24 nations sign up for Hang Gliding Pre-Worlds
Laragne is going to be a popular venue for hang glider pilots this summer! Registration for the 2008 Chabre Hang Gliding Pre-Worlds is now complete, with 120 pilots signed up from 24 countries. An amazing 200+ pilots registered for this competition and it may well be the highest scoring comp of 2008!
Pilots are coming from as far away as Australia, Argentina, Mexico, the USA and Canada. Europe has a strong presence, and all the leading Hang Gliding nations will be represented, including Austria, Germany, Italy, France and the current world championship team, the UK. World champion Attila Bertok of Hungary will be here, no doubt eager to get to know the area and prepare for the defence of his title in 2009.
Our pioneering priority team registration process, proved to be even more popular than we anticipated, as 25 nations signed up, fortunately, not all of them registered the maximum of five pilots! But still there were less than 30 places left to fill from the 100 pilots registering in the first hour of open registration on December 20th. The waiting list still stands at more than 80.
The 2009 Worlds will be the first held in Europe for 8 years, and the interest shown in the 2008 Chabre Pre-worlds, demonstrates that careful consideration will have to be given to team size for next year. Some team leaders expressed disappointment that for 2008, team size was limited to five. For next year, they are going to have to get used to the idea that initial time size is likely to be just four pilots!
The Women’s Worlds championships takes place in Italy in 2008, so teams for the 2009 worlds will be picked from a nation’s best pilots irrespective of sex; unlike the paragliding worlds where places are reserved for women. This does not mean women cannot enter the 2009 World Championships, just that they have to be selected as part of their national team. For the 2008 pre-worlds, three women have registered, from the Netherlands and Russia, and a fourth (French) is close to the top of the waiting list.
Meanwhile, at least three other FAI Cat 2 Hang Gliding competitions are scheduled to take place at Laragne during July and August. National teams are keen to get the maximum air time in the skies around Laragne prior to the 2009 World Championship. Check the calendar for more details.