Simon Steiner and Riley Ferré win Gin Edition SRS

Switzerland’s Simon Steiner won the first of two Italian SRS legs held in Poggio Bustone in southern Italy. Top woman was the USA’s Riley Ferré, who is currently sixth in the series overall rankings. The week was marked by changeable weather but three tasks were flown.

The Gin edition of the SRS was held 17-24 May 2025 and saw a strong turnout from the title manufacturer, including Gin Gliders owner Gin Seok Song himself competing on his new GTO 3 two-line EN-C racer.

As well as the new GTO 3 there was the usual smattering of Ozone Photons plus representations from BGD – with the Cure 3 straight from the factory – Davinci, Skywalk, Nova and Mac Para.

The pilot level is also rising with Pál Takáts, Magdalena Janaway, Ronnie Geijsen and Christiaan Durrant coming straight from the Paragliding World Cup in Algodonales to compete.

The flying site sits above the old village of Poggio Bustone overlooking the flatlands of a wide valley encircled by hills and mountains. It makes for a great flying arena with a mix of flying that makes pilots change gear as they encounter different conditions along the tasks.

With rain expected, Day 1 saw a short task of 35km called using the main ridge and the lower hills at the northern end of the valley. The race almost came to an abrupt end at turnpoint one as the task came under multi-coloured cannon fire. The fireworks created a fantastic thermal, albeit a somewhat sulphurous one which helped pilots struggling in the shade.

However, the patches of sun slowly vanished and pilots landed around the course with only three pilots making goal: Marco Sommerfeld, Simon Steiner, and Jean-louis Zanzi. Riley Ferré (USA) was the top woman for the day.

Task 2 saw stronger conditions, especially on the first two legs of the 65km task which were racy with great views of the high mountains. Heading to the third turnpoint things shaded over, and pilots had to change gear – those who didn’t soon found themselves on a retrieve bus.

Gin Seok Song was leading the way and was on course to take the overall lead of his own competition when he was pushed too hard and landed between the end-of-speed and the goal line. Norway’s Vidar Ulvedal flew over his head to take the win, with Korey Curtis (USA) in second and Simon Steiner taking third to move into the overall lead. Riley Ferré continued her winning streak with another woman’s top spot.

A few days were then lost to the weather with pilots exploring Rome and the local waterfalls and enjoying pasta and gelato.

The final day saw a return to launch in the hope of a task, but pilots were met by a strong backwind. Local organiser Jo Mastromichele was confident it would come on and a 50km task was set zig zagging around the local area.

The task started slowly with pilots struggling to get in position before the start, but once underway it was fast and furious racing in booming thermals. The valley is shared with a sailplane club and at one stage a thermalling sailplane was pounced upon by the leaders.

From there the thermals just got stronger and the bases higher, leaving pilots the choice of going fast and low or cruising in orbit. The final glide started with two turnpoints still to go although some pilots were a bit over optimistic and landed short.

It was a great day for Team BGD with Tyr Goldsmith (ISL) leading everyone home on his BGD Cure 3 ahead of his team mate Joao Pinhero. The two Cures were split by Vidar Ulvedal on his Photon. Magdalena Janaway was the top woman.

The SRS stays in Italy for the next edition – moving to Gemona in the north for the Skywalk edition running from 2-9 July. You can follow all the action at srs.live.

Overall

1 Simon Steiner (SUI, Ozone Photon/Gin Genie Race 5)

2 Marco Sommerfeld (SUI, Gin GTO 3/Gin Genie Race 5)

3 Ulric Jessop (GBR, Ozone Photon/Ozone Submarine)

Women

1 Riley Ferré (USA, Ozone Photon/Ozone Forza 2)

2 Scarlett Tian (CHN, Ozone Photon/Gin Genie Race 5)

3 Magdalena Janaway (GBR, Gin GTO 3/Gin Genie Race 5)

Standard Class

1 Szilard Dombi (HUN, Ozone Swift 6/Woody Valley X-Rated 7)

2 Marcus King (FRA, Mac Para Eden 8/Woody Valley GTO Light 2)

3 Tamara Hegedus (HUN, Nova Phantom/Gin Genie Lite 3)

Midweight Class

1 Jean-louis Zanzi (FRA, Ozone Photon/Gin Genie Lite 3)

2 Riley Ferré (USA, Ozone Photon/Ozone Forza)

3 Scarlett Tian (CHN, Ozone Photon/Gin Genie Race 5)


Lightweight Class

1 Flavio Salce (ITA, Ozone Photon/Niviuk Arrow)

2 Magdalena Janaway (GBR, Gin GTO 3/Gin Genie Race 5)
3 Yeana Lee (KOR, Ozone Photon/Ozone Forza 2)


Teams

1 Gin Paragliders

2 Ozone Paragliders

3 Swiss League

SRS Gin Edition Poggio Bustone competition results

SRS Series results