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New Zealand Cross Country Championship 2023/24

Welcome to the New Zealand XC Championships


  • XContest is the official platform for the New Zealand Cross Country Championship
  • Make sure that you register for the New Zealand competition
  • Scoring parameters and other rules can be found on the Rules page
  • Meanwhile, please support our sponsors, on the right

  • 19.07.2023 End of Season 2022/23 Wrap Up

    2023 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships

    April 1st 2022 to March 31st 2023

    End of Season Wrap Up

    Here’s a wrap up of the 2023 competition! Over the season the really bad thing weather-wise was the succession of moist N or NE flows hitting the North Island, all too often severely limiting the opportunities for cross-country paragliding north of Cook Strait. Was it a strong La Nina weather influence or just general ‘climate change’? A good thing weather-wise was being able to get away from the worst of that weather at the other end of the country in Central Otago, and then even better was having favourable paragliding conditions coincide with the largest tasked competition of the summer: the PG Nationals (Jan 9-14).

    From the Otago flying, it became the season of most 100 km FAI triangles ever! XC Champs entrants seemed to have gotten smarter and were planning their flights better; to attempt, and then often achieve, a nice even-sided triangle for better scoring. 11 of the top 12 ranked pilots flew 100+ km FAI triangle course flights, thereby earning more than 200 points each. The first flights scoring over 200 points were flown on Oct 4 (four FAI triangles), the last ones flown on Feb 12 (three FAI triangles). Included in the group flying 100+ km FAI triangles were the top women competitors, who were also pretty ‘top’ overall, with four of the top 12 ranked pilots overall being women!

    Here are some season highlights:

    • NZ’s FAI Triangle record matched (197.5 km, Ben Kellett, Coronet Peak, Otago)
    • NZ’s Female Open Distance record broken (172.1 km, Julia Jauss, Coronet Peak, Otago)
    • NZ’s 2nd longest Out and Back flight (152.4 km, Kellett, Coronet Peak)
    • NZ’s 4th, 5th and 10th best open distances (Leo Chelle, 192.2 km, Kellett, 192.1 km and Jauss, 172.1 km respectively)
    • Three FAI Triangles over 150 km, and a further 18 more FAI or Flat Triangles over 100 km
    • A new regional Out and Back record for Hawkes Bay (Aaron Chesterman, 78.6 km)
    • A second flight of NZ 100 km open distance flown from Barnicoat, Nelson (Nick Taber, 111 km)
    • In total, 11 flights of NZ 100 km open distance
    • In total, 44 NZ 100 km flights of various course types.

    Outside of the XC Champs, Slovakian pilot Juraj Koren had two epic vol biv trips, first from Coronet Peak, Otago to Marlborough (Jan 10 to Jan 19); and then from Barnicoat, Nelson to Lake Pukaki, Canterbury (Jan 21 to Jan 29). It included a first day flight of 206 km open distance from Coronet, and a site best flight of 87 km from Lewis Tops, Canterbury. (However, from track log detail, Koren had no flights over 100 km eligible for a site record or NZ PG XC Champs entry).

    2023 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

    * 1st place and 2023 NZ XC Champion
    Pilot: Ben Kellett
    After two years as the runner up, this season Ben made sure of the XC Champs title with three high scoring triangles, including a 10 hour,
    197 km flight from Coronet Peak, which matched the distance of the NZ National FAI Triangle record. Ben’s total score of 976 points is the highest yet achieved under the NZ XContest Champs scoring regime. Ben also topped the open distance table, and shared the season’s best open distance with Leo Chelle (192 km, Coronet Peak).

    * 1st Runner Up
    Pilot: Thomas Rold
    100 points ahead of third place, Thomas’s top three flights were all FAI Triangle courses from Coronet Peak, including a course of 100+ miles (167 km) on Jan 9, the 6th best NZ FAI triangle ever!

    * 2nd Runner Up
    Pilot: Leo Chelle
    Leo shared some big flights with Kellett in spring and early summer, including the best FAI triangles of October and November (113 km and 127 km respectively), and the season’s best open distance (192 km), all from Coronet Peak.

    * 2023 Women’s XC Champion
    Pilot: Kinga Masztalerz
    In defending her NZ Women’s Champs title, Kinga’s flights included the 4th best open distance of the competition (137 km, Coronet Peak), and the longest FAI triangle course ever flown in NZ by paraglider by a female (121 km, Jan 21, Coronet Peak)!

