Long Mynd Competition Report The second round of the British Championships was held at the Long Mynd from 08 to 11 August 2007 This competition was probably the most successful round of the British Championships held in Britain, 4 tasks were flown out of 4 days, including a record distance of 82.6km for a British championship task held in Britain. A total of 10,750 Kilometres were flown and 112 pilots made goal. Results: Task 1 results (pdf) Task 2 results (pdf) Task 3 results (pdf) Task 4 results (pdf) Long Mynd Open Overall (pdf) Serial Class (DHV 2-3s) Sport class (DHV 1/2s and DHV 2s) Women Overall (pdf) Teams overall (pdf) British Championships Overall after 2 rounds Day 1: Wednesday, Task 1. A 76.7 km Elapsed time task from Sarn to Castle Fields in Abergavenny. Task 1 results North Westerly winds were forecast with a cloudbase of 5000+ feet. LLangollen was reportedly blown out, so Sarn was selected for the take off. A 76.7km task was set to Castle Fields, at the foot of the Blorenge in Abergavenny. A turnpoint was added at New Radnor to keep pilots to the west of the ATZ at Shobdon. Crossing the Radnor Forest proved to be the crux of the flight with many pilots landing in this area. Only 15 pilots made it past this half way point. Of these, 13 pilots got to goal, a record distance for a goal achieved in a British Championship task held in Britain. Mark Watts was first in goal, but Craig Morgan on an Ozone Mantra R07, had the faster time of 02:02:27. Craig describes his flight in this video: Day 2: Thursday, Task 2. A 82.7km race to goal to Stoke Orchard near Cheltenham Task 2 results Light westerly winds were forecast, so the Long Mynd was selected for the take off. Initially a triangle out to the west was considered, but this was changed to a 82.7 km race to goal at Stoke Orchard, a disused airfield north of Cheltenham. Light conditions on launch made it difficult to get away, but with a 5000+ feet cloudbase, 26 pilots finally made goal, breaking the record set on the previous day for the longest achieved British Championship task held in Britain. The winner was visiting Danish pilot Mads Syndergaard, in a time of 02:34:01. Mads gives a description of his flight here: Day 3: Friday, Task 3. A 51km elapsed time task from Long Mynd to Hollies Common 6 miles east of Stafford Task 3 results Light conditions on launch again made leaving the hill difficult, but this was made easier by extending the landing zone for reflies to cover the whole of the Long Mynd ridge. Those pilots who left the hill early enjoyed the best conditions with increasing cloud cover and lower cloudbases during the afternoon. 30 pilots made goal, with Mark Watts and Burkitt Rudd arriving first, but Mark had taken a later start time and won the day in a time of 01:19:41. Burkitt, who came second, describes his flight here: Day 4: Saturday, Task 4. An elapsed time task from Cowlod to Long Mynd landing field Task 4 results Winds of around 20k from the South West made the selection of take off dfficult, but eventually Cowlod was chosen and after a bracing walk up the face of the hill, an elapsed time task back to a goal in the Long Mynd landing field was set. Before this task the contest for the overall winner was very close, with Mads Syndergaard holding a lead of only 6 points over Russell Ogden in second place. The short task and a strong tail wind produced some fast times and another record for a British Championship task held in Britain, 41 pilots in goal. Miha Razinger on a XiX Sens-C had the fastest time of 45:34 for the 37.2km task. Russell beat Mads by only 31 seconds, but this gave him an extra 11 points, just enough to be the overall competition winner. Russell describes his flight here: Report by Paul Russell