BMFA F3F League 2014 Final Results

[Martin_N]

Hi All,

 

2014 BMFA F3F League came to a close in the middle of October after what has definitely been a difficult year for one day contests.  Out of the scheduled 6 one day contests, we had to cancel 5 due to weather conditions.  Whitesheet was moved to Eastbourne due to wind direction, thankfully with pre-scheduled reserve dates, we did manage to complete 2 more one day contests.  Certainly with the current league structure, we have still had a successful league and overall the right result.

 

Multi and one day contests have all been hard fought battles. One of the most pleasing results at the South of England Euro tour, where UK pilots picked up 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in incredibly challenging conditions.

 

GBSRA held its first AGM, hopefully many more to follow and will continue to grow from strength to strength over the coming seasons.  Some of you may have already seen my announcement on facebook, but to those of you that have not, I have started the process to bid for the 2018 F3F World Championships. More information will follow soon, but it will be time for people to step forward to assist with the organization as agreed at the AGM. Importantly I see this as a great opportunity to bring soaring in general much closer together across the country.  Help from all areas will be greatly accepted, especially as I know there is so much experience (F3F, F3B, F3J etc) out there amongst the UK pilots, who enjoy this hobby so much.

 

Back to the league results for 2014.  I’m sure a few of you may have done the math especially if you have been waiting patiently in silence for me to publish them. Going into the last reserve 1 day contest which was held at the Hole  OF Horcum it was still all very close at the top and wide open for any one of 3 pilots to win the league.  The Hole Of Horcum was as always interesting to fly, but overall outcome was the right result.

 

Massive congratulation to Mark Redsell on retaining the league championships and Simon Thornton on second place.  To give you an idea how close it was, there was 1.1% difference between 1^st and 3^rd and approximately 6% between 1^st and 5^th. 

 

The flying standard in the UK is improving year on year, pilots are giving away nothing and in many cases it really is just about whether or not, you get that bit of air to take the extra couple of points off the pilots nearest to you. A real credit to everyone out there taking and moving things on to whole new level.

 

All results can be found here: http://www.gbsra.co.uk/bmfa-league-positions-2014

 

Personal thanks from me to all those that have helped this season, without it we couldn’t run a league and no matter how much or little you do it all helps, please please keep it up in 2015.

 

Last but not least 2015 will be my last year as chairman and running anything F3F in the UK, I will of course be working on the bid for the World championships, but after 5 years involved it is time for fresh ideas to move things on to an even better level.

 

Many thank

 

Martin

[simon_t]

Thanks for the results and final report Martin.  It has certainly been a challenging year, with so many cancelled comps, and the ones that did run all being very testing.  You have worked very hard for all of us pilots, and it is appreciated - I know from my own experience as League coordinator just how much has to go on behind the scenes, and how stressful it is during the comps!  And all that in a year with a World Champs as well.

 

Congratulations to Mark R for his continued top notch flying.  A worthy winner.  I think everyone else have been winners also - as Martin said, the general standard of flying is higher than ever, especially amongst those pilots who have formed small self-help groups. Pete Gunning in 4th place was looking a danger to the top three.  John Phillips in 5th place just looked dangerous .  Good to see Greg well up the results as well - with his new models, he will likely be an even bigger threat next year.

 

And thanks to the clubs & members who have donated their slopes for our comps.

 

The Winter Leagues are now underway, and an excellent chance for those who fancy dipping a toe in the F3F water - there is always help and advice at hand, and it is pretty relaxed.

 

Simon

[oipigface]

I'll 'step up', Martin.

[Skip]

Brilliant John!

[Martin_N]

Good to hear John, hopefully we will have a number of nominations for th AGM next year and you can all battle it out )

[Peter G]

Thanks Martin, sterling work as ever

 

Congratulations to Mark, a worthy winner (again) and to Martin & Simon for great results!

 

Looking forward to next year.

[mark_r]

Thanks Martin. Despite the tough weather calls at times, these calls have much improved the quality of the running events and the league overall.

There has been really good depth to the competition this year too, which helps to raise the standard of flying across the board.

Let's hope for some more good events and slightly kinder weather next year.

[paul garnett]

Going to get that Mark R, just need to do some comps!! Well done mate, always great to fly with..see you soon.