Air Games to Include Top Glider Pilots

New Zealand Air Games to Include Top Glider Pilots

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (November 1, 2007) - Fresh from the World Championships that take place in Omarama before Christmas, 20 of the world’s top glider pilots will thrill the crowds at the New Zealand Air Games in Wanaka on 27 and 28 December with sprint races designed to show the true power of these incredible aircraft.

The 50km high-speed races will provide 20 minutes of nail-biting neck-and-neck racing from pilots who really know how to push the gliders to their limits. Competing in heats of five, the gliders will cross the finish line directly over Wanaka Airfield at speeds of up to 280kph, often within a split second of each other.

The pilots will have spent the previous week competing for the title of world champion at the FAI World GP Gliding Championships. These are scheduled to finish in Omarama on Christmas Eve. However, if the weather is bad during the course of the competition (19-24 December), the deciding races of the world championships will replace the sprint races with the pilots finishing over Wanaka.

The New Zealand Air Games takes place at Wanaka Airport on 27 and 28 December and is the largest aviation sports event ever to take place in the Southern Hemisphere. It features 10 sports ranging from paragliding to sky diving, helicopters to hot air ballooning, with many of the sports reformatted for high adrenalin viewing.

All the aerial action is beamed back live to spectators on the airfield on a giant screen from cameras mounted in cockpits as well as the latest air-to-air filming technology and real-time graphics, allowing a fascinating insight into the previously closed world of the world-class sports pilot.

Tickets are $18 for adults with free admission for children under 16 and are available by calling 03 443 2700. For further information, visit http://www.airsportslive.com.

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