End of Season 2023/24 Wrap Up

2024 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships

April 1st 2023 to March 31st 2024

End of Season Wrap Up

Here’s the confirmed standings and wrap up of the 2024 competition! Being geared up and prepared earlier in the season certainly reaped rewards, with all of the top six placed pilots flying at least one of their best three flights in the period October 22 to November 6. Then the top six completed their scoring on just five subsequent excellent weather days: Nov 26, Dec 27, Jan 7, Jan 15 and Jan 16. Coronet Peak, Central Otago, was again the site of choice this season, especially for big triangles, and even though there were some long gaps between great cross country days, the season has again surpassed the previous for the number of 100 km FAI triangles flown.

One pilot helping a lot with that best season tally of 100 km triangles by contributing seven, was this year's winner of the Champs, visiting French pilot, Charles de Beaufort!

Here are some season highlights:

• NZ’s 6th and 7th best FAI Triangles (Charles de Beaufort, 171.5 km and Johannes Marburger, 170.8 km respectively, Coronet Peak)
• NZ’s 7th equal best open distance (Thomas Rold, 182.7 km, Coronet Peak)
• NZ’s best FAI Triangle by a female pilot (Clemence Cadario, 138.0 km, also a best as an Out-and-Back, 76 km)
• 4 FAI Triangles over 150 km, and a further 23 more FAI or Flat Triangles over 100 km
• First ever flights of NZ 100 km open distance flown from a West Coast region site, achieved on two consecutive days:
• Ben Kellet, Leo Chelle and Bradley Franks flying 153, 153 and 146 km respectively, NE from Mt Fox on Oct 28
• Kellet and Chelle flying 116 km SW from Kellys Hill on Oct 29 (see also: Airborn Magazine Issue 230)
• The second and third ever flights of NZ 150 km open distance from a site outside of Otago (as above, Kellet and Chelle, Mt Fox)
• First flight of NZ 120 km open distance flown from Lindis Pass, Otago (Tim Marshall, 121 km)
• In total, 13 flights NZ 100 km open distance
• In total, 52 NZ 100 km flights of various course types.

2024 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

* 1st Place
Pilot: Charles de Beaufort
60 points ahead of second place, Charles’ two highest scores were the season’s best and 4th best FAI triangles (171 km and 150 km, Coronet Peak). In total, Charles logged 2,005 XC km in 27 flights during his spring and summer stay in Central Otago.

* 1st Runner Up and 2024 NZ XC Champion
Pilot: Ben Kellett
As best-placed NZ resident, Ben has defended his XC Champs title with three high-scoring FAI triangles including the season's third best, 154 km from Coronet Peak on Jan 16.

* 2nd Runner Up
Pilot: Thomas Rold
Thomas’s flights included the season’s best open distance: 182 km from Coronet Peak.

* 2024 Women’s XC Champion
Pilot: Clemence Cadario
This season Clemence secured the Women’s XC Champion title by setting the bar higher and flying the longest and third longest FAI Triangle courses ever flown in NZ by paraglider by a female (138 km on Nov 26 and 116 km on Jan 24, both from Coronet Peak).

* Best Rookie (first-time PG2 competitor)
Pilot: Andy Sarratt
Placed 81st overall, Andy’s best flight of the spring (before heading overseas) was a 69 km free flight course (27 km open distance) from Long Spur, Canterbury.

* North Island Champion
Pilot: Mark Macdonald
Mark’s flights included the season’s best North Island open distance (87 km from Kaimai) and best North Island out and back (84 km from Kaimai).

* North Island Best Open Distance
Pilot: Mark Macdonald
87.2 km from Kaimai, Waikato.

* South Island Best Open Distance
Pilot: Thomas Rold
182 km from Coronet Peak, Otago.

