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UK Nationals soon, Friday 19th June - Tuesday 23rd June

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2009 Paramotor Nationals

The PPG Competitions Committee is pleased to announce that the 2009
British National Paramotor Championships will be held at Kerswell
Green in Worcestershire from Saturday 20 June - Tuesday 23 June, with
registration on Friday 19 June. The event will start with the
mandatory briefing at 21.00 on the Friday evening and the tasks will
conclude at 12 noon on Tuesday 23 June with results and presentations
following.

Our hosts are ExtremeKiteShop of Worcester who use this extensive
turf farm site for kite-buggy and board training. In full view of the
Malvern Hills, the site is situated close to the River Severn with
Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire all within easy reach.

The site itself comprises more than 400 acres of flat, open, short-
cut grass fields, giving us plenty of space for precision tasks. See
photos in "Nats '09" folder under Photos.

As usual, we'd ask you not to fly the area any more than you normally
would in advance of the event, mainly because we don't want to upset
the locals before we get there, but also in the interest
of "fairness". All pilots are able to familiarise themselves with the
area by exploring it with Google Earth. The farm buildings which mark
the north-westerly boundary of the site are at SO852471.

Following the theme of previous years, the competition will be Safe,
Fun, Simple & Fair. We aim to maintain a similar format to the 2008
event with families and visitors very welcome.

Hopefully the word should be getting out that this is NOT an elitist
event and new pilots are made very welcome (subject to minimum
hours). As we did last year, we'll buddy newcomers to the
Championships with pilots who've attended a few comps before to help
make it a really enjoyable experience.

We're also actively inviting overseas pilots and are expecting a good
turnout from France and Ireland and Lithuania.

Bearing in mind that this is the primary selection event for the
British Team, I'll be running some tasks that will include an added
layer of complexity for those who want it, but still allow
those who don't, to fully take part. We did this successfully last
year and pilots agreed that there was no undue pressure and everyone
still felt suitably challenged.

There'll be camping onsite with food facilities, toilets and showers.
For those thinking of bringing the family, we're within an hour's
drive of Warwick Castle, the heart of the Cotswolds, two of the
newest and best shopping centres in the country (the Bullring in
Birmingham and Cabot Circus in Bristol) and Hereford Cathedral with
the Mappa Mundi to name but a few. The Three Counties show takes
place the same weekend about ten miles drive away.

Less than five months away, this is a great event to look forward to.
Whether you're competing, meeting up with old friends or coming to
find out more about our great sport, we look forward to seeing you
there and will post details of how to register and of the Competition
website as soon as it's up and running.

Andy Phillips
Chairman
UK PPG Competitions Committee
and
Competition Director

Results

Sorry for the delay. The results are in and below. The british Team finished in 4th place. A bit disappointing but not to be ashamed of considering the quality of the competition and a few engine problems throughout for some of the team. Results for the other classes can be found at http://www.epc2008.org/index.php5?dz=08&j=ang

Official classification in PF1 category (Foot launched Single Pilot)

