Summary written by Ruth Jessop
The forecast for today was for another beautiful sunny day with slightly more active clouds than yesterday and strong gusts up to 25km/h.
An 84 km ‘adventure task’ was set with three legs, two of which took the pilots into the beautiful Retezat National park with its stunning rugged peaks.
Today was a day when we continuously thought the task would be cancelled. The pilots flew west down the ridge to the first turn point where they encountered a 25km/h head wind, it was very turbulent and lots of pilots landed at this point.
They then came back to Clopotiva to the second turn point. There was a venturi wind from the north, but once the pilots got round this the thermals got better.
In the mountains there was lots of shade, fortunately the leaders arrived after the rain had stopped. In the mountains there were big lift cycles so they were able to get high and out of danger.
For the final glide, Joachim took a more direct line and crossed End of Speed first.
Prudent and appropriate advice for the day was given on launch about being safe whilst racing in the mountains. Remember to continuously assess when to stop racing and switch to XC flying mode, flying as you would do at home where the objective is simply to make it home safely.
Certainly, a very challenging task where an incredible 67 pilots made goal, 67 more than we thought at the beginning of the race.
The first 67 pilots made goal, and thus all flew the same distance, and gained the same distance points. Today’s winner is therefore the one with a combination of the best speed/time points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed point winners – the fastest pilots round the course
02:49:32: Joachim OBERHAUSER flying at an average speed of 28.9 km/h
02:49:51: François CORMIER
02:50:09: Justin PUTHOD
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
154.0: Yann LIVINEC
152.5: Joachim OBERHAUSER
151.1: Takuo IWASAKI
Top 3 in the task
1: Joachim OBERHAUSER
2: François CORMIER
3: Rafael BARROS
Best newcomer: Justin PUTHOD (4)
Top 3 ladies in the task
1: Constance METTETAL
2: Anca TABARA
3: Keiko HIRAKI
Top 3 teams in the task
1: Ozone
2: Jack 8 Jones
3: Alas del Hombre
All the results are available here: https://live.pwca.org/scores
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