First Round of the SWSA F3F Winter League - Results

Its Winter League time again!

The first round of the SWSA Winter league has always been susceptible to difficult weather conditions. Managing to get a few hours out on Saturday for a quick practice started to raise my fears as this was suppose to be the better of the two days and that was spent dodging clag on the Wrecker.

So when I got to the slope Sunday morning I was welcomed by blanket of clag I feared the worse. Once on top to check the wind direction it was clear that the wind strength was much higher than Saturday and was also smack on the wrecker.

Now would the clag clear? After presenting Mark Abbotts with his trophy for the Fastest Time for the Welsh Open we wondered over to the Wrecker and the clag was starting to lift. It was good enough to set a course up, although the clag was still to low to fly but we would be ready if it lifted.

As the course was up, pilots started move to the pits area and rig up ready to fly. All the time this was going on the clag was lifting more and it was starting to look hopeful that we would get a competition in. Joel West was persuaded to put his Freestyler up to check cloud base and see if it was high enough to get to the landing area safely!

Seeing as he had negotiated this challenge we decided to let him get the 2014-15 Winter League underway and Joel flew a 39:89 to win the round. This was closely followed by Simon Thornton who flew a 40:05. The Dark Lord, Mr Greg Dakin had made the journey to South Wales and collected third place in the round with a 42:85.

Greg was now getting the feel of his new model which was a Jiri Baudis cocktail of a Pit Bull and Fosa Lift a sort of Pit Lift or Fosa Bull I suppose, you get the idea! Anyway Greg flew a 35:54 to win the round with Simon second again with a 39:17 and Graeme Mahoney took third with a 40:39.

Simon consistence was rewarded in round three which he won with a 39:65. Martin Newnham was now starting to find his feet as he was having a slow start following an evening in Bridgend with Mark Abbotts and Clayton and took second spot with a 43:05. Greg took third spot with a 43:83 with the Pit Fosa!

Simon was in there again to win round four with a 37:25, closely followed by Joel and Martin with 38:62 and 38:90 respectively.

The fifth round was won with the fastest time of the day by Joel with a 33:42. Mark was starting to recover from the night before and clocked a 39:95 for second spot and Mr Consistent, Simon was third with a 41:33.

The six and what turned out to be the final run as the clag had returned with a bit of rain thrown in was won by Mark Abbots with a 38:14. Gary Harrison had also made the journey with John Phillips and a changed to his Needle for the final round promptly a second place with a 40:68 just beating Greg who flew a 40:97 with his Lift Bull!

With the Clag descending which brought the curtain down on the first winter league of the series all that was left to do was pack up. Thanks to everyone who helped get the course up and down and especially Dave Rumble who helped out in the center and John Treble who volunteered for the worse job of them all, Buzz Supremeo.

So who had taken the honours for the first league event?

It was Simon Thornton who was first with 4824 points. Joel West was second with 4730 points and Greg Dakin was third with 4690.

See you all in a month’s time and the full results are below, all the best

Andrzej

1	Simon Thornton	4824.81
2	Joel West	4730.96
3	Greg Dakin	4690.31
4	Martin Newnham	4524.78
5	Mark Abbotts	4393.67
6	Graeme Mahoney	4351.53
7	Andy Burgoyone	4282.94
8	Tony Livingstone	4261.67
9	John Phillips	4260.37
10	Gary Harrison	4234.75
11	Mark Treble	4214.14
12	Mike Evans	4199.97
13	Stuart Wallace	4080.02
14	Dave Rumble	4067.67
15	Martin Drewett	3986.72
16	John Treble	3858.75
17	Paul Stubley	3736.30
18	Andrzej Tabero	2305.01