Competition News

Text by Soner Yorgun
SRS BGD Edition Task 2

The day finally offered good conditions with strong thermals, and a 77km task was set, broken into two sections: an east-west zig-zag over Piedrahita, followed by a long downwind race toward Ávila, the two separated by a mountain pass.

In both sections, pilots could either stick to the Peña Negra ridge or take the flats, the more direct line. Both worked, though the ridge thermals were notably strong on the Piedrahita side, so I stayed on the ridge for this first part. I had a good start, but early on I ripped the pod of my GR5 harness — the airflow around the fairing was disturbed, leaving me with a fairing flapping violently behind me and an oddly shaped pod in front. I had to grab the fairing and tuck it under my chest zipper, flying the remaining 80% of the race like that.

The mountain pass after the zig-zag was expected to be tricky, but strong regional thermals let us climb to around 2600m, making for an easy transition above it. Cumulus over the mountains then drew many pilots, myself included, onto that line toward goal, while the chasing gaggle took the direct line over the flats — which worked too, closing the gap with the leading group. In the end, a whole flock of pilots came in on final glide together, and I got passed by several from behind, which I blame on the ripped harness. Still, it was a fun, classic Piedrahita task with panoramic views over the vast Spanish flatlands.

Ranking:
29. Soner Yorgun
38. Raphael Oerer
43. Artem Malyshev
59. Marco Vergari
74. Jan Rindlisbacher
91. Michael Heberlein
92. Sven Albert