Post-comp thoughts and thanks

Well the World Championships are over after 10 valid tasks, and I'm actually glad to have a break from competition paragliding for a bit. The past 2 weeks have been the hardest flying I've had to do in a long time, with lots of stress, long days, and the need to keep it going day after day. I've been to 2 WC's in the past...Manilla 2007 was actually pretty easy (stress-wise) since we had so many rain days and thus time off, and Brazil 2005 I was always landing fairly early on in the task so my days were short.

Last night we had the closing ceremony and awards. You can find all the official results elsewhere so I won't repeat them here, but here are the Canadian results:

Keith 45th
Jim 78th
Nicole 128th
Brett 129th

Canada was 24th out of 44 nations.

Keith was the most consistent, making goal almost every day on his new Boom6. Jim also flew amazingly, considering this was his first World Championship. He's been in Valle since December so he's got this place figured out now. It was Brett's 1st WC too, and he was flying a comp glider for the first time. Plus he was the Team Leader, which meant he had to get up earlier than the rest of us to attend the meetings, so he's probably the most tired.

Me personally, I did average compared to my previous WC's. I did better than Brazil 2005, but not as well as Manilla 2007. This place is a different animal...it's strong flying conditions already, and when you mix in the elements of a major competition, hot gliders, aggressive pilots, and fatigue, I decided I just didn't want to push as hard as I otherwise could have, so I'm happy.

I want to thank all the Team members for flying so awesomely throughout these past 2 weeks, and Brett in particular for taking on the TL role. And all those who are reading this and sending comments etc, thanks also for your support. The folks in Valle also did a fantastic job...they've been running the Monarca for years now so have all the logistics taken care of, and it really showed for this competition.