Provisional Dates for British Paragliding Championships 2008
Pedro Bernado, a new site, selected for 2008
After much deliberation, the locations and provisional dates for the 2008 British Paragliding Championships have been set by
the Comps Panel.
[ It is highly unlikely that these venues and dates will be changed, however, there are a few more details that have to be confirmed.
Please check back in a few days; we will announce the confirmed dates as soon as possible. ]
All the events will be run as FAI Category 2 competitions; this will qualify pilots for World Ranking points. For Pedro Bernardo both the
first Saturday and the Sunday will be run as practice days / training days to allow PWC pilots time to travel from the Swiss PWC.
The locations and dates are as follows:
- Pedro Bernardo, Spain (Sistema Central, South face of Gredos) June 1 - June 7 (registration May 31)
- Long Mynd, UK June 25 – June 28 (registration June 24)
- St Andre, France Aug 17 – Aug 23 (registration Aug 16)
The panel have addressed the requests from pilots who wanted a new location (Pedro Bernardo); along with two tried and tested locations.
Most UK pilots will be familiar with The Mynd and St Andre, here is some information on the site we have not used before, Pedro Bernado.
Here, in Spanish, is a [WEBSITE] with some details of the site and another with a
[REPORT WITH PICS] from the Spanish
Championships held there in 2003.
For those of you who don't speak Spanish and are prepared to accept a Google translation here are
[THE SITE DETAILS]
and the
[COMPETITION REPORT]. Sounds good, 'taking off from the hillside overlooking the town can be caught stupendous upwelling or heat'!
CAA Mode S Presentation
Turweston Aerodrome, Northamptonshire. Saturday 17th November.
This message was received from Tom Hardie of the BHPA:
The second Consultation on Mode S is timetabled to be launched this December
following the on-going discussions between the CAA and the major
associations that represent GA pilots. As part of the consultation process
the CAA is holding a number of seminars to discuss its proposals and to
receive feedback from the GA community. The first being at the PFA offices
at Turweston Airfield, Northamptonshire. Roger Hopkinson, PFA Chairman, has
kindly extended an invitation to BHPA members to attend.
For full details on what, where, when, and what you need to do for the first
seminar please see:
www.pfa.org.uk/Presentation.asp.
Other than attending, if at all possible, the only thing that I would ask is
that you do not descend on to an emotional level when discussing the issues
with the CAA staff. It is fair to say that lessons have been learnt from
the last consultation and there is no point in shooting a messenger,
particularly when (as the CAA tell us) the actual proposals have yet to be
finalised.
When the actual proposals are published for the next consultation it is our
intention to keep all our members fully briefed again.
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Martin Sandwith Wins XC League
Martin Sandwith has won the 2007 XC League with a score of 737.7.
Neil Roberts was second on 704.0 with Mark Watts 3rd on 673.0.
Notable flights during the year included the UK, straight distance record set by John Silvester at 194K and
the straight distance to a declared goal record set by Neil Roberts at 135.36K.
Read the article covering Martin's win in the Cumbrian local newspaper, The News and Star,
HERE.
Full results can be seen HERE.
The prize-giving will be at the Sport Leisure and Aviation Show
at the NEC, at 2.00pm on Sunday 25th November.
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Results of British Championships Survey 2007 are now available
In order to plan the British Championships next year, the Competitions Panel conducted a survey of the 150
pilots registered in the championships database over the last 3 years.
73 pilots completed the survey by the deadline on Saturday 3rd November.
The results can be seen HERE.
In PDF format HERE.
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X-Alps race on BBC TV
But only in Scotland!
'X-Alps, The World's Most Extreme Race', will be shown on BBC 2 Scotland
on Tuesday October 30th at 7pm. Ulric and Ruth Jessop took part in the X-Alps
this summer and were followed by a BBC film crew. By encouraging as many
people as possible to watch the documentary they hope to persuade the BBC
that there is demand for coverage of a wider range of sports.
