WGC Benalla 8 -22 January 2017 concluded with a medal and closing ceremony on 22 Jaanuary. FAI Jury President declared the championships closed. The new World Gliding Champions are Open Class Gold - Russell Cheetham - Great Britain Silver - Michael Sommer - Germany Bronze - Andrew Davis - Great Britain 18 Metre Class Gold - Killian Walbrou - France Silver - Mario Kiessling - Germany Bronze - Mike Young - Great Britain 15 Metre Class Gold - Sebastian Kawa - Poland Silver - Makoto Ichikawa - Japan Bronze - Lukasz Grabowski - Poland

Close Official Program WGC Benalla You can download a PDF version of the program foe WGC 2017 Benalla HERE read more »

Close WGC Benalla Report from the CD In many ways, the Benalla World Gliding Championships were a big success. We had great support from GFA members with over 70 volunteers spending three weeks to ensure we could put on a good show. Another 30 spent two to five days helping out with a myriad of jobs. read more »

Close World Champions who competed at WGC2017 Including the new Open Class Champion Russell Cheetham who won his first WGC at Benalla, 17 present and past champions competed at WGC Benalla. We were honored to have them. See the completee list below. read more »

Close From the President of the Jury An International Competition The 34th FAI World Gliding Championship was held in Australia, but it was not an Australian competition.

In order to guarantee uniformity across all World Championships (and across all air sports), the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale appoints officials to support the host country and to ensure that the international rules are followed. The FAI officials are the Stewards and the Jury. The Stewards advise the Director and take responsibility for inspections and other duties that make the competition run more smoothly. The Jury monitors the preparation for the competition, checks the scoring, and stands by to resolve any disputes. The principal difference between the two is that the Stewards advise the Director, and the Jury occupies a neutral position, between the Director and the Teams. At Benalla, the Stewards were Renato Tsukamoto from Brazil and Rob Moore from Adelaide. The Jury consisted of Rick Sheppe, USA, and Bob Bickers, UK. Each day of the competition, the Stewards monitored weighing, task setting, gridding, launching, and landing, while the Jury performed independent scoring and tried (unsuccessfully) to protect the FAI flag. In their spare time, the four officials answered questions, analysed Flight Logs, and prepared safety presentations for the daily Briefings. In the end, it was determined that the event was held to FAI standards, and that the Benalla Organisers had indeed accomplished a valid World Gliding Championships. This surprised nobody, as it was clear from the beginning that the GFA, under the leadership of Mandy Temple, the Gliding Club of Victoria, led by John Switala, and all the volunteers, including Director Terry Cubley, had the matter well in hand. Rick Sheppe President of the Jury read more »

Close Video Production at WGC Benalla WGC Benalla began for me in January 2016 straight after JWGC Narromine. Before JWGC, I had planned to goalong and cover the event for Gliding Australia as I am the Editor of the magazine. I also wanted to see if I could create some interesting video coverage. As a digital content creator and producer, I thought I could provide a low-cost, virtual TV experience for the competition. Since that project had gone well, I looked forward to doing something better at WGC Benalla.

read more »

Close Thank You Benalla! All of us who worked as volunteers, members of GCV, visiting pilots and competitors from 27 nations, would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the people of Benalla and the region for their hospitality, understanding and welcome during WGC Benalla. read more »

Close Thank You Competitors The organisers of WGC Benalla and the Gliding Federation of Australia greatly appreciate your participation in WGC Benalla. We are also grateful for the support and enthusiasm of your teams, team captains, families back home, your national gliding clubs and organisations. read more »

Close Thank You Volunteers WGC Benalla could not have taken place without the nearly 100 people who volunteered their time, effort and talent to run the event. read more »

Close Team Cup Results The WGC Benalla Team Cup Scores as shown on Soaringspot are incorrect as they are using an out of date formulae. The correct full results are below. read more »

Close WGC Benalla Champions Declared Champions Declared - Medals Awarded in Three Racing Classes at Sunny Closing Ceremony- read more »

Close Goldilocks Trough The great weather phenomena that affect eastern Australia are the troughs that form, and move from west to east, sometimes pausing while over the region from Adelaide in the east to Narromine in the west. read more »

Close 16 January x The fleet streamed home after a satisfying but difficult day that proved too difficult for some, with several landouts both technical and in paddocks. However, as the results are published, the winners and losers are clear to see.

read more »

Close Day 4 Wrap Friday 13 January This was the second no-fly day of this competition due to weather, when we might have expected there to be none except for official rest days at this competition. However, after all the tension of the practice week, when the weather was good, and the last three days of difficult flying, it somehow felt right to have a pause and a rest. read more »

Close Day 3 Wrap Thursday 12 January Results in Today the tasks were set, launch time was decided and the launch went ahead just about on time. It was a welcome contrast to yesterday’s task changes on the grid and multiple launch delays. read more »

Close Day 2 Completed- Results in After a difficult, low, blue windy day, nearly all the gliders landed back home and completed their tasks. I know of one actual land out and one technical land out (motor whirring). As I watched the returning gliders with an Australian news crew, there were a few low energy landings, with one or two gliders landing relatively short on the runway.





read more »

Close Competition Day 3 Thursday 12 January Competition Day 3 Today is forecast to be blue again with somewhat better conditions and less wind. We shall see if longer tasks and greater speeds than the 256 km 107 kph achieved by Ricardo Brigliadoiri in open class can be flown today.



read more »

Close WGC Benalla Day 1 Competition day 1 Today was a start-stop day, more like a European competition. A trough passed across southern Australia on Monday and Tuesday bringing rain, heavy in areas to the Benalla task area. The associated cloud was forecast to clear the area. But as usual, the exact timing and speed at which the trough was moving was predictably unpredictable. Michael Sommer landing WGC Benalla 10 January - Photo Al Sim All three classes gridded and at 12.30pm local time, Task Setter Tobi Geiger took a 'sniffer' launch, as usual. When he reported a cloud base of 2,200ft AGL and little or no lift, launching was delayed. Later a tug was sent to explore the air and reported cloud base at 2,400ft AGL. By this time, after 2pm , the Competition Director and his team became concerned at the prospect of 116 gliders in the space above the airfield with limited climb possibilities. Also, the day was forecast to end relatively early, between 5 and 6pm. Considering the safety issues involved, they decided to cancel both 15m and 18m Classes and launch the Open Class. Factors for the decision included the fact that all but two Open Class gliders have engines, so only a technical landout was likely, rather than a sodden landscape dotted with outlanded gliders. After a slow start, all the Open Class gliders made it around the two hour AAT course. Michael Sommer won the day flying 282km at a speed of 129 kph followed closely by German team mate Tassilo Bode and Andy Davis of Great Britain . The weather is forecast to improve for the next two days, which are expected to be blue, with a challenging day on the cards for Friday. Keep looking at our Task Setting with Tobi videos for a daily tasking announcement. More to come tomorrow from WGC Benalla. read more »

Close Competition Day 2 at WGC Benalla Yesterday WGC weather person Jenny Thompson, forecast that today would see improved conditions with thermals to 7,000ft This morning the tough has moved out of the task area and the sky is blue. So we are set for races in all three classes today. We anticipate greater distances and speeds than achieved by Open Class winner Michael Sommer yesterday. Flying an AAT task he manages 282km at a modest 129kph with climbs to 6,000ft. read more »

Close Open Class Winner Day 1 Open Class Winner Day 1 read more »