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

2024 NZ PG XC Champs Overall and North Island Final Standings

Click on these links to go to full report for the 2024 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
2024 Season Site Best Flights
Season 2024 Milestone Flights

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

Congratulations to Kyla MacDonald who has won the Macpara book draw for the 21/22 season! Kyla has won her choice of book from the CrossCountry online book store.

Macpara NZ are once again sponsoring the book draw for their seventh season in a row. To be in the draw all you need to do is submit one (valid) local flight on the New Zealand XContest.

Big thanks to Nick Taber and Macpara for keeping the XC spirit alive.

XContest Season Wrap Up 2022

(April 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022)

Another epic season finished with lots of huge flights taking place. Again, the south was cranking with most of the season's big flights. A number of new site records tumbled across both the islands. No surprise that the southern club won the club competition with almost double the points of second place. Big congratulations to Louis who has again won the XC Championship for the 4^th season in a row.

Lots of great XC competitions also taking place this season and a big shout out to all the event organizers around the country in such difficult times with gatherings.

Here's a few highlights:

• A ripper of a flight from Chris Connolly and Kinga!
  (Connolly, 174km, Coronet Peak), (Kinga, 142km, Speed peak)
• Another big out and back from Louis, (Tapper, 193km, Long Gully)
• High scoring flight in the North Island from Shaun Gilbert, (Gilbert, 112km, Te Mata Peak)
• Over Forty NZ 100km+ flights

2022 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

* 1st place and 2022 NZ XC Champion: Louis Tapper

* 1st Runner Up: Ben Kellet

* 2nd Runner Up: Glen Stevens

* 2022 Women's XC Champion: Kinga Masztalerz

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Check out all the results and see how you did here

Hang Gliding Added to XContest

An Hang Gliding XC competition has been officially added to the New Zealand National XC Championship. You will notice at the left of the XContest New Zealand XC Champs landing page a list of new Hang Gliding Categories. All New Zealand Hang Glider pilots are encouraged to submit their flights and join in the competition.

The PG and HG XC Championships are individual competitions and are scored separately. Lets get in behind this effort to share flights, engage in some friendly competition and to hone our flying skills.

Simply head to XContest and Register for the New Zealand competition and start submitting your flights. Here is a set of instructions to help you on your way - Instructions

Championship Results

Season Wrap Up

(April 1st 2020 to March 31st 2021)

Another great season finished with lots of huge flights taking place. The south was cranking with most of the season's big flights coming out of Coronet Peak heading north. No surprise that the southern club won the club competition with almost double the points of second place. Big congratulations to Louis who has again won the XC Championship for the 3^rd season in a row. Can this man be beaten?

Lots of great XC competitions also taking place this season and a big shout out to all the event organizers around the country!

Here's a few highlights:

• These ripper flights from Ben and Aaron from Coronet Peak to Mt Cook Village,
  (Kellett, 172km, Coronet Peak), (Ford, 169km, Coronet Peak)
• Another big FAI triangle from Louis, (Tapper, 172km, Coronet Peak)
• Highest scoring flight in the North Island from Matt, (Taggart, 99km, Kaimai)
• This awesome open distance site record flight from Mark, (Macdonald, 97km, Kaimai)
• Fourteen NZ 100km+ flights

2021 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

* 1st place and 2021 NZ XC Champion: Louis Tapper

* 1st Runner Up: Ben Kellett

* 2nd Runner Up: Thomas Rold

* 2021 Women's XC Champion: Clémence Cadario

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Check out all the results and see how you did here

WXC Registration

The New Zealand XContest league has been linked up with the FAI/CIVL WXC.

"The philosophy of the WXC is to connect current and new online contests into a network of contests. Pilots use their favorite contest to claim flights. Without any additional step the flight is also claimed to the CIVL WXC contest, along with flights from pilots all over the world."

Pilots with a vaild CIVL ID on their XContest profile will automatically have their flights sent to the WXC, no other work required.

CIVL IDs (If you have one) can be found here. Make sure to update it on your XContest profile!

http://wxc.fai.org