The second round of the 2023 Paragliding World Cup tour takes place in Pegalajar, Spain, from Saturday 6 May.
Although it is the first time the PWCA have held a competition at the Andalusian site Pegalajar has hosted the Spanish Nationals, Pre World Cups and national and regional leagues. It’s also a well-known XC site with 200km flights flown regularly during the season, which lasts from March to November.
The grassy launch is just a few kilometres from the small town of Pegalajar. And although only 80m above the bomb-out field, climbing out is usually straightforward. The flying here then offers a nice combination of flatland and mountain flying with cloudbase often above 3,000m.
Organisers said: “A wide variety of tasks should be possible. Different triangles combining mountain sections with flat terrain sections, pure flat terrain, along the fast exit ridge and back, square tasks taking in the edge of the valley, crossing the valley. Here, the sky is our playground.”
Right in the heart of Spain’s largest olive-growing region, landing can however be a bit tricky. “Andalusia is totally covered in olive trees, but as long as you like olives, this shouldn’t cause any problems.”
Here’s an introduction to the site from YouTube channel Bear in the Air:
And here is some competition action from Téo Bouvard from a Pre-PWC held there a few years back:
After successfully trialling the system at the PWC in Brazil in March, the Pegalajar competition will be using live scoring. Also used in Brazil, the competition leader gets to stand out in a “yellow jersey”, Tour-de-France style.
Here’s how to keep tabs on the competition over the week. The live chat commentary will start on Sunday:
PWCA app live.pwca.org
