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New Zealand Cross Country Championship 2019/20

Welcome to the New Zealand XC Paragliding Championship
  • XContest has recently replaced Leonardo as the platform for the New Zealand Cross Country Paragliding Championship
  • Make sure that you register for the New Zealand competition
  • Scoring parameters and other rules can be found on the Rules page
  • Meanwhile, please support our sponsors, on the right


  • 22.02.2020 North Island records tumble on super Thursday



    Mark MacDonald and Peter Jones both broke the Kaimais open distance record on Thursday. Mark flew on further to now hold the record at 84.1 km.


    Meanwhile, further North, Evan Lamberton dusted the Moirs open distance record with a flight of 88.56 km.

  • 21.09.2019 Jeff opens Moirs for the season



    Famed Auckland pilot, Jeff Ripley, has officially opened Moirs Hill for the season with this 41.37km open distance flight. He gets 1.25 points per km for that, equaling 51.71 points.

    His flight wasn't enough to keep Auckland on top of the Club Competition table, though, as the Southern Club has taken a narrow lead.

  • 08.08.2019 Nelson Travel Brokers continue their support

    Nelson Travel Brokers continue to support the NZ Cross Country Championship this season.

    Here's what Sue Ketel says: "It is such a pleasure to be associated with the New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships, I have been looking after the Paragliding community for many years with their travel insurance requirements. I have various insurers that I deal with and can offer one off and annual policies. Many of you travel often and may not realise that if you are specifying luggage items, for instance extra cover for travelling with your paraglider kit, it is often cheaper to take out an annual multi-trip policy and only pay the specified item amount once, this also applies to pre-existing medical conditions. Don’t forget that I also sell all other facets of travel, competitive flights, accommodation, land based activities and cruises. Depending on the policy taken I am often able to offer a discount for travel insurance when you mention NZ Paragliding Cross-Country Championships. I would like to wish all the competitors good luck for the coming year."

  • 20.07.2019 End of Season 2018/19 Wrap Up

    2019 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships

    April 1st 2018 to March 31st 2019


    End of Season Wrap Up

    Here's the confirmed standings and wrap up of the 2019 competition! Weather-wise, the season was a bit of a mixed bag, and I think some who thought they'd wait until after Christmas before taking their holidays for flying, found out that they had left it a bit too late for getting the best days. Eight out of the ten best scoring flights were flown before Christmas, and of those flights, six were flown on two just days in December!

    One pilot who was all prepared and geared up earlier in the season was this year's XC Champion, Louis Tapper. By December 23 Louis already had the rewards of a trio of long flights that comfortably placed him at the top the table, and he was never overtaken. Well done, Louis!

    Louis says: “Nice to have won finally. The process of progression is still however the most fun part for me, not the trophy or winning... The new wings/online contests are making flights more accessible and visible than ever, however planning and preparation are key for those aspiring to fly big or deep in NZ”.

    Here are some highlights from the season:
    • A 150+km FAI triangle flight, NZ's fourth longest (Tapper, 156km, Treble Cone)
    • A 125+km out-and-back flight, NZ's third longest (Dave Watson, 127km, Mt Alfred)
    • NZ's longest FAI triangle flown outside of Otago (Fraser Monteith, 89km, Cheeseman)
    • Three NZ100km open distance flights
    • Three North Island 75km open distance flights
    • Twelve flights over 100km, when measured with up to three turn points
    • A new regional open distance record for Auckland (Leighton Joll, 77.0km, Dills Hill)
    • A new regional open distance record for Northland (Mike Ferguson, 50.2km, Tiwakawaka)
    • A new regional out-and-back record for Canterbury (Monteith, 64.7km, Cheeseman)
    • The long standing (Nov 2000) open distance record for Roys Peak, Otago bettered (Benjamin Kellet, 91.6km).
    For details of other site records flown during the season, look for asterisks in the right hand column of the Season Site Best Flights tables of the full report.


    2019 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

    *1st place and 2019 NZ XC Champion
    Pilot: Louis Tapper
    After consistently placing in the top four of the Champs in the last five seasons, Louis this year wins the competition with flights that included the longest ‘free flight’ category (3 turn point) flight (168 km); and a superb 156 km FAI triangle flight, 30% further and higher scoring than the next best of the competition!

    * 1st Runner Up
    Pilot: Dave Watson
    Dave's 120 km triangle flight on December 23 was the second highest scoring flight of the season and really puts take off Mt Alfred on the paragliding map (if it wasn't on it already). When measured as an out-and-back, the flight ranks as NZ's third best ever!

    * 2nd Runner Up
    Pilot: Fraser Monteith
    In his second season of the Champs, Fraser really demonstrated how to navigate through the mountains of the Arthurs Pass area with time to get back again - just commit and go deep and direct! And proving that you can fly big triangles away from Central Otago. Fraser's flights broke the Canterbury Regional records for both FAI Triangle and Out-and-Back task types!

    * 2019 Women's XC Champion
    Pilot: Sanae Noguchi
    Sanae's flying included an open distance best of 44 km, and XCs in three South Island regions - Otago, Canterbury and Nelson!

    * Best Rookie
    Pilot: Nicholas Sand
    Nicholas's flights included an open distance best of 82 km, which was mountainous back country flying from Pakituhi Spur, Otago, all the way through to the edge of the MBZ (mandatory broadcast zone) of Mt Cook!

    * North Island Champion
    Pilot: Mark MacDonald
    One of Mark's flights was the season's best open distance from Kamai (69 km). (Also notable was a great late season triangle attempt, from Kaimai again, that was so close to doubling the distance of the North Island FAI triangle record!)

    * North Island Best Open Distance
    Pilot: Barry Sayer
    82.8 km from Te Mata Peak, Hawkes Bay.

    * South Island Best Open Distance
    Pilot: Rory Devine
    124.4 km from Brewster Hut, Otago.
    (Report written by Tim Percival, administrator of the NZ PG flights database, on behalf of the NZHGPA Paragliding Competition Committee).Well done all of the above! (Especially Louis) :) Thank you to all who submitted flights so we could see where there was good flying to be had.


    2019 NZ PG XC Champs Final Standings (top 50 placings)

    Click on these links to go to full report for the 2019 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships, including the table of the top 50 placings. (Note that the XContest-published XC Championship table is, at the time of writing, still incorrectly including some ineligible coastal soaring flights).
    XC Champs Table - Final Standings
    North Island Table
    2019 Season Site Best Flights
    Seasons 2018 and 2019 Milestone Flights


  • 18.07.2019 Auckland leads into the winter


    The XC Season has dribbled into winter with Auckland in the lead of the Club Competition.

    Evan Lamberton is leading the scoring for Auckland, but Barry Sayer has the best flight so far, scoring 55 points for his 44km open distance flight from Te Mata Peak.

Welcome to the New Zealand Cross Country Championship!

 
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