The 2008 European Paragliding Championships are being held in Niš in Serbia from 30th June to 12 July 2008

Daily reports are avalable in the competitions section

The Great Britain paragliding team that will compete for the Bleriot Cup has been announced:

• Richard Bungay
• Jim Mallinson (Vice Captain)
• Steve Nash (Captain)
• Tom Payne (Reserve)
• Nigel Prior
• Julian Robinson
• Martin Sandwith
•  
• Chris 'Calvo' Burns (Team Manager)

The team are being sponsored by Elemental Development, but as part of the British Squad they will receive support from Lighthouse Display and Blue Eye sunglasses.

The event combines paragliding and hang gliding teams from Great Britain who will compete against the combined French team. This years competition is based at Sedburgh in the Yorkshire Dales and will start on Monday 14th July.

Daily reports will be avalable in the competitions section

The top three places in the British Open In Pedro Bernardo all went to Brits. Craig Morgan won the competition with Mark Hayman and Mark Watts in second and third places. Kirsty Cameron took the prize for 1st Woman.

For all the results and task information see the Pedro Bernardo competition report

The British paragliding team for the 2008 Europeans in Serbia, starting on June 30th, will be Russell Ogden, Jamie Messenger, Craig Morgan, Mark Watts, Mark Hayman and Fiona Macaskill. Steve Etherington will be the reserve pilot.

We are pleased to say that, as last year, the St Andre Open will be a combined British and Dutch Open. All competitors will compete individually for the open title; but each nation will have a separate championship ranking for their national championship.

The Overall Dutch National results will be available on this site, but they will be presented in more detail on the Dutch Nationals site HERE

The method of selection of the British Team for the European Championships 2008 was discussed at a meeting of the Competitions Panel held in Piedrahita during the Championships in 2007.

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 and will be used going forward. However, it would be unfair to use this selection criteria for the 2008 European Championships as pilots had not been aware of the this and had therefore not had the oportunity to maximise their WPRS scores, so the old criteria will be used.

The old selection criteria is:-

1. WPRS ranking, we use this because the team size at FAI Cat 1 events (europeans and worlds) depends on the nations ranking. By biasing team selection towards WPRS ranking we aim to get a higher place for the Nation, and therefore a larger team in the Worlds. Effectively pilots are rewarded for gaining places for the team. We automatically allocate team places to the 3 highest ranked UK pilots in the WPRS if they are in the top 50 of the WPRS. Lower places in WPRS are used as the first step in the selection process.
2. British Open Championships results: The totalled points from the 3 open competitions run throughout the year. We automatically allocate a place to the Male and Female national champions(assuming we have the required 4 scoring tasks over the year to validate the championship).
3. British Pilot Ranking Sysytem (BPRS): The WPRS ranking, Open Championships ranking, and UK XC league ranking are all combined in an effort to rank all British pilots and provide a framework in which pilots can chart their progress and be personally motivated to climb the ranking.

The rest of the team is selected based on the following factors:

1. WPRS Ranking
2. British Open Championship place
3. BPRS ranking
4. Recent head to head results in same air
5. Performance in similar terrain and conditions
6. Squad performance. Has the candidate demonstrated strong personnel performance and strong team performance?
These characteristics are clearly important in order to ensure a strong, motivated team performance in Euros or Worlds.

As the BPRS no longer exists in it's own right but tracks the WPRS, this element will no longer be considered, but will have already been covered by the WPRS rankings. The WPRS ranking that will be used will be the 1st March ranking as this is the one available 3 months prior to the event.

It should also be noted that selection for the team is no guarantee of financial assistance to attend the event.

We have reluctantly increased the entry fees this year; by £5 for each of the European rounds and £10 for the British leg. The two most important factors behind these increases have been the provision of retrieves for the British round at the Long Mynd and the fall in the pound against the euro.

In practice, the £10 increase could easily be justified by the saving of a single train journey.

Over 50% of the total competition expenses will be spent in euros in France and Spain, so the exchange rate is very important. However, only pilots living in the UK will be affected by the increase, at the current exchange rate the entry fees are actually less than last year for those living in the euro area!

As in previous years there are big savings to be made by registering and paying early, if you pay for all three competitions before 20th April you will save £90 over the full, individual price for each round.

