditions and weather favors. It favored me this time.”

Last year’s race, which Matthews also won, was the first time he had competed in the event.

Matthews has competed in national lifeguard competitions for years, often finishing first in various categories. In July, he competed for the first time in the Molokai-2-Oahu Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii, finishing 18 out of 168 in the 32 mile course.

Matthews lives on Sunset Avenue with his fiance Kelley Conrey.

[Photo at top by Tony Cano showing Matthews at end of race in the Hudson River with the George Washington Bridge in the distance.]

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