Jury Report on Free Flight World Championships 2013 F1E for Seniors and Juniors
FAI Jury
Gerhard Wobbeking |
| President |
Ivan Horejsi |
CZE |
Member |
Roberto di Castiglione |
ITA |
Member |
Dates
August 24 to 31, 2013
Location
Martin, Slovakia
Information
Slovakia shows a good record of international F1E competitions with sites in two different areas. For the years 2013 and 2014 representatives of the RC Model Club of Martin presented the bid to host the international championships, and it was the Club resp. their members who run the event in 2013. With the NAC office obviously not involved, response during the preparation time was sometimes too slow. Later on, the cooperation especially with Miroslav Majercik (Contest Director) and Jakub Drmla (Organiser) was very good and went smoothly. Two bulletins provided the necessary information.
Participation
22 juniors + 36 seniors = 58 out of 12 countries attended the 2013 champion-ships. Figures for 2011 (Serbia): 20 juniors + 33 seniors = 53 out of 12 coun-tries. Best supported F1E WCh so far took place in 2009 (Germany): 22 juniors + 40 seniors = 62 out of 13 countries.
Contest Organisation, Accommodation and Food
The organiser concentrated everything at one place – registration, processing, Team Managers meeting, food and lodging, opening and closing ceremony as well as registering for two World Cups. The facilities of a small winter resort named “Snowlands” made that possible, with rooms in different pensions and Hotels and a well run restaurant in the centre. To fulfil their task the event management took into account to be bothered with all the accommodation booking. Meals had to be ordered individual at very reasonable prices. Four dif-ferent flying sites – within about 15 minutes drive distance from “Snowlands” – offered slopes facing to four wind directions. Because of the prevailing wind from the North, all flying took place at only one site.
Flying site
The competitions (including the two World Cups offered the days before and after the championships) took place at a nice but very challenging slope of a complex geometry. Grassy hills were interrupted by rows of bushes grown to impressive height and ended in fields partly covered with corn. Models making all other obstacles finally were caught by a row of high poplars, but could have easily disappeared before out of the visual line of sight of the timekeepers be-hind ridges. Those circumstances demanded very good cooperation between competitors and retrieval teams, leaving the outcome of the contest to a good share to the performance of the latter.
Contest Management
The first World Cup was used as a warm up by 75 competitors and ended almost with a disaster for the organiser: 36 competitors had made the first fly-off. Subsequently, all the following 10 rounds of the championships (5 for the juniors, 5 for the seniors) were flown with 5 minutes maximum time. The juniors were blessed with a pleasant day and good flying conditions, resulting in 7 full scores out of 22. To avoid endless flying, the flight line was shifted downhill for a fly-off resulting in a clear decision within one flight.
Conditions for the seniors the next days were more difficult. Despite the forecast promised wind from the North, the first round started with a slight drift from the South, allowing the models to travel nearly two kilometres for a max. Second round was calm, but after that it started to rain. The Jury asked to stop the competition in order to use the reserve day which promised better weather. The conditions there were windy and not easy, leaving just two full scores for a short fly-off. – There were no protests, not at least because of the good communication between Contest Director and Jury.
Ceremonies
Opening and closing ceremonies took place in a tent at the centre of the resort. They were nicely supported by a local dancing group. To underline the im-portance of the event, representatives of the local authorities and the Aero Club delivered speeches. All perpetual trophies could be awarded, including a new one which was given to the 2012 Junior European Champion who was present. The organiser as well granted cups to all winners and winning teams.
Conclusions
Slovakia organised demanding, but good and successful championships which took place in a very friendly atmosphere.