1.) 012 ESP Juan Jose GARCIA DE ABAJO 350/ 949/ 825 /829/ 870/ 432 - 4255
2.) 003 ESP Ramon MORILLAS 425 /759/ 877/ 758/ 1000 /434 - 4253
3.) 001 FRA Mathieu ROUANET 250/ 953/ 895 /813 /582 /369 - 3862
4.) 048 POL Grzegorz KRZYZANOWSKI 250 /977/ 491/ 1000/ 623/ 477 - 3818
5.) 037 CZE Frantisek SALAVA 300/ 907 /702/ 585/ 900 /415 - 3809
6.) 020 FRA Nicolas SALINAS 250/ 963/ 614/ 773 /646 /107 - 3353
7.) 047 POL Adam CEGIELKA 250/ 792/ 614/ 577/ 641 /418 - 3292
8.) 040 CZE Tomas BERKA 250 /742/ 772 /338/ 658/ 404 - 3164
9.) 005 GBR Mike CHILVERS 300 /992/ 632/ 422/ 651/ 130 - 3127
10.) 016 FRA David MUZELLEC 300 /957 /456/ 574/ 394/ 433 - 3114
11.) 004 GBR Michel CARNET 250/ 0/ 1000 /301 /997/ 478 - 3026
12.) 042 POL Emilia PLAK 500/ 633/ 667 /371/ 569/ 271 - 3011
13.) 044 POL Kamil MANKOWSKI 250/ 892/ 456/ 329/ 641/395 - 2963
14.) 017 FRA Pascal VALLEE 500 /0/ 684 /684/ 590/ 500 - 2958
15.) 015 ESP Francisco Jose GUERRA MOYANO 425/ 638/ 491/ 604/ 653/ 93 - 2904
16.) 038 CZE Jiri KOUDELA 250/ 734 /684 /226/ 653/ 356 - 2903
17.) 011 ESP Cesar MALDONADO 300/ 949/ 379 /525/ 327/ 417 - 2897
18.) 018 FRA Alexandre MATEOS 500/ 0/ 667 /684/ 659/ 333 - 2843
19.) 014 ESP Jose Maria SOLA ARMADANS 250 /976 /509 /440 /535 /96 - 2806
20.) 050 ITA Pasquale BIANDO 250/ 740/ 719/ 0/ 679 /311 - 2699
21.) 023 DEU Jorg-Thorsten MAAB 250 /359 /561/ 581/ 480 /429 - 2660
22.) 046 POL Maciej ZACZENIUK 250 /811/ 456/ 699/ 0/ 443 - 2659
23.) 039 CZE Zdenek REZNICEK 250/ 1000/ 509 /345 /114 /377 - 2595
24.) 041 CZE Marek SCHULZ 250 /924 /579 /294/ 441 /97 - 2585
25.) 049 ITA Raffaele BENETTI 300/ 767/ 365/ 422 /300/ 409 - 2563
26.) 013 ESP Javi GUERRA MOYANO 500/ 728/ 754/ 257/ 0/ 312 - 2551
27.) 055 BEL Stefaan MICHILS 425/ 753/ 579 /0/ 547/ 198 - 2502
28.) 006 GBR Neil SLINGER 300/ 495/ 807/ 473 /0/ 391 - 2466
29.) 054 ITA PASSERI Sandro 250 /937/ 509/ 344/ 0 /424 - 2464
30.) 007 GBR Laura TURNER 250/ 857/ 435 /237/ 446/ 120 2345
31.) 002 CZE Pavel BREZINA 170 /900/ 575 /273/ 0 /384 2302
32.) 56 BEL Vincent van POTTELSBERGHE 425 /753/ 351/ 269/ 234 /260 - 2292
33.) 045 POL Krzysztof KACZYNSKI 500/0 /526 /315/ 535 /394 - 2270
34.) 021 FRA Aurelien GANAYE 250/ 0 /667/ 302/ 686 /354 - 2259
35.) 043 POL Piotr TRZYNSKI 250 /699/ 561 /375/ 0 /365 - 2250
36.) 010 GBR Henry GLASSE 250 /803 /754 /0/0 /402 - 2209
37.) 030 EST Paap KOLAR 425 /572 /337/ 310/ 428/ 118 - 2190
38.) 052 ITA Stefano BOLOGNINI 300/ 453 /316/ 225/ 438/ 332 - 2064
39.) 051 ITA Angela CIUFFOLETTI 250/ 549/365 /303/ 334 /206 - 2007
40.) 036 LTU Mindaugas STARAS 250/ 528/ 267/ 277 /320/ 277 - 1919
41.) 019 FRA Coralie MATEOS 425 /165/ 561 /0/ 659/ 105 - 1915
42.) 024 BRA Marcelo Alexandre MENIN 250/ 0/ 649/ 312/ 458 /216 - 1885
43.) 029 PRT Daniel LOPES 250 /525/ 298/ 209/ 225/ 286 - 1793
44.) 031 LTU Raimondas PUNDINAS 300 /488 /281/ 269 /192 /241 - 1771
45.) 057 RUS Fedor POSTNOV 250/ 317/ 211/ 250/ 550 /188 - 1766
46.) 034 LTU Arturas SMARLOVSKIS 190/ 630/ 421/ 249/ 0 /247 - 1737
47.) 053 ITA Oscar MISTRI 250 /611/ 246 /193/ 339/ 66 - 1705
48.) 008 GBR Tom KEENE 250 /0/ 684 /211 /440/ 102 - 1687
49.) 028 PRT Antonio SIMOES 170 /604/ 323/ 0 /352 /219 - 1668
50.) 035 LTU Andrius SMARLOVSKIS 250/ 436/ 386/ 0 /240/ 324 - 1636
51.) 033 LTU Tomas RAIBIKIS 250/ 576/ 70 /139/ 340 /216 - 1591
52.) 058 RUS Alexander MURSKY 425/ 0/ 28 /499 /300/ 308 - 1560
53.) 026 BRA Acir Rocha KENIG 250 /0 /544/ 190 /274 /261 - 1519
54.) 025 BRA Flavio LYSZKOWSKI PINHEIRO 425/ 0 /544/ 183/ 0 /266 - 1418
55.) 022 DEU Armin APPEL 170/ 0 /404 /236/ 0 /368 - 1178
56.) 027 BRA Valtemir PEREIRA 0 /0/ 561 /109 /159/ 206 - 1035
57.) 032 LTU Aivaras AKRAMAS 250 /0 /439/250 /0/ 89 - 1028
58.) 009 GBR Andrew McMAHON 170/0/474/ 0/ 0/ 366 - 1010