The documentary will only be screened in Scotland. If
you live in Britain but not Scotland, ask the BBC why you can't see it in your region. If sufficient
people contact them, they may show it in other regions. If you live in Scotland, let the BBC know you have watched it.
In both cases the phone number is 08700 100 222, or you can go to the BBC website,
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints and select 'send your complaint'.
The program will be available on the internet via the BBC 'I
player' system for 7 days after the 30th, this can be accessed
here.
Ulric and Ruth would like to thank everyone for the tremendous support they have received this summer.
The links to their website and the X-Alps website can be found in the earlier news item below.
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British Team selection system for 2008
The selection of the British Team was discussed at a meeting of the Competitions Panel held in Piedrahita earlier this year.
A consensus was reached that the current WPRS (World Pilot Ranking System) is now a better selection criteria than
using the results from the British Championships.
After the selection of the team for the European Championships in 2008, which will be based on the existing criteria,
team selection will be based entirely on the WPRS,
there will be no discretionary element. A team place based on this selection process is no
guarantee of financial assistance to attend an event
The current WPRS ranking of all British pilots can be seen here.
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Russell Ogden wins 2007 British Championships
St Andre September 2007
Russell Ogden has won the 2007 British championships.
Mads Syndergaard from Denmark, won the final round of the British Open Championships in St Andre closely followed by Jamie Messenger who was only 17 points behind.
See the competition results here.
See the British Championship results here.
See the gallery for the pictures from the event.
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St Andre Competition Report
St Andre from 16th to 27nd September 2007
The third round of the British Championships was held in St Andre from 16th to 27nd September 2007.
This competition was combined with the Dutch and the Belgian Opens.
All competitors were competing individually for the open title; but each nation has a separate championship ranking for their National championship.
Read the daily competition report here.
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Team UK win Blériot Cup 2007
Corrèze,France, September 2 - 7 2007
 The British Teams hold on to the Blériot Cup for a fourth consectutive year. The weather didn't play ball with strong north wind allowing the PG team only 1 task and the HG team 2 tasks.
The event took place in the Limousin region with the main site being Le Suc au May.
Read the report
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Four tasks in round 2 of the British Championships at the Mynd
Long Mynd,UK, August 8 - 11 2007
This competition was probably the most successful round of the British Championships held in Britain, 4 tasks were flown out of 4 days,
including a record distance of 82.6km for an achieved British championship task held in Britain. A total of 10,750 Kilometres were flown and 112 pilots made goal.
Russell Ogden was the overall winner of the round, beating visiting Danish pilot Mads Syndergaard by just 5 points.
See the report
Check out the gallery for the pictures from the event.
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UK cross country records broken
Llanberis, Long Mynd,UK, July 29 and 30 2007
The UK, straight distance and the straight distance to a declared goal records were broken on consecutive days at the end of July.
On Sunday 29th July, John Silvester, flying a Gradient Avax flew for 5 hours 39 minutes from Moel Elio near Llanberis in North Wales to the Severn Bridge near Chepstow
to increase the straight line distance record to 194K.
The next day Neil Roberts flew from the Long Mynd to a declared goal at Bicester, increasing this record to 135.36K. This is the fourth time this record has been broken this year.
Read Neil's account of the two flights here (pdf)
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Ulric, Aidan and the X Alps
X Alps, Europe, August 2007
If you didn't know already, Ulric Jessop and Aidan Toase are entering the X Alps; paragliding's toughest competition. Aiden competed in 2005 shining for his walking endurance rather than his map reading ability.This sort of event is just Ulric's cup of tea.
Ulric and Ruth were seen training during the Piedrahita open whilst Aidan is known to have been training in the Alps.
Ulric and Ruth have a webpage for the event at www.pottyplace.com/xalps where I believe you can donate to help their finances, I'm not sure if Aidan has something similar (but will add something here if I find out).
