October 5, 2018
The Queensland State Gliding Championships at Kingaroy Airport wound up on Friday night with a celebration dinner and presentation of awards.
Weather disrupted the seven-day event slightly, with gliders taking to the air only on four days but no one was complaining at the awards dinner.
Kingaroy Soaring Club, which hosted the championships, almost had a clean sweep, missing out on only one of the eight prizes presented.
Contest Director Greg Schmidt said there were two classes contested: Standard / 15 metre (18 competitors) and Open / 18 metre (10 competitors).
For the first time at a Queensland State Championships, a “grand prix” start was used.
Each glider was lifted and then took up a position behind an imaginary starting line in the sky.
All aircraft then began navigating the race course at the same time.
Kingaroy Soaring Club president Greg Kolb paid tribute to Race Director Greg Schmidt for suggesting the grand prix start and then working hard over the past 12 months to turn the idea into a reality.
The pilots were given task sheets they had to follow, making turns at set points in the landscape before racing to get back home first.
Tasks for the Open / 18m category ranged in length from 300-350km, while the Standard / 15m category navigated 250-300km courses.
The gliders traversed courses around the Darling Downs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before heading north to the Biggenden area on Thursday.
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Results
Novice – Kim Houghton (Kingaroy SC)
Highest Placed Female (the Val Wilkins Trophy) – Lisa Trotter (Kingaroy SC)
Standard / 15m
1. Adam Woolley (Kingaroy SC)
2. Peter Trotter (Kingaroy SC)
3. Lisa Trotter (Kingaroy SC)
Open / 18m
1. “Lumpy” Paterson (Tocumwal)
2. Greg Kolb (Kingaroy Soaring Club president)
3. Andrew Georgeson (Kingaroy SC)
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