Woo Hoo!

And the Aussies make it two in a row.

It was really an extraordinary race today. We had the usual difficulties at the start. With a stable airmass and little breeze it was hard to get up to height but I had a reasonable start, perhaps 100 metres lower than allowable, but certainly with the main pack. Then a mass of plastic decended on the first ridge. We flew over a bunch of hang gliders waiting to launch. Who knows what they thought when 20 gliders came roaring past their launch point. 

The timing of the start was pretty good today. The thermals were picking up nicely and I had a few good climbs with the leading gaggle down the first two legs. Someone would occasionally drop off and the gaggle was whittled down to four half way down the third leg. Laurent Aboulin went off on a tangent, then there were three. Mike Young and I snuck off while the other guy was looking the other way, and it was just the two of us. From there it was nip and tuck for the next 95km, all done without any circling

We needed a climb on the second to last leg to get us home, and at the end of a ridge right where it should be we pulled into 6kts. Mike was probably 100 feet above me and looking good. So when he left on final glide I thought rather than meekly following home for second place I would do something different. I stayed for one more turn, then set off in pursuit. I could see he was not having a particularly good run so I went a bit off his track and had much better air. When we came together near the last turn I was about a kilometre behind, but a good 500 feet higher. This was going to be close.


Around the last turn, 10km to go. Speed up to 110kts. Ever so slowly I was getting closer. But so was the finish line. A kilometre from the line it was still a guess. 500 metres from the line I was down to minimum altitude, and so was Mike. But my speed was still probably 15kts faster than his. From there it was just physics. I slid past him about 150 metres from the finish line, probably going across less than 10 metres in front.

Heart stopping stuff, but enormously satisfying.

Team Parker all look pretty happy today.

Graham.