Sunday, August 4, 2002
    The morning is cold, with a clear blue sky and the upper station of the cable car, Lukova, reports a temperature of 10°C. Today nothing is left to chance and by 11 o'clock everyone is gathering at the lower station of the cable car, Otupne and half an hour later the large group of bent-over pilots begins to make their way on foot along the winding trail to the northern starting ground.





    A relatively long meeting at the starting ground bears fruit and today's discipline is truly complicated. The starting point opens at 13:30 but by then the racers already must have flown around the first turning point, which is the man-made lake below the lower stop of the cable car. After flying around the start, there follow two more turning points - the railroad bridge over the rive Vah, by Liptovské Porubky and Pavčina Lehota. The goal lies at the 55th kilometer in the village of Svarín above Králova Lehota.

    The first to start today, just after 13:00 is Peter Hvôrka and because he is able to find the first thermal without a hitch, the others quickly follow.

    The wind is very weak today and so the tourists are in for a good show. Even Štefan Bendík demonstrates a fall between rocks, while Peter Mensák generously performs a series of six unsuccessful take-offs for the tourists. Robert Setnička , for a change, lands in tangled lines after flying around the first turning point, and begins to work on unraveling them for a second start attempt.




    Today's cloud bases lie at much higher altitudes than yesterday and it is possible to rise to an altitude of around 2600 meters above sea level over Chopok. Juraj Kleja, who came to fly today without taking part in the race, reports an of 2,900m over the plains. Even if the 55km distant goal remains empty, more than twice the necessary number of pilots makes it across the 15km qualifying line. The winner of today's discipline is Jaroslav Jandúch, who landed at the 27th kilometer, followed by Peter Mensák and, 800m further back, Štefan Bendík.

    Peter Hvôrka, however, must have seriously disappointed all of his fans, when he set out to turn the starting point 33 seconds before its opening, which gave him only the minimum 99 points. It's not good to trust a borrowed watch, especially if it belongs to one of competitors.




    Today's placing in the first valid discipline simultaneously becomes the overall placing for the race and the meteorologists promise the same weather for tomorrow.