Day 1 of competition (Tue. 5th Aug)
This morning we had an early start heading to the practice site at 8am ready to get in a couple of Set Manoeuvre flights before this morning’s round started. Adam had opted to do the calibration flight so he & I were at the airfield for 8.45am ready to go. The calibration flight went well and was a great way for Adam to warm up before his competition flight.
There were meant to be 11 pilots in total competing in F3N but unfortunately 2 of the Chinese pilots could not get their visas so were unable to attend. This meant we were down to 9 pilots. Duncan was the first of the GBR pilots to fly and he flew a cracking round. A couple of pilots later and it was Dave’s turn to fly. Although he wasn’t totally happy with his flight, he also flew a great round. Adam was the final GBR pilot to fly; he improved on his earlier calibration flight which was a great way to start his first ever WChs. Duncan’s arch rival, Luca Pescante (ITA) was the last pilot to fly. He flew an impressive round of Sets and pipped Duncan into first place. In this first round GBR pilots placed 2nd, 3rd & 4th – a very strong start to the competition.
The pilots then headed straight back to the practice field while I picked up some lunch and more water. It was then back to the airfield by 1.10pm as Duncan was first up in the 2nd round (Freestyle). Once again Duncan had a great round scoring 441. Adam was next up for GBR and although he was initially happy with his flight, he was disappointed with his scores – the judges awarded him 390 points. Dave’s flight saw him scoring 426. Luca had a great flight with lots of original and creative manoeuvres earning him an impressive score of 484. The junior pilot from Austria (Gabriel Grundner) surprised everyone with his Global 3D style flying and he jumped into 2nd place scoring 446.
At the end of the first day of competition, Duncan, Dave and Adam were in 2nd, 3rd & 4th place respectively. With the 2nd round finishing by 2.30pm, everyone headed back to the practise site to prepare for tomorrow’s rounds, Set Manoeuvres (2) & Flight to Music.
Julie Fisher – Team Manager
