Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series - 2009
20-21st June 09 Aberdeen Round
Why not watch this video for an excellent little summary ....
- 04/05 July - Arran - I am afraid this has now been postponed.
- 11/12 July - Highland
- 25/26 July - Borders
- 08/09 August - Tinto
- 05/06 September - Ochils
- Good Forecast - SMPC
Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series - 2008
The LLSC and last round of the year was held on 20th + 21st September 2008
Tasks were set on both days by Dave and on the Sunday there were 2 tasks - the first a race to goal to Symington. Shortly after window opened task stopped as wind strengthening. The 2nd task was an open distance from Dungavel.
Photos and videos by RV from the Sunday and then other photos from Hillend on the Monday which are not part of the Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series
Ochils round
We had a good turnout at Menstrie on Sunday for the Scottish Nationals, there must have been over 20 folk up the hill all desperate for a bit of air time. Unfortunately the weather did not play ball with a very light south easterly breeze, although it was a big improvement over Saturdays weather, a task was set of open distance in an easterly direction. This resulted in most people spread between Menstrie and the park in Alva, so no records were broken, but it was good to see so many people on the hill.
Prior to this round the scoring was pretty tight this year with only six kilometres separating the leaders.The Top five so far :-
- Matt Church 3500
- Alistair Brown 3200
- Tim Jackson 2900
- Gordon Smyth 2550
- Cliff Smith 1950
If you need any further information on this round or the series generally then please call George
Borders round held the weekend of the 30 & 31 August.
Originally planned to be hosted by the Highland Club it wasn`t because of weather considerations. Therefore it was relocated to the Borders and more specifically Caccra. Why not read more details about this event by following this link
Points on Saturday - Tony Spirling 600, Gordon Smyth 400, Al Broon 200, Cliff Smith 100.
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| RV`s photos from Saturday |
Rik McHarg`s photos from the Aberdeen round of the Scottish Nationals
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| Rik McHarg Aberdeen -July 08 |
Some things from the 2007 series
Ochils Round 2007 Sunday 7th October 2007
The Finale of the Scottish Nationals Series was an introduction to the Scottish version of the X Alps - plans for which are developing and you can find more details elsewhere on this website.
The front which had threatened to knacker the day went much further S than forecast and gave us an amazing post (kata) frontal day . We headed N from Ochils and decided on Tarmachan, although the Tay valley had been blanketed in thick cloud till 11 I'm not sure who suggested it, but a Fly / Walk task was set - Open XC and as many flights as you like. It was amazing how differently the hills seemed knowing that a glide didn't always have to take all the way down ! We had pilots off in all directions, and some amazing walk ups and relaunches.
Saturday - 6th October
An open distance, any direction (West!!) task was set from within a 200m radius of the briefing on Myereton Hill, near Menstrie.
Professional photographer - Mike Day was present and has some fantastic photos like this 
The Borders round of the 2007 Scottish Nationals took place the weekend 8th and 9th September
A task was set from Bodesbeck Law and some pictures taken by Brian Steele on Saturday 8th here.
Tinto and LLSC barbeque held on the 25th and 26th August
Dave Thomsons quick review of Sunday 26th August - LLSC round
Fresh faces all round, all debris cleared, and a punctual first breifing at 10 am - We must be getting serious about this competition flying lark !
Heather and all her pals seemed to have done their sums wrong, cos although it ws a lovely sky, it was still howling on Sunday morning. Without much idea why the met wind was so much stronger than forecast, it was difficult to predict how the day would develop.
Many thanks to all the folk who contributed to getting the information we needed - Especially Sean for scouting hills all morning, and Stephen who spent a miserable day in the rain yesterday up the hill at Broughton repairing the Talker (While we sunbathed at the sea side ! )
After a quick chat on some of the finer points of climbing out on strong days, we went to Abington where it had calmed to good soaring conditions. With some signs that the moderate spreadout was clearing, we set an Open Distance task to allow pilots a free choice of tactic. Some well organised gaggles quickly formed and began to climbout but ther thermals were not strong enough to get us up before we were too far back.
After the serious competition nature of the British Open a few weeks back, it was great fun to be thermalling with friends - although they seemed to be unusually fond of landing behind the top of hill ! Rik was in "go for it " mode and set off on a glide for Arbory hill - arriving only marginally too low to soar up.
It was only strong after the thermal cycles had gone through, but after about an hour, the met wind increased to a point where leaving the hill would have been uncomfortable, so we stopped the task.
I hope Rik completed his task sheet, cos he wins the Tinto BBQ distance trophy and takes a leading position in the Scottish Nationals to Arran for next weekend.
We continued in comp mode with a hard fought ground handling comp, with Dave Lyal, pipping Kenny Cooper by just 5 seconds, round the hazard packed course.
I guess the unusually low number of folk at the weekend is indicative of the desperate state our sport is in at present - but was still one of the most enjoyable Tinto BBQs I can remember - (not that I remember much about any ! )
12/13th May - SMPC
The first attempt at running the SMPC round of the Scotttish Nationals on 12/13th May was basically rained and blown out.
However three pilots did have a quick flight from the top of the hill behind the Loch Earnhead water sports centre and Zenos landing was superb - and the whole unedited video is here. Even though there wasnt a task set the speedboats and waterskiing activities were...
The Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series in 2006
The 2006 season was completed and the final results are summarised below
| Position | Pilot (57) | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Cooper | 3575 |
| 2 | David Thomson | 2575 |
| 3 | Johan Kritzinger | 1745 |
| 4 | Gordon Smyth | 1680 |
| 5 | Mike Jardine | 1300 |
| 6 | Matt Church | 1275 |
| 7 | Tina Wood | 975 |
| 8 | Cliff Smith | 925 |
| 9 | Zeno Kerr | 900 |
| 10 | Brian Steele | 875 |
Ochils
14th and 15th October - 1st day at Myreton Hill near Menstrie, 2nd day - near Ben Lawers - Winner Kenny Cooper
For some more details and some photos from this round follow this Link
SMPC
24th and 25th September - Ben Lawers - Winner Kenny Cooper - 550 points
For some more details from this round follow this Link
Borders
Cacra - 2 perfect days - 9th and 10th Sept - winner Johan Kritzinger - 1695 points and for a little more detail.
LLSC / Tinto
Held at Broughton - winner David Thomson - 450 points
Aberdeen
Winner Richard Grundy - 550 points
Arran
Winner Kenny Cooper - 1375 points
Whilst this is not directly related to the event Neil`s blog entry for flying on Arran is good.