‘The best comp I’ve ever done without a doubt’

Competition veteran Mark Hayman reports on the first round of this year’s Sports-class Racing Series in Colombia

The first round of the SRS got off to a great start in Colombia in early January with big skies and excellent racing conditions.

There was predicted to be a big jump in pilot quality this year as the series continues to mature and the racing didn’t disappoint. Several tasks saw 20 pilots in goal within the first two minutes with any one of the top 30 capable of taking a task win.

On task one Seb Ospina, the meet director, had made a bet that the fastest pilots would complete the 71.3km in about 2h15 and the first of us got to goal in 2h05 with an 11km goal glide, the first three crossing the line separated by only a few seconds. Overlapping pulleys wasn’t enough, you had to push the B-risers up as well!

Things carried on in this vein including the ‘Meathead’ Task 3, with many pilots flying convergence lines on full-bar for the last 30km without a single turn and who were still heard muttering in goal that they’d arrived too high and “could have gone faster”. Comp pilots – never happy!

As the week wore on consistency was key and with no FTV it became a delicate game of keeping up with the very fast racing but not bombing out whilst trying, with many of the early strong contenders having one or more bad days, often whilst pushing out low trying to take a task win.

Eventually two pilots made goal every day with youngster Dylan Mansley taking the win by 130 points from last year’s old-hand and series winner Mark Hayman in second and ex-PWC pilot Nuno Gomes taking third place.

The women were ripping it up with Esther Dielissen taking a notable second place overall on task 5, only missing the win by virtue of lead-out points. Summer Barnham confirmed her ever-stronger performances with a superb fifth place in the overall competition with the likes of Mags Janaway, Esther, Daria Krasnova (another PWC refugee), Colombian pilot Lidia Cabrerizo and Monika Takats snapping at her heels.

The female podium ended with Summer in first, Esther second and Lidia in third. The Teams podium, an important category for sponsors, was Ozone-1 in first, Ozone-2 in second and Flymaster a very respectable third.

The comp had a Happy Band of Brothers feel to it. Most pilots stayed in the holiday complex in Santa Helena and this meant that the age-old bonding rituals of eating and drinking together could be enjoyed giving the whole week a lovely, family feeling which translated to the competitive but respectful flying in the sky.

With up to 90 pilots in goal some days and the cold-beer sellers doing a roaring trade amongst all the hugs, backslapping, tall-stories and excited chit-chat, I think I can say that we all had an amazing week together – the best comp I’ve ever done without a doubt.

Roll on the next leg.

Mark Hayman is a British former Paragliding World Cup pilot. He lives in France