As many of the pilots who competed last year will know, a number of key members of the team that previously organised and ran the British Paragliding Championships have retired (after 10 years service in some cases!). In addition to this, the Comps Panel has tried to consider the wishes of the pilots (from the pilot survey) that indicated the desire for three rounds; one in the UK and two in Europe. Then trying to squeeze the Brit dates in between the PWCs, Europeans, XC Opens etc. has been quite a difficult process. After hundreds of Comp Panel e-mails and several conference calls, the following decisions were reached:

To try something new by going to Pedro Bernardo in Spain (about 40kms South East of Piedrahita, on the Southern side of the Gredos mountains). We are going there in late May / early June based on local advice of when it's good for the area.

To go to the Long Mynd in late June, arguably the best site in the UK for competition flying; this year with the added attraction of organised retrieves. This will take place back-to-back with the inaugural Triple XXX free flight festival and the British Paragliding Cup.

Finally, to go to a tried and tested European destination that would be relatively 'easy' to organise. The decision to go to St Andre in the Maritime Alps was the result of a democratic vote by the Comps Panel, based on its undeniable pedigree as one of Europe's premier competition venues.

Since the dates were announced, there have been a couple of e-mails to the Comps Panel and some discussion about the decision to go there during the third week of August. It seems there is a perception that it might be too feisty, especially since the British Hang Gliding Champs gave such an 'interesting' write up recently in Skywings following their visit in late August 2007. The information gathered from the local paragliding school Aerogliss, ex-pats who live close by (Bruce Goldsmith & Russ Ogden - current UK PG Champion) and seasoned pilots who have flown comps there at the same time of year is that this should be better than when we were there last September (and that was pretty good!). To quote Russ Ogden; "St Andre is normally very good in August, in fact it can be EPIC. There is no good reason for pilots to be scared or intimidated, it comes down to sensible task setting and a switched on safety committee who are not scared to cancel tasks on the grounds of pilot safety."

Having completed over 20 weeks of top-level competitions at StAndre, current World Champion Bruce Goldsmith has this to say about it: "StAndre is probably the best place in the world for paragliding competitions. Most places have one main ridge, and you run up and down that. St Andre has epic flying in every direction from take-off." Another advantage of StAndre is that it is well-protected from the prevailing wind, so when there is a howling northerly Mistral in Laragne it is often calm or even Southerly in StAndre. Of course, when conditions are like that the task committee has to set tasks in the most protected areas around the valley in front of take-off - which is what happened every day last year. Last year, with Mistral in the Rhone valley, and Laragne blown-out, the task setting committee was forced to only use the safe local area, West of take-off, and we missed out on the more epic conditions to be had once you venture into the beautiful mountains to the North, South or East of StAndre. The main reason for setting the dates earlier is in the hope of flying StAndre in good conditions, which should be a bit less inverted - so the thermals should be a bit better formed, less bumpy and softer edged. With decent weather we ought to also get a bit higher base - giving us the chance to spend more time at altitude, enjoying the view.

So hopefully the Comps Panel have chosen the best venues with the resources and local organisation available and look forward to seeing you all in yet another fantastic series of competition tasks.

After much deliberation, the locations and dates for the 2008 British Paragliding Championships have been set by the Comps Panel.

These dates and venues have now been confirmed.

• 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 Bernardo.

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'!

Steve Ham has provided information on transport and accommodation HERE

The Triple X Free flight Festival, organised by Mark Leavesley, will be held from 20th to the 22nd June 2008, at Walcot Hall, near Lydbury North in South Shropshire. Lydbury North is between Bishop's Castle and Craven Arms.

See this link for all the details.

Mark has prepared a promotional video for the event.

• 2008 European Championships News
• The Bleriot Cup Team Announced
• Four scoring tasks in round 1 of the British Championships in Pedro Bernardo
• British Europeans Team 2008
• St Andre is joint British / Dutch Open again
• British team selection for European Championships 2008
• Explanation of the increased entry fees in 2008
• Background to choice of venues for the 2008 British Paragliding Championships
• Confirmed Dates for British Paragliding Championships 2008
• Triple-X Free Flight Festival

• 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.

Last updated 20-Oct-2007