New out-and-return hang gliding record set in Kenya
377km flight in a hang glider sets new benchmark
26 January, 2026, by Cross Country | Photos: Jeremy SoperThe British hang glider pilot Jeremy Soper has completed a 377km out-and-return flight in Kenya, setting a new FAI world record if ratified. On 20 January, he flew 273.29km out-and-return in just over seven hours on his Moyes RX 4 Pro. Then two days later he extended this significantly with a 377.08 km out-and-return flight, in 10h 30m. “Your move, PGs,” he wrote on his xcontest page.
A day earlier he wrote on Facebook: “The Rift Valley: where, having descended dissatisfied from the attitudinally limited treetops, our ancestors first walked the earth with their eyes turned skyward, watching the birds and thinking, I’d like to fly a hang glider.
“Started the ball rolling with a 320km out-and-not-quite-return before the day shut down surprisingly early. Greeted upon landing by a primary school of future Olympic track medallists who ran 1km in the time it took me to unclip. Hopefully now some future hangies in their number too.”
The previous FAI out-and-return record was set by US pilot Owen Morse who flew 222.22 miles (355.7km) in the Owens Valley on 20 June 2020 on his Wills Wing T3.
Jeremy has filed three hang gliding world records with the FAI including:
- Free out-and-return distance (363.03km)
- Declared out-and-return distance (359.9km)
- Speed over out-and-return course of 300km (30.98km/h)
Kenya’s Kerio Valley offers fast out-and-return flying in a spectacular natural landscape. The Elgeyo Escarpment forms part of the western wall of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, and overlooks the 80km-long Kerio Valley over 1,000m below. The result is a perfect flying ridge. In fact it is two ridges: an upper ridge with about 200m height difference leading to a shelf before the bigger ridge drops roughly another 1,000m to the valley floor. The best time to fly it is in January.
