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Andy Wallis
Andy has been flying since before paragliders were invented! He started hang gliding in 1985, and paragliding in 1992, and has now clocked up over 4000 hours! He has competed successfully in UK national and international competitions, flown ten 100km+ UK cross country flights, and has given up a lucrative IT career to pursue the flying dream!! Andy is gunning for the 200 this year on the Peak 2 (24) and is a serious contender for it.
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Helen Gant
Helen started flying paragliders at seventeen, when paragliders were more like parachutes. She is well known, well liked and well respected throughout the UK's flying fraternity. In fact we have never met anyone who doesn't have something good to say about Helen. Helen fly's because she loves it, not for trophies, ego or status, and she is a complete para-junkie. It just so happens that she has been best placed female 4 times in the last 5 years in the UK and last year alone completed four flights over a hundred km, sometimes landing after 7.30 pm. Helen's modest nature does not draw her into the competition arena but we think that if she ever did, she would seriously kick ass. Her chosen glider is the Peak 2 (22) Custom
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Mark Wilson
Mark has been flying for ten years and has traveled around Europe and Asia looking for the perfect flying experience. Mark completed two 100+km flights last year from Bradwell to the East coast and always finds himself well placed in the UK XC League. If its, flyable you will usually see Mark out on the hill, he.s an addict! Mark flies a Peak 2 (26) - Crow and is aspiring to jump on the new Ice Peak 5 for next year. We are sure Mark will do some amazing flights this year with his comrades.
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Barney Woodhead
Barney loved Niviuk gliders so much, he became one half of Niviuk UK... "they're that good, I just had to buy the company!", he says. Barney has been flying nearly five years and flown in New Zealand and around Europe, but mainly the UK. He loves mountain flying, cross country and a little light weight acro. He completed 5 UK tons last year and believes he can achieve a 250km flight in the UK if he stops mincing around at base and chooses the ultimate flying machine. Barney has wanted to fly a comp wing since he started and will realize his dreams with the new Ice Peak 5 this year. Expect the unexpected!
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Steve Ham
A legendary pilot who found his home in Piedrahita, Spain, one of the best paragliding locations in the world. He held the UK open distance for nearly 10 years with his flight of 175km from the Long Mynd during the UK Paragliding Nationals in 1995. Steve's personal competition career spans nearly 20 years, with numerous selections in the British team. The first in 1990, and latest in 2007 for the World Paragliding Championships Australia.
He was also the British Team Leader in the Spanish World Championships in 2001 and in 1997 (Team Silver and individual Gold by John Pendry). Steve flies a Peak. |
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Alex Colbeck
Although a young pilot and a relative newcomer to competitive flying, Alex did well participating in the XC League, BCC and BP Cup in preparation for the British Championships. During his 3 years flying in the Champs, he flew against the UK's top pilots, making goal in the majority of tasks and getting faster each time.
This year he aims to win the "Best placed pilot under 25" category in the UK XC League for the 2nd time by doing some big flights from his local sites in the Yorkshire Dales. Now with three flights over 100km to his name, many pilots already recognise him as a rapidly growing natural talent and we think he is set to develop into a world-class pilot. Watch this space and remember his name. In 2011 he will be flying an Artik 2.
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Kenny Ebbrell
Kenny Ebbrell started hang gliding in 1984 with the Pennine Club and has been throwing himself into the air ever since.... He took a break from free flight for a few years in 1989 and tried flying sailplanes, fixed wing powered, single and twin engined including some aerobatic training at Barton. That was followed by a couple of years hooked by free fall where he gained some 400 jumps and dabbled in free flying techniques in Florida, Scotland and Spain. He returned to hang gliding some 5 years ago and quickly got addicted by the portability of paragliders. He currently flies a Peak 2 after transitioning through a Hook and an Artik 2 and is most happy when away from the ridge on cross country flight. Aims this year are to crack the 100k barrier, hopefully the 100 mile and become involved in team competition flying. |
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Mike Endacott
Mike has always leaned towards alternative sports. So much so he quit his job after qualifying as a Chartered Structural Engineer in 2003 and went to Canada to do a season snowboarding. Furth on his travels he sat and watched a lone kitesurfer on Lake Wannaka, Newzealand. Blown away he took it up when he returned to the UK in 2004 and has been kitesurfing for 7 years.
November 2008 Phil Colbert introduced him to the world of paragliding and he's never looked back. Now self employed he has devoted every spare minute to learning the complexities of flying and has progressed from class to class of wing and took on the Peak 2 (26) just before the 2011 season.
Now in only his second season of cross country flying he has catapulted up the table and sits just below the top ten amassing three 100k + flights in June/July. Always keen to learn and record his adventures, this is a promising pilot for the future.
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