More at www.redbullxalps.com
Best of luck to them.
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 2007 Championships Piedrahita has finished
Piedrahita, Spain, 24 - 30 June 2007
Nearly 130 pilots competed in the Piedrahita Open 2007. Four tasks were flown, the longest being 154km (with 28 making it to goal).
Unfortunately the wind stopped us flying on the other days.
Lars won the mens and Jolanda the womens, pictured right.
see the report.
Next round of the champs is in August at the Mynd, can't wait.
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Fiona gets world record
Plaine Joux, France, 17 April 2007
Fiona Macaskill has extended her own Female World Record of Speed over a Triangular Course of 25km to 24.12kph. Fiona has now broken
this record 4 times, the first, almost 10 years ago. Flying from Plaine Joux in France, she sped around the course in just over an hour,
reaching over 3250m on the way. Fiona says that it was a strong day and no other paragliders were flying: just after completing
the course she hit an 8 m/s climb!
It is interesting to note that for World Records, the difference between start and finish altitudes must not be more than 2% of the task distance; in this case only 500m.
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UK Cross country record falls again.
Combe Gibbet, 18th April 2007.
The British (Local) Straight Distance to a Declared Goal record, extended to 114.0 km by John Kennedy last month, has been broken again.
Adrian Thomas (Airwave Magic FR3) and Mark Watts (Gradient Avax SR7) flew together from Combe Gibbet to near Lewes, setting a new record of 116.6 km!
This is Mark's 10th (straight line)100km flight in the UK and Adrian's 5th. Adrians report on the day can be read
here. Congratulations to both pilots!
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UK Cross country record falls
Wrekin, 21 Mar 2007. 
Congratulations to John Kennedy (JFK). On 21st March he took off on his Gradient Aspen 2 from the Wrekin at midday and flew to a declared goal at Cirencester to set a new British (Local) Straight Distance to a Declared Goal Record of 114.0km! The previous record of 108.9km was set by Mike Aston, flying from the The Lawley, also to Cirencester in August 2005. The flight also sets a record for the earliest straight line 100km ever flown in the UK; the temperature at cloud base was -7°
"As we prepared for take off I wore no less than 7 layers of clothing including 4 fleeces and a flying suit.. so padded out was I that I could not even fasten the zip on my suit !
The two pairs of gloves and heat pads were not up to the job in hand however. At only about 15 km into the flight I was very very cold.
Upon landing I could not stop shaking from the cold for 30 minutes but would not have missed the flight for anything !"
Recent rule changes give goal flights a multiplier of 1.5 so this flight has earned John 171.0 km in the XC League and the chance of winning the Winter League with just one flight!'
John flew most of the flight with Neil Roberts on his Avax SR7. The photo was taken by Diane Bevan from Bewdley as they flew over !
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Manilla World Championships 2007
Manilla Australia, 24 Feb - 9 Mar 2007. Competition Report
 Bruce Goldsmith is the world champion. well done, good show!
Bruce Goldsmith, Adrian Thomas, Russell Ogden, Steve Ham, Mark Watts, Louise Burnham and Nicky Moss were the British team competing in the Worlds.
The competition had some rain, but is now finished.
See the website at www.manilla2007.com
and the results.
Manilla XC Open 2007
Manilla Australia, 14 Feb - 21 Feb 2007.
Steve Ham was top Brit coming 11th aboard his new Airwave FR3 in the first of the XC Open series. The top
4 out of the 6 tasks flown were scored in this open distance competition. Several Brits competed.
See the results at www.xcopen.org
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Richard Westgate claims world tandem record
De Aar, South Africa, December 2006
Thursday the 7th of December 2006 was a memorable day in De Aar, South Africa as it
saw 3 paragliding world records broken in one
day (pending FAI ratification):
The longest individual open distance in the world: 426km.
The longest declared goal: 368km
The new world distance on a tandem : 356km.
