Wednesday 2000-8-16
    Late into the night yesterday the registration for the traditional international race, Podbrezove Cup 2000, went on for all arriving pilots from Slovakia and Hungary and the final total for the Starting list along with the Czech pilots grew to 78.

    The morning briefing at 8:00 was a tough blow to all Czech pilots, who had been used to wandering into the meeting room around 10 a.m. Departure for Kralova Hola was set at 9:30 and the first briefing at the starting ground at 11:30. The intent of the organizers to avoid getting under time pressure by unpredictable occurrences was not only apparent, but also, as was revealed later, very prudent.

    On the runway at an elevation of about 2000 meters the wind these days blew in the usual northwest direction, but this time at a speed of 6 m/s. And when the hesitation as to which side of the crest to place the wings on was increased by the news of an over-heated Avia truck halfway up the hill, some decided to lie where they were already standing.



    Following lengthy discussions and a large distaste for flying around the hill, the southwest runway won, the wings in the stalled truck were transferred and gradually brought up to the Start and this year's race with the participation of the general manager of the Podbrezove Ironworks, Ing. Vladimir Sotak, was officially opened.



    Anka Nociarova and Miso Oravec as usual oversaw the preparations to ensure a smooth start of the first round of competition of the Podbrezova Cup 2000.



    After midday the upright wings began to jitter around, like yesterday, on the starting ground in the wind shielded thermics and everyone feverishly prepared for a long flight. Some favorites were even seen adjusting the shape of some connectors to coincide with the expected thermic conditions on the course.



    At the briefing a 99km long event was announced with two turning points. The first was the 38 km distant Kalka nad Breznem and the second was Kralova Hola on the 77th kilometer of the route. The goal line was prepared at the usual landing strip behind the village of polomka. At that moment nobody had any notion of how often the name of that village would be heard on the ether that afternoon, but not for anything to do with goal.



    The first surprise took place before the opening of the Start window, and was when Lubin, who'd decided he'd show everyone up today unfurled his parachute on the runway. The next surprise was again authored by Lubin who not only didn't show anyone up, but also petered out in an undignified manner on the east side of the hill. Half an hour later, covered in sweat, he was back on the runway, with at least the news that in these parts one could catch a glimpse of a live groundhog with the naked eye.

    In the relatively few thermic breezes it was no easy to take off and even though it was possible to use three different runways the number of wings on the runways did not lessen. Around 13:30 a group of favorites, who surely didn't miss the lowering bases around the starting ground, hurled off into the air. The next wave of take off followed about 10 minutes later, and who eventually proved to be the decisive ones this day.



    "Rain on the course!", was heard on the 147.52 MHz frequency at 14:05 from a group of pilots who at the head of the race course had just reached the level of Polomka village. Thanks to the quickly-changing meteorological situation even the wind turned from the South and pilots hurled themselves into the darkened air from all three runways.



    The number of wings on the starting ground dwindled and after a time there was nothing to write down.



    Damp air moving in from the west was the cause of a widespread rainshower on already on the 20th km of the course. To tightly squeeze by and continue on in flight only two favorites, Dan Vyhnalik and Juraj Sladky, were able to do. Both photographed the first turning point, but upon returning to the area after the shower, they no longer had a chance of getting above Kralova Hola. Dan Vyhnalik landed on the 64th kilometer of the route and Juraj Sladky something over 3 km after him.

    But by then all the pilots, most already drenched, were filling the pubs in the villages of Helpa, Polomka, Bacuch and Benus. "So for this I got up at 7:30 today", Vlada Koretz sighed to himself after landing in the village of Benus on the 28th km of the route and went to the pub by the train station for a beer.



    This year's excellently flying Dan Byhnalik thus settled at the head of the Podbrezova Cup placing, closely followed by Juraj Sladky and with a larger gap then by Petr "Pedro" Nedoma and Fero Nizner. In the overall placing of the Czech Republic Championship, Dan's lead in first place grew to 1296 points.