The 2009 Red Bull X-Alps has finished, and what a race it’s been! Chrigel Maurer (SUI3) hammered the rest of the field by flying at ‘another level’! Even the double Red Bull X-Alps champion Alex Hofer (SUI1) was left straggling 200 km behind him. Hofer was the only other athlete to make goal. Both flew [...]

At 11:24 this morning, after a relaxed evening and a beer or two, Chrigel Maurer landed on the beach at Monaco, official winner of the 2009 Red Bull X-Alps. Behind him athletes continue to battle it out, hoping to make it to the Monagasc beach before the 48 hour cut-off point at which the event [...]

Last  week the Vågå pg open made its first apperance in the comp sky in what is planned to be a yearly event.

Yesterday was a defining day in the 2009 Red Bull X-Alps. Chrigel Maurer pulled easily away from the reigning champion Alex Hofer, who had a terrible day trying to get from the Matterhorn to Mt Blanc. Maurer is now a flight away from goal, leaving Hofer still at the Mt Blanc turnpoint.

The Blorenge party is back this August bank holiday, 29 – 31 August, at Pen-y-Worlod farm on the banks of the Usk river, Abergavenny. A free minibus service will shuttle pilots to the day’s flyable launch, and the trade stands, bar, camping and catering facilities will be arranged in the meadow to leave enough room [...]

Yesterday, day seven of the race, brought some glimmer of the 2009 Red Bull X-Alps being not just a one man race, and perhaps at least becoming a two man battle, when Maurer’s southerly route and Hofer’s more northern one came head to head at the Matterhorn turnpoint. Maurer was trapped on the south face [...]

Six days of hardcore walking and flying sees Maurer scorching the pack. Read all about it here… If you live anywhere near a computer you’ve probably been riveted into paragliding’s most outrageous event: the Red Bull X-Alps. This year, its fourth race, the competition has already been extreme, as has the flying. This is the [...]

The paragliding season in the high mountains of Pakistan is “going off” according to resident US pilot Brad Sander.

Showing their form days before the start of the Red Bull X-Alps on July 19 in Salzburg, Thomas de Dorlodot (BE), Ramon Morrilas (ES) and Pál Takáts (HU) finished first, second and third respectively at the El Yelmo Festival Mountain Race in Andalucia, Spain on 4 July.

Still in the planning stages, but scheduled for August 2010, the XAndes is a Red Bull X-Alps -esque hike and fly endurance competition, combining paragliding and mountaineering in a race across the Peruvian Andes. Athletes will depart Huaraz on 24 August and climb and paraglide a previously chartered course of 500+ kilometres from Huaraz to [...]

The Crossalps is a German hike and fly competition. Nicknamed the ‘Poor Man’s X-Alps’, the objective is to achieve the longest out-and-return from the Bavarian town of Grainbach, by foot or paraglider, in a weekend, starting 8am on the Saturday and finishing at 5pm on the Sunday. Pilots have to have flown a minimum of [...]

Today (17 July) is the final day for reduced-price entry to the Monte Cucco Trophy, Italy. Hang glider pilots registering by today will benefit from the 80 Euro entry fee, which will go up to 100 from then on. 4000 Euros prize money is up for grabs in this event, which runs from 1 – [...]

Fancy flying on the Indonesian island iof Java? Organisers are inviting participants to the Wonogiri XC Challenge, an FAI cat. 2 even, to be held in Solo, central Java, from 4 – 9 August 2009, which is the country’s national championship as well as an open event. The competition headquarters is at the five star [...]

Four tasks were flown in the joint British and Dutch Open events, held in Piedrahita from 28 June – 4 July. Brazilian Olympio Faissol (UP Edge) won the Open event, ahead of GB’s Chris Harland (Mac Magus 6) and Lee Garcia-Davies of Spain (Sol Tracer). Australian Antje Daehler (Niviuk Peak) was the first woman. In [...]

Since his first flights Indian pilot Adie Kumar had a dream: to fly across the Indian Himalaya…

Italy’s Alex Ploner is the new hang gliding World Champion after a spectacular upset on the last task saw comp favourite Manfred Ruhmer deck it after 17km on a 154 km course. Ploner went on to fly the course and make goal, ensuring he won the Championship. He said the hour after he heard Manfred [...]

The 4th Vaga Adventure carnival is to take place from 23 – 27 September 2009 in Kerala, Southern India. Organised by ASSTA, the Adventure Sports and Sustainable Tourism Academy, the format is a laid-back cross country competition, where you get three days in which to improve upon your time around a cross country course, flying [...]

Paolo Ventafridda, a glider pilot, is developing a special paraglider-specific version of XCSoar, and he needs pilots’ feedback and suggestions. The software is free and compatible with PocketPC 2002, PocketPC 2003 (or newer), PNA and PC. The website is: http://www.bware.it/xcsoar/ All suggestions and feedback may be given at http://paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=25763

Jonny Durand won the day yesterday at the World Hang Gliding Championships in France. He raced through the pack to fly 113 km in 2hrs 5 mins. The flight puts him in third place on the leader board. With only one more task to go Manfred Ruhmer (AUT) is still leading the comp, with Italy’s [...]

Controversy hit the Hang Gliding World Championships on Tuesday as storms cut short the 130 km task, which was stopped when most of the competitors were just over half way round the course. With rain reported on the course line organisers had no choice to stop the task. But as pilots glided back to the [...]