Official team classification in PF1 category (Footlaunched Single Pilot)

1.) ESP 1350/ 2874/ 2456/ 2191/ 2523/ 1283 - 12677
2.) FRA 1425/ 2873/ 2246 /2270 /2004 /1302 - 12120
3.) POL 1250 /2680/ 1842 /2276/ 1905/ 1338 - 11291
4.) GBR 850/ 2652/ 2561/ 1196/ 2094/ 1271 - 10624
5.) CZE 800/ 2831/ 2158 /1268/ 2211/ 1203 - 10471
6.) ITA 850/ 2444 /1593/ 1069/ 1456/ 1165 - 8577
7.) LTU 800 /1734 /1246/ 796/ 900/ 848 - 6324
8.) BRA 925/ 0/ 1754/ 685 /891/ 743 - 4998
9.) BEL 850 /1506 /930 /269/ 781 /458 - 4794
10.) DEU 420 /359/ 965/ 817/ 480/ 797 - 3838
11.) PRT 420 /1129/ 621/ 209/ 577/ 505 - 3461
12.) RUS 675/ 317/ 239/ 749/ 850/ 496 - 3326
13.) EST 425 /572/ 337/ 310/ 428 /118 - 2190

wind never died down and storms came in so the organisors declared the competition over.

Final scores bieng computed but we believe we will finish 4th as a team which is dissapinting but we did have our problems and this has cost us dearly in the medal stakes.

The scores should be final in the morning depending on any protests so will try to post these...

Off out for a nice meal...

Wednesday was windy in the morning, but the wind dropped in the afternoon and we did the Eco distance task, but around the airfield as laps. This is where you are glad you callibrated your comp fuel bottle! There were 3 landing decks and once you passed one, you could not go back. I was lucky to run out of fuel and just made it to a deck. There were many pilots in the air in close proximity, and total awareness was needed to avoid collission. The laps were just under 2km each.

Thursday
Another early start for the planned clover leaf, but low mist at the field delayed us for a while. Eventually we all did the task, and i did another personal best at just under 57 seconds.

The next task was another economy task to collect as many turnpoints as possible and stay airbourne for as long as possible with 3kg of fuel. I managed 6 turnpoints and just over 90 mins.

Final task of the day was a slow/fast. The course was slightly cross wind and i had trouble going straight on the slow section and missed the 2 middle sticks. The fast was ok though and I managed full speed throughout.

It is now Friday morning. The planned nav task has been canclled due to wind again. If it drops later we may do short take off over fence task, but the forecast is not good.

Catch up with other team members blogs on the Brirish Team site linked earlier in this blog or clicking by the picture of me on the "2007 what happened in China" to the left of the page.

As predicted the wind made Tuesday a "rest" day. The organisers laid on a coach with a choice of activities including clay pidgeon shooting, sailing, or a historical tour. Most of the team went shooting and had a really good time arriving back in time for lunch.

There seems to be a problem with my track on the last task (task 2). One of the turnpoints I was sure I had got, has turned out to be not scored. I have spent quite a few hours investigating this, and even driven out to the turnpoint to check GPS co-ordinates "on the ground" which do seem to differ from the official ones enough to query my score further. Hopefully, I will be awarded these points and if so, It will certainly be excellent for the team after the unfortunate start for some of us, and would also take me into second or third place overall at this stage of proceedings.

Despite a few minor teething problems, it is really great to be here in Lomza (prounounced "Womzha" or something to that effect). The competition area is nice and flat, green, and huge. We all have our very own marquee, food on-site, security guards looking after the gear. We also have our own Polish/English translator "Meg" who really helps when the language gets in the way. Meg kindly invited us to her local bar last night, where we enjoyed games of pool, darts, and maybe a half or three of local "Lomza"beer. This all adds to the general excitement of the competition and I am really glad to be here.

Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when the wind will hopefully drop and we can recommence the tasks. With Thursday looking very flyable, we could well be very busy and get lots of tasks in to validate the comp.

I will try to update tomorrow after the Eco Distance task if we are not too late back, however you might also want to check the official "real time blog" as well on the www.britishteam.info site, being updated by Barney, who has been a great Team Leaders Assistant so far, and i'm sure is learning a lot on his first FAI comp which will really help in future when he is competing himself as a PF1 Pilot.