More than 50 pilots have taken to the skies over the New Year period for the annual Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships.
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More than half of the pilots competing in the Championships have travelled to Forbes from overseas, with pilots coming from China, the USA, Italy, Indonesia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships are split into two separate classes which are the open class and the sports class.
As of Wednesday, previous title winner Australian Jonny Durand was leading the Open class with an overall score of 2885 points.
He was closely followed by Attila Bertok, from Hungary, on 2640 points and Petr Benes from the Czech Republic on 2621 points.
In the Sports class, Australian Peter Garrone was leading with an overall score of 2010 points.
Rounding out the top three in the Sports class on Wednesday were Abdul Mustopa on 1976 points and Alasdair Bramwell-Davis on 1892 points.
Wednesday, January 2, marked the end of the fourth task and day five of the competition as the task was cut short and stopped due to poor weather.
The third day’s competition was also cancelled due to poor weather.
Event organiser Vicki Cain said they were trying to plan their task on day six of the competition to dodge any bad weather.
However the stopped task and cancelled day of flying has not dampened spirits, with a great finish to the third task according to Ms Cain.
“The third task was an epic day with a 195km triangle and 28 pilots making goal,” she said.
The gliders generally launch from 12:30pm and people are welcome to head out Bedgerabong Road, just beyond Forbes airport, to watch. The Hang Gliding Championship ends on Saturday.