Competitors from around the world will be engaging in some target practice in Lumby this weekend, but they’ll be doing so from sky-high altitudes.
From Sept. 27-29, experienced paragliders will sail through the sky during the Lumby Open 2019 Accuracy, an event to test the flying skills of the world’s best gliders, and to determine Canada’s national gliding champion.
The event is sanctioned by the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI), which means points are up for grabs for next year’s paragliding world championships. The event was organized by competing glider and Kelowna resident Daniel Vallejo. Originally from Columbia, he’ll be representing Canada – and his parents are flying in from his home country to officiate as certified FAI judges.
This level of paragliding is a near first in the country.
“It’s brand new in Canada,” says Randy Rauck, a member of the Lumby Air Force Flying Club, which will be facilitating the competition at the Freedom Flight Park.
“There was one held in Eastern Canada last year and this will be the first one held in Western Canada.”
The FAI has a world of landing spots to choose from (the 10th annual World Championships were just held in Serbia earlier this month), but Rauck says the it has been planning to come to Lumby for a number of years now. “Lumby is world famous for hang gliding and paragliding now because we’ve got the flying sites that we can launch from – one on either side of the Freedom Flight Park.”
The public is free to view the event, which starts at 8 a.m. Friday. “It is weather dependent but it looks like we’ve got a couple good days out of the weekend that it should be good enough to pick a Canadian national champion, and that’s the goal of this event,” said Rauck.
READ MORE: Fun medal haul for Vernon track athletes
READ MORE: Lumby arena renovations facing design challenges
