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2018 Welsh Open F3F

31 August - 2 September 2018

Mark Abbotts - all the fun of F3F!

Three days of fun at the Bwlch

The Bwlch always holds surprises - the clag can descend and lift in a blink, the wind is affected by sea breezes, and the exact slope is often not known until the day. In short, competing at the Bwlch is a challenge.

That said, this year's Welsh Open was a little gentler than usual, with warm conditions and light breezes. Times were middling at best and there was some thermic influence towards the end. However we did manage to complete 14 rounds and - best of all - we had a great time.

Day One

The first day saw the 39 entrants making the arduous walk to the Crest, to the far end in fact! Just two rounds were flown before the wind shifted, at which point Kevin called a pilots briefing to switch to the Back of the Wrecker where a further two rounds were flown. At day's end, the lead was held by Graeme Mahoney, followed by Kevin Newton and Iñaki Elizondo. Later that evening, the AGM for the GBSRA was held at the Premier Inn.

Day Two

The second day resumed at the Back of the Wrecker. Six more rounds were flown, with Joel West in the lead, followed by Mark Treble and John Phillips. The evening was capped by a splendid Bridgend curry.

Day Three

For the final day, another four rounds were flown in rather changeable air. There was no change in the top three places.

Thoughts

The flying was of a very high order. Joel prevailed with his deceptively simple reversal-and-pull style which he's perfected over the years. Mark's 'Toxic' is an old model recently called out of retirement, but it was flown with great precision around the bases. And John flew with his usual entertaining and aggressive contour-hugging style.

Once again, a big thanks to Kevin for organising (from Scotland!) and for his excellent CD'ing, and to all helpers. It was great to have so many visitors - so big thanks for making the trip and hope to see you again in 2019!

Results

1  J West           12019.34   1000.00
2  M Treble         11921.19    991.83
3  J Phillips       11879.70    988.38
4  P Gunning        11732.65    976.14
5  I Elizondo       11635.25    968.04
6  S Wallace        11572.79    962.84
7  S Bertschi       11492.18    956.14
8  G Mahoney        11453.70    952.93
9  S Bernardy       11426.66    950.68
10 D Woods          11420.45    950.17
11 M Shellim        11414.40    949.66
12 D Rumble         11308.81    940.88
13 P Stubley        11299.27    940.09
14 F Donker Duyvis  11215.97    933.16
15 E Heijne         11108.44    924.21
16 A Burgoyne       11106.78    924.07
17 T Livingstone    11092.78    922.91
18 K Newton         11092.06    922.85
19 M Abbotts        11086.61    922.39
20 D Schneider      11052.16    919.53
21 L Martinez       11046.19    919.03
22 H Frank          10954.44    911.40
23 J Bioletti       10949.33    910.97
24 M Drewett        10889.82    906.02
25 E Maxwell        10821.03    900.30
26 A van Vark       10818.35    900.07
27 L Wood           10787.00    897.47
28 B Larrett        10635.66    884.87
29 J Treble         10629.52    884.36
30 D Watson         10604.34    882.27
31 R Ruijsink       10496.44    873.29
32 N Witchalls      10488.89    872.66
33 K Wood           10329.13    859.37
34 J Edison         10276.42    854.99
35 A Ingles Elias    9819.74    816.99
36 P Burgess         9794.16    814.86
37 S Ravenscroft     9627.50    801.00
38 A Elliott         9476.12    788.40
39 V Eldridge        8623.16    717.44

Fastest time Stuart Wallace (38.17 seconds)
Download Excel spreadsheet (with thanks to Jon Edison)

Images