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The 12^th FAI Women’s World Championships were held in Garray, Spain from 2nd to 14th Jul.  It was a late change of venue to a smaller and fairly constricted site which led to some interesting discussions with the organisers and stewards.  At over 3,000 ft AMSL, it took quite some time for the weather conditions to be right for launch leading to late starts and late finishes; long days!  No medals at this competition for Team GB but we did end up in 4^th overall for the Team Competition and there were a smattering of podium finishes for pilots in Club and Std.

The 6^th FAI Junior European Championships were held in Arnborg, Denmark from 29^th Jul to 14^th Aug in shocking wet and windy weather conditions.  At one stage it looked like it wouldn’t be a valid competition but they did manage somehow, to have 4 days. Watching the Task Setting from afar, there were some interesting tasks for example a racing task of 285km with 8 turn points.  Well done to Toby Freeland who came away with a Silver medal only ONE POINT short of Gold! The team managed a Bronze medal at this event.

The 27th European Championships took place from July 26th to 11th Aug in Leszno, Poland. The weather was ‘intermittent’ but thankfully, the Weather Forecaster (Elmer from Lithuania) called it just right most of the time to make best use of the available conditions.  The 20M boys got off to a flying start (excuse the pun) on day one with a first and second podium place.  They kept this good momentum for the remainder of the competition with Pete Harvey and Chris Dawes finishing with a Silver medal only TWO POINTS away from a Gold with Steve Jones and Gary Coppin winning Bronze.

The final competition of the year was the 37^th FAI World Championship from 3^rd to 15^th Dec in Narromine, Australia.  As you would expect for a competition at this level, it was a hard fought and keenly contested competition in all classes in some fabulous weather conditions.  There were some incredibly varied conditions during the 10 flying days of competition from 43C blue days, to shear wave, fast cumulus days, convergences, showers, storms, smoke and gust fronts. It made for some pretty exciting and rapid flying at the end of which Tom Arscott emerged victorious as Standard Class World Champion.  We were oh so very close (less that ONE POINT) for a Team Bronze.  A separate and more comprehensive report about this competition has already been published.

Overall, 2023 was a very successful season for the British Gliding Team with a total of five medals including a World Champion.  BRING ON 2024.

The Team have now returned from Narromine in NSW Australia (gliders are still on the high seas courtesy of the shenanigans in the Red Sea!) with Tom Arscot having been crowned as Standard Class World Champion.  The story is best told in Tom’s own words:

“After 10 gruelling days of racing against 20 of the best pilots in the world, I am truly humbled to be able to call myself a World Champion. Whilst I’m no stranger to flying at Narromine, having flown my first Junior Worlds here 8 years ago, 2023 was my first time flying Standard Class on the international stage.

We had some incredibly varied weather conditions during the 10 days of competition. From 43 degree blue days, to shear wave, fast cumulus days, convergences, showers, storms, smoke and gust fronts. It made for some pretty exciting flying, although it also made it pretty difficult to maintain the level of consistency required to win a competition at this level.

Of course , this result would not have been possible without the help and support of many people, and I owe them a massive thanks. Firstly, to my teammate Paul, for being an incredible wing man and friend throughout not just the competition, but the whole season. To my awesome crew Clem (of Glide and Seek fame), who not only took on the burden of being my full time carer for the competition, but also masterminded the exceptional ground support we had from GB Base on the radio each day, relaying critical weather and tactical information. To the other British Gliding Team pilots Tim, Johnny, Derren and Phil for their support and advice throughout the competition. To Werner, our TC and all the other crews in the team for bending over backwards to help out whenever needed, and getting me out of a pickle on numerous occasions.

I also owe plenty of thanks to those outside of the team. Firstly, to Claire Scutter and Andy Maddocks of Maddog Composites for the loan of their amazing LS8 Neo ‘CC’ for the competition, and to Jon and Mike Gatfield for the use of their lovely LS8 ‘L9’ for the European season. To Matt Scutter from SkySight for his remote weather support. To all the volunteers who made this year’s WGC possible. To our team sponsor Naviter SeeYou for their support with equipment and licenses. To my fellow competitors for a safe and fair competition, and their friendly rivalry throughout. And finally to the many other friends and family who helped me out along the way.

What next? Well, it’s probably about time I wrapped up my temporary retirement/gap year and found myself a job again. Not before a few weeks of travel around Australia and New Zealand though. Gliding wise, I’m not sure yet, but watch this space…”

Very many congratulations to Tom!

Preparations are well underway and some of the team are already in Garray familiarising themselves with the terrain and conditions as well as flying between the rain showers!  To keep up to date with progress, its all on the popular social media platforms. Check out Instagram by following @britishgliding team or on Facebook by following: Britishglidingteam

The media team (alongside their proper jobs) are here to provide as much content as they can during the competition, please drop them a message via social media messaging platforms with what content you’d like to see and they’ll do their best to accommodate.

Please note: the twitter feed will not be updated during the competition.

The Women’s World Gliding Championship will be taking place at Garray, Spain in July 2023. You will remember the incredible competition that was hosted in 2022 by The Gliding Centre at Husbands Bosworth where British team member Claudia Hill secured a silver medal in the Club Class.

Building on previous successes, we are deploying the very best pilots from the British Women’s Gliding team to compete this at the prestigious Women’s World Championships this year.

We’ll share some of their training journey and also provide some insights into the team members over the coming weeks and months on social media, make sure you follow the British Gliding team on social media for the updates.

Instagram: @britishglidingteam

Facebook: British Gliding Team

In this picture clockwise from top left corner:

Name and Class

Ayala Truelove – 18 metre

Liz Sparrow – 18 metre

Werner Stroud – Team Manager & Team Captain

Carol Marshall – Club

Claudia Hill – Club

Francesca Roberts – Standard

Alison Mulder – Club

The British Gliding Team Club and Standard class teams are currently competing in the 2021 World Gliding Championships at Montluçon-Guéret, France from 8th – 20th August

The team members are Jake Brattle (LS7WL), Tom Arscott (LS7WL) and G Dale (ASW24) in the Club Class, and Jez Hood (LS8) and Howard Jones (Discus 2a) in the Standard Class, supported by Team Captain Annie Laylee and crews. There is no British 15m team flying in the competition.

Follow the team on Facebook to keep up to date with their progress:

https://facebook.com/britishglidingteam