Two British pilots, Richard Westgate and Phil Bibby travelled to South Africa
to set a new tandem record. Their flight saw them achieve a new world open
distance tandem record of 356kms!
I hope they didn't squabble while hitching home.
The Slovenian born Valic brothers travelled to South Africa with the specific goal to achieve a world record. Both brothers made the declared goal of 368km, and had enough time to
continue to fly further, eventually landing within 300 meters of each other. They set
a new world record as well of 426km! The two brothers flew at over 5200 meters above
sea level.
A big congratulations and lets hope that the paperwork goes through.
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British Team: World Championships Manilla
The team selected to represent the UK in the World Championships in Manilla, Australia in February 2007 is: Adrian Thomas, Bruce Goldsmith, Steve Ham, Russell Ogden, Louise Burnham and Nicky Moss. Based on the nations ranking the UK are entitled to enter a team of 4 men + 2 women. This may be increased to 5 men if additional places become available in the December re-allocation. In this event, Mark Watts has been selected as the fifth male team member.
Congratulations and we wish the team the best of luck! Read more about selection here.
More news from the event will be posted as we have it.
Check out the Worlds website here.
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Latest Updates
British Club Challenge
If you are interested in learning the art of competition and XC flying, the British Club Challenge (BCC)
is a club based competition series that may provide the training and encouragement you need.
Many pilots have developed from Club Pilot to hardened XC pilots in a short time. Check out the website,
www.flybcc.co.uk
for the ethos and organisation and see if your club can get a team together.
Sponsors 2007
Welcome once again to all our sponsors for the season ahead. We are once again very lucky and grateful for the continued support of previous and new sponsors, which make our competitions possible:
Teams
British Team: Lighthouse Display International
Bleriot Team: Elemental Development
Championships
Open Class: Airworks & Independence Gliders
Serial Class: Ozone
Sports Class: www.Chaletchardons.com
Best Newcomer:- www.FlyPiedrahita.com
General Championships:- Aerofix, Greendragons, Cross Country, The Sick & the Wrong, Facewest & Gradient.
A selection of prizes up for grabs this year for the overall championships include:
- Various prizes from the well stocked Ozone range of accessories to support the Serial winners.
- Independence, Geko fully enclosed race harness (£650) for the British Champion.
- Guiding holiday with Steve Ham in Piedrahita.
- Accommodation at Chalet Chardons in Tigne.
For more details go to www.bpcup.co.uk
Transponder Petition
I guess if the government introduced a requirement that everyone carry mode S transponders in the UK then paragliding XC and competitions would be extinct. Please sign the petition against this:
petitions.pm.gov.uk/transpondermodeS
British Squad 2007
The British Squad selected for training in 2007 is as follows : Adrian Thomas,
Bruce Goldsmith,
Craig Morgan,
Fiona Macaskill,
Innes Powell,
John Ellison,
Kai Coleman,
Louise Burnham,
Mark Leavesley,
Mark Watts,
Nia Harland,
Nicky Moss,
Steve Ham,
Steve Nash and
Russell Ogden.
Many of the squad are intending to enter the Paragliding World Cup tour, the highest competition circuit in the world.
It is hoped that Bruce Goldsmith and Russell Ogden will be mentoring our top pilots during the World Cup events in preparation for the Europeans in 2008. Read more here.
XC League Winners
The results of the 2006 XC League can be seen here.
British Team Selection
CIVL are currently discussing & altering the team selection system for Category 1 events ( The World Championship & European Championship etc.) As a result of this we are delaying publication of the British Team selection criteria for future events (2008 onwards) until such time as a decision has been made by CIVL.
The next scheduled meeting of CIVL is in February 2007 & we hope to be in a position to finalise our British Team selection criteria during March 2007.
Thank you for your patience while we work to develop the most appropriate format for selecting our future British Teams. Read more here.
Note: the decision has now been made to use a system based entirely on WPRS.
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Last updated
20-Oct-2007
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