A good morning for flying at Trigon heralded the first of the Winter Season’s flying competitions. The object of the competition was to take off, fly a couple of circuits and land as close as possible to Santa’s Secret Grotto. The winner who finished closest to the Grotto, flown over 2 rounds, would win a stupendous Christmas gift.
There were eight contestants raring to go on-the-day and all were spurred on by the thought of winning the prize. At the end of the first round there was a mixed bag of results.
In first place was Phil landing only 5 feet away from the Grotto followed by….
2. David Bintcliffe at 7 feet.
3. Simon at 27 feet.
4. Roly at 30 feet.
5. Pete at 37 feet.
6. Graham at 55 feet.
7. Steve at 58 feet.
8. Keith at 89 feet.
A break was then taken to settle the nerves and imbibe in some Dutch courage then on to the second round. Phil cemented his First round lead by landing only 8 feet away. David was not overly impressed with Phil’s effort and took off for his second round.
It is difficult to say who was then most overawed with David’s attempt as he actually landed on top of Santa’s Grotto with a completely vertical landing which had no forward momentum at all.
The entire gathering was dumbfounded at this exquisite demonstration of total harmony between man and machine. Needless to say the incentive for the remaining flyers was somewhat redundant but nevertheless completed their turns in various stages of hilarity.
As a fitting prize, David (left) took home a Selection box and the rest of us are looking forward to getting in some revenge at January’s Christmas Sales flying competition.
Don’t forget to get involved as flying acumen is the least attribute needed to win as demonstrated today! (Ouch!)
Date for next event to be published in the New Year.
Competition and words by Keith Johnson. Photos, Nick Fry.