BMFA 2013 F3F Nationals

Sun, 24 degrees, a view across the Welsh Valleys, just a few more ingredients, wind 10m\s increasing through the day to around 15m\s coming from the ENE direction placing us on Britain’s premier slope ‘THE WRECKER’ along with plenty of good air (thermals;-) )  and finally 32 pilots to compete in the BMFA F3F Nationals 2013 Championships. It all made for a really fantastic weekend in South Wales.

Meet on day one was 8:15am to get registration and pilot numbers out of the way. Simon Thornton and Andrzej worked on getting the course out, setup and 10:15 we was able to get the first of 8 rounds on the way and the start of a total of a 123 sub forties including one sub thirty.

As the early rounds started it was clear that a mid to low sub forty was going to be required if you wanted to stay in touch with the early leaders. The round takers for the day were as follows:

Round 1
1st Martin Newnham 35.54
2nd Jonathan Wells 38.14
3rd Mike Shellim 38.47

Round 2
1st Joel West 29.75
2nd Scott Ravenscroft 33.02
3rd Greg Dakin 34.58

Round 3
1st Martin Newnham 31.87
2nd Mark Abbotts 32.60
3rd Joel West 32.73

Round 4
1st Martin Newnham 31.86
2nd Joel West 32.71
3rd Mark Redsell 34.11

Round 5
1st Joel West 33.76
2nd Mark Redsell 34.79
3rd Paul Garnett 35.62

Round 6
1st John Phillips 32.87
2nd Greg Dakin 34.12
3rd Paul Upton 34.24

Round 7
1st Joel West 32.65
2nd Mark Redsell 32.91
3rd Mark Abbotts 32.97

Round 8
1st Mike Evans 31.92
2nd Paul Upton 34.98
3rd Rich Bago 35.29

Each round requires a 300 metre walk to the landing area, by the end of the day everyone was suitable exercised and ready to get back to the various hotels to sooth the sunburn and get ready for the curry.

Mark Abbotts had taken care of the food arrangements at a different curry house for a change, those of you that stayed away missed some great food, Mark also excelled in laying on street entertainment, and you had to be there to understand.

Day 2 we meet at 8:30am again Simon and Andrzej got the course organised whilst I updated the pilot flying list.  The wind again put us on the Wrecker and the normally most trusted sites for the area suggested it would stay there all day, this unfortunately wasn’t the case and by the time it swung round it was too late to change location and re-setup on the Crest.

We did manage a further 3 rounds:

Round 9
1st Paul Upton 37.47
2nd Jonathan Wells 37.52
3rd Mark Abbotts 38.63

Round 10
1st Paul Upton 33.46
2nd Joel West 35.43
3rd Mike Shellim 36.41

Round 11
1st Mike Evans 38.42
2nd Martin Newnham
3rd Rich Bago 38.62

Even with the early finish it made for a great weekend, the standard of flying by every pilot was excellent and I am sure there are some new PB’s to be updated to the list which is growing with every contest we have in UK as is the numbers to each event.

Special thanks have to go Andrzej who CD’d the whole weekend, he kept it flowing and without him we wouldn’t have completed the rounds we did. As a pilot that takes dedication for so many others to be able to enjoy their flying, whilst he choose not to.

Simon Thornton made sure the course was up and ready to go at the start of each day and disassembled it at the end of each day. John Phillips our buzzer supreme kept the base going over both days, which isn't easy trying to make sure a pilot is back in time ready to fly in each round. Thanks to all of you and to all the other pilots that take the time to get involved rather than letting the normal individuals take the load.

You have already seen the results from the weekend; Joel West flew stunningly, not one mistake all weekend and is without and doubt a deserved British Champion for our sport. He also took fastest time of the competition posting a 29.75 in the second round.

1 Joel West 9565.03 1000.00 Freestyler 4

2 Martin Newnham 9258.30 967.93 Freestyler 4

3 Mark Redsell 9082.52 949.55 Freestyler 4

4 Mark Abbotts 8965.73 937.34 Cladera

5 Paul Upton 8948.36 935.52 RaceMX

6 Mike Evans 8828.10 922.95 Freestyler 4

7 Greg Dakin 8814.82 921.56 Needle124

8 Rich Bago 8686.53 908.15 Avalon\Needle124

9 John Phillips 8648.37 904.16 AirOne

10 Jonathan Wells 8567.77 895.73 Needle124

11 Tom Foreman 8540.41 892.87 Stinger

12 Mike Shellim 8509.74 889.67 New Sting

13 Frank Hulton 8470.78 885.5 New Sting

14 Mark Treble 8329.90 870.87 Freestyler 3\ Needle124

15 Paul Garnet 8292.64 866.97 Needle124\Crossfire

16 Keith Wood 8287.31 866.41 Freestyler3

17 Simon Thornton 8190.99 856.34 Needle124

18 Scott Ravenscroft 8090.49 845.84 Vampire

19 Andy Burgoyne 8047.21 841.31 Radical

20 Ronnie Lampe 8025.52 839.04 Needle124\Strager

21 Graeme Mahoney 8023.17 838.80 Cyril

22 Jon Edison 7770.78 812.41 Needle124

23 Tony Livingston 7625.39 797.21 Freestyler3\Needle124

24 Mick Walsh 7574.89 791.93 Needle124

25 Martin Drewett 7557.62 790.13 Pitbull

26 Ian Web 7036.83 735.68 Vikos\Needle100

27 Tony Robertson 6984.54 730.21 Freestyler4

28 John Treble 6976.09 729.33 Extreme

29 Pete Burgess 6899.84 721.36 Extreme

30 John Bennett 6118.42 639.66 Willow

31 Ron Boughton 4613.79 482.36

32 Ian Falconer 1947.98 203.65 Willow

Thank you everyone for making it such an enjoyable weekend, I look forward to seeing you on the slope again soon. I have plenty of pictures and I know Mike Shellim also took plenty, I will post what I have soon.

Best regards

Martin