End of Season 2022/23 Wrap Up

2023 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships

April 1st 2022 to March 31st 2023

End of Season Wrap Up

Here’s a wrap up of the 2023 competition! Over the season the really bad thing weather-wise was the succession of moist N or NE flows hitting the North Island, all too often severely limiting the opportunities for cross-country paragliding north of Cook Strait. Was it a strong La Nina weather influence or just general ‘climate change’? A good thing weather-wise was being able to get away from the worst of that weather at the other end of the country in Central Otago, and then even better was having favourable paragliding conditions coincide with the largest tasked competition of the summer: the PG Nationals (Jan 9-14).

From the Otago flying, it became the season of most 100 km FAI triangles ever! XC Champs entrants seemed to have gotten smarter and were planning their flights better; to attempt, and then often achieve, a nice even-sided triangle for better scoring. 11 of the top 12 ranked pilots flew 100+ km FAI triangle course flights, thereby earning more than 200 points each. The first flights scoring over 200 points were flown on Oct 4 (four FAI triangles), the last ones flown on Feb 12 (three FAI triangles). Included in the group flying 100+ km FAI triangles were the top women competitors, who were also pretty ‘top’ overall, with four of the top 12 ranked pilots overall being women!

Here are some season highlights:

• NZ’s FAI Triangle record matched (197.5 km, Ben Kellett, Coronet Peak, Otago)
• NZ’s Female Open Distance record broken (172.1 km, Julia Jauss, Coronet Peak, Otago)
• NZ’s 2nd longest Out and Back flight (152.4 km, Kellett, Coronet Peak)
• NZ’s 4th, 5th and 10th best open distances (Leo Chelle, 192.2 km, Kellett, 192.1 km and Jauss, 172.1 km respectively)
• Three FAI Triangles over 150 km, and a further 18 more FAI or Flat Triangles over 100 km
• A new regional Out and Back record for Hawkes Bay (Aaron Chesterman, 78.6 km)
• A second flight of NZ 100 km open distance flown from Barnicoat, Nelson (Nick Taber, 111 km)
• In total, 11 flights of NZ 100 km open distance
• In total, 44 NZ 100 km flights of various course types.

Outside of the XC Champs, Slovakian pilot Juraj Koren had two epic vol biv trips, first from Coronet Peak, Otago to Marlborough (Jan 10 to Jan 19); and then from Barnicoat, Nelson to Lake Pukaki, Canterbury (Jan 21 to Jan 29). It included a first day flight of 206 km open distance from Coronet, and a site best flight of 87 km from Lewis Tops, Canterbury. (However, from track log detail, Koren had no flights over 100 km eligible for a site record or NZ PG XC Champs entry).

2023 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

* 1st place and 2023 NZ XC Champion
Pilot: Ben Kellett
After two years as the runner up, this season Ben made sure of the XC Champs title with three high scoring triangles, including a 10 hour, 197 km flight from Coronet Peak, which matched the distance of the NZ National FAI Triangle record. Ben’s total score of 976 points is the highest yet achieved under the NZ XContest Champs scoring regime. Ben also topped the open distance table, and shared the season’s best open distance with Leo Chelle (192 km, Coronet Peak).

* 1st Runner Up
Pilot: Thomas Rold
100 points ahead of third place, Thomas’s top three flights were all FAI Triangle courses from Coronet Peak, including a course of 100+ miles (167 km) on Jan 9, the 6th best NZ FAI triangle ever!

* 2nd Runner Up
Pilot: Leo Chelle
Leo shared some big flights with Kellett in spring and early summer, including the best FAI triangles of October and November (113 km and 127 km respectively), and the season’s best open distance (192 km), all from Coronet Peak.

* 2023 Women’s XC Champion
Pilot: Kinga Masztalerz
In defending her NZ Women’s Champs title, Kinga’s flights included the 4th best open distance of the competition (137 km, Coronet Peak), and the longest FAI triangle course ever flown in NZ by paraglider by a female (121 km, Jan 21, Coronet Peak)!

* Best Rookie (first-time PG2 competitor)
Pilot: Charlie Ginet
Placed 37th overall, Charlie’s highest scoring flights were of very consistent 47, 48 and 47 km open distances, from three different sites (Coronet Peak, Long Gully and Kidds Bush)! The first being Charlie’s NZ 25 km milestone flight, flown on day one of the PG Nationals.

* North Island Champion
Pilot: Mark Macdonald
Mark’s flights included the season’s best open distance from Paeroa, 58 km, and a 67 km flight from Alans Hill that matched the site record!

* North Island Best Open Distance
Pilot: Matthew Taggart
86.4 km from Kaimai, Waikato.

* South Island Best Open Distance
Pilot: Leo Chelle and Ben Kellett
192 km from Coronet, Otago.

Well done all of the above! (Especially Ben) :) Thank you to all who submitted flights so we could see where there was good flying to be had.

2023 NZ PG XC Champs Overall and North Island Final Standings

Click on these links to go to full report for the 2023 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships, including the table of the top 50 places overall, the North Island table (top 25), and season’s site best flights.

XC Champs Table - Final Standings
North Island Table
Open Distance Table
North Island Open Distance Table
2023 Season Site Best Flights
Season 2023 Milestone Flights