    * Best Rookie (first-time PG2 competitor)
    Pilot: Charlie Ginet
    Placed 37th overall, Charlie’s highest scoring flights were of very consistent 47, 48 and 47 km open distances, from three different sites (Coronet Peak, Long Gully and Kidds Bush)! The first being Charlie’s NZ 25 km milestone flight, flown on day one of the PG Nationals.

    * North Island Champion
    Pilot: Mark Macdonald
    Mark’s flights included the season’s best open distance from Paeroa, 58 km, and a 67 km flight from Alans Hill that matched the site record!

    * North Island Best Open Distance
    Pilot: Matthew Taggart
    86.4 km from Kaimai, Waikato.

    * South Island Best Open Distance
    Pilot: Leo Chelle and Ben Kellett
    192 km from Coronet, Otago.

    Well done all of the above! (Especially Ben) :) Thank you to all who submitted flights so we could see where there was good flying to be had.

    2023 NZ PG XC Champs Overall and North Island Final Standings

    Click on these links to go to full report for the 2023 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships, including the table of the top 50 places overall, the North Island table (top 25), and season’s site best flights.

    XC Champs Table - Final Standings
    North Island Table
    Open Distance Table
    North Island Open Distance Table
    2023 Season Site Best Flights
    Season 2023 Milestone Flights

  • 24.10.2022


    Macpara NZ are once again sponsoring the book draw for their seventh season in a row. To be in the draw all you need to do is submit one (valid) local flight on the New Zealand XContest.

    Big thanks to Nick Taber and Macpara for keeping the XC spirit alive.

  • 19.04.2022 XContest Season Wrap Up 2022

    (April 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022)

    Another epic season finished with lots of huge flights taking place. Again, the south was cranking with most of the season's big flights. A number of new site records tumbled across both the islands. No surprise that the southern club won the club competition with almost double the points of second place. Big congratulations to Louis who has again won the XC Championship for the 4th season in a row.

    Lots of great XC competitions also taking place this season and a big shout out to all the event organizers around the country in such difficult times with gatherings.


    Here's a few highlights:

    • A ripper of a flight from Chris Connolly and Kinga!
      (Connolly, 174km, Coronet Peak), (Kinga, 142km, Speed peak)
    • Another big out and back from Louis, (Tapper, 193km, Long Gully)
    • High scoring flight in the North Island from Shaun Gilbert, (Gilbert, 112km, Te Mata Peak)
    • Over Forty NZ 100km+ flights


    2022 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

    * 1st place and 2022 NZ XC Champion: Louis Tapper

    * 1st Runner Up: Ben Kellet

    * 2nd Runner Up: Glen Stevens

    * 2022 Women's XC Champion: Kinga Masztalerz

    .

    Check out all the results and see how you did here

  • 16.09.2021 Hang Gliding Added to XContest

    An Hang Gliding XC competition has been officially added to the New Zealand National XC Championship. You will notice at the left of the XContest New Zealand XC Champs landing page a list of new Hang Gliding Categories. All New Zealand Hang Glider pilots are encouraged to submit their flights and join in the competition.

    The PG and HG XC Championships are individual competitions and are scored separately. Lets get in behind this effort to share flights, engage in some friendly competition and to hone our flying skills.

    Simply head to XContest and Register for the New Zealand competition and start submitting your flights. Here is a set of instructions to help you on your way - Instructions

  • 19.04.2021 Championship Results

    Season Wrap Up

    (April 1st 2020 to March 31st 2021)

    Another great season finished with lots of huge flights taking place. The south was cranking with most of the season's big flights coming out of Coronet Peak heading north. No surprise that the southern club won the club competition with almost double the points of second place. Big congratulations to Louis who has again won the XC Championship for the 3rd season in a row. Can this man be beaten?

    Lots of great XC competitions also taking place this season and a big shout out to all the event organizers around the country!


    Here's a few highlights:

    • These ripper flights from Ben and Aaron from Coronet Peak to Mt Cook Village,
      (Kellett, 172km, Coronet Peak), (Ford, 169km, Coronet Peak)
    • Another big FAI triangle from Louis, (Tapper, 172km, Coronet Peak)
    • Highest scoring flight in the North Island from Matt, (Taggart, 99km, Kaimai)
    • This awesome open distance site record flight from Mark, (Macdonald, 97km, Kaimai)
    • Fourteen NZ 100km+ flights


    2021 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

    * 1st place and 2021 NZ XC Champion: Louis Tapper

    * 1st Runner Up: Ben Kellett

    * 2nd Runner Up: Thomas Rold

    * 2021 Women's XC Champion: Clémence Cadario

    .

    Check out all the results and see how you did here

Welcome to the New Zealand Cross Country Championship!

 





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