2025 Welsh Open F3F
29-31 August 2025
On Mickey's SW
Welsh Open
This was without doubt one of the most memorable Welsh Opens that I've attended, for the extreme weather, great cameraderie, and high standard of flying.
Despite several pilots dropping out due to the poor forecast, 30 competitors descended on the Bwlch on Friday for the start of the competition. They came from the UK, Switzerland, Holland, Spain and Hong Kong. Special mention to our farthest travelled competitor 'CeeEm' (CM Cheng), on his third trip after a gap of several years.
While the rain was torrential at times, we still managed to complete 11 rounds thanks to flawless CD'ing by Kev Newton and tireless work by the helpers Mark Treble, Andy Burgoyne and Les Wood.
The event was again sponsored by MKS and T9Hobbysport to whom big thanks.
The competition
Day 1 (Friday): rounds 1 -5
The day started with a long trek from our cars to Mickey's SW, in glorious sunshine. The good weather didn't last long though, and we ended up having to fly between showers. Winds were around 10 m/s.
By the end of the day Kev Newton had established a lead, followed by John Phillips and Stefan Bertschi.
Day 2 (Saturday): round 6
The second day was a story of waiting for the clag to clear, flying a single round, and getting totally drenched. The flying - what there was of it - was great, though, with a 15 m/s wind pretty square on the Back of the Wrecker.
At day's end Kev was holding on to his lead, with Stefan and John swapping places.
The traditional curry night on Saturday provided an opportunity to chat and catch up, while back in our rooms the heating was turned up to the max in an attempt to dry out our kit for the final day.
Day 3 (Sunday): rounds 7 - 11
More sunshine and showers, this time on Mickey's SW. The wind was 15 m/s and slightly crossed, and there was quite a bit of thermal activity to spice things up. Kev held the lead for the first three rounds but Alvaro, who had been steadily climbing up the rankings after a poor start, snatched the lead in the final two rounds.
And so ended an exciting, action packed, and challenging Welsh Open!
Results after 11 rounds
1 Alvaro Silgado 9224.46 2 Kevin Newton 9175.26 3 Stefan Bertschi 9036.30 4 Peter Gunning 8913.09 5 Fritz Donker Duyvis 8781.80 6 Mark Treble 8745.96 7 John Philips 8735.35 8 Arjen van Vark 8726.33 9 Mike Evans 8679.25 10 Andy Burgoyne 8557.77 11 Stefan Bernardy 8528.99 12 Erik Heijne 8490.61 13 William Fourie 8419.39 14 Mike Shellim 8412.84 15 Phil Taylor 8235.16 16 Mike Bleathman 8142.06 17 Ian Mason 8100.45 18 Les Wood 8051.69 19 Brett Larrett 8045.83 20 Rick Ruijsink 8016.16 21 Peter Lemans 7992.87 22 Hans-Rudolf Riniker 7841.50 23 Paul Stubley 7825.59 24 Georg Roth 7776.86 25 Dave Demott 7665.69 26 Jon Edison 7507.70 27 Chung Ming Cheng 6421.18 28 Pascai Ferenc 5843.21 29 Bruce Hudson 5397.41 30 Jason Bioletti 3754.85
Round wins
Stefan Bertschi 2 Alvaro Silgado 2 Kevin Newton 1 Frits Donker Duyvis 1 Andy Burgoyne 1 Mike Shellim 1 Mike Evans 1 Stefan Bernardy 1 Peter Gunning 1 Mark Treble 1
Fastest time: Alvaro Silgado 31.47 seconds (round 10)