Dougie Swanson-Low won the Dragon Hike-and-Fly Race 2024 held in Wales, UK on 11-12 May.
The eighth edition of this hike-and-fly race saw 58 pilots take part in the two-day, Red Bull X-Alps inspired competition – which received an FAI Cat 2 classification for the first time. Organisers said the competition was “over subscribed” and they had to use every Airtribune tracker in the country.
Dougie, 34, who works as a design engineer for a climbing company, flew a Gin Puma with a Skywalk X-Alps 3 harness. He competed at The Dragon back in 2021 and came second. “It’s an amazing event and it was a great route,” he said.
“I had a little happy moment coming into goal. It’s satisfying when you spend the whole day worried you’re going to be landing somewhere and walking for days. So, it’s a real weight off your shoulders when you know you’ve done it.”
The route was approximately 60km through the Brecon Beacons National Park and took in a triangle of six turnpoints before returning to goal at the start line. Conditions were good and very hot on day one with five pilots completing the route by the afternoon. Flying was closed from 12.30pm on day two due to a thunderstorm warning, but 18 pilots completed the course overall.
Competitors said that route-set hike-and-fly competitions offered a “better experience” over “turnpoint bagging” as you can always see who is winning.
Cross Country’s Lawrie Noctor won Best Newcomer by making goal early on day two in sixth position.
Results
- Dougie Swanson-Low
- Tom Hodgkin
- Greg Chilton
Best Newcomer
- Lawrie Noctor (6th)
