The dates for the 4th Junior World Gliding Championships have now been fixed. The contest will be held including the practice period and final prizegiving from July 31, 2005 until August 20, 2005, at Husbands Bosworth airfield, England.

The 2nd Club Class World Gliding Championships in Musbach, Germany, are over. After 9 competition days, the winner and new world champion is Tomas Suchanek of the Czech Republic. Richard Hood, Great Britain came second, and Pavel Louzecky, Czech republic, third. All three flew Standard Cirrus. The complete final results can be found here .

The 2nd World Club Class Gliding Championships are under way at Musbach in Germany, see the championships home page.

Announcement from Marek F.Uzarowski, Leszno, Poland (mandias@wp.pl)

The decision made by the International Gliding Commision thet WGC 2003 has given us the 'green light' to go ahead with the so-called PreWorld Competition 2002. Due to lack of time we will have to run it together with the Polish National Juniors' Gliding Championships. We therefore invite all those interested in participating in the PreWorlds to Leszno from 13.08 until 29.08.2002. The airfield area will be opened to all of you the week before the 13th.

To those of you who cannot come to Leszno in August we can offer as an alternative participation in the International Polish Gliding Championships in the Open Class, from 18.05.2002 until 02.06.2002. We do realize that the time for this event is very short, but anyone willing and able to take part can download the entry form from www.aeroleszno.org . Send the entry form by e-mail to al@aeroleszno.org or by fax to +48 65 5293 219.

The official web site for the WGC 2003 and the PreWorlds 2002 will be established in one or two weeks time. There you will find all relevant information for both events. There will also be an on-line entry form.

On the 24th of April the IGC President Tor Johannessen and Vice President Brian Spreckley met with the organising committee for the 2003 WGC at Rieti. During the meeting serious flaws in the preparations for the 2002 preparatory event became evident. The preparatory event was scheduled for August only three and a half months away.

• There was no functioning Championship director
  
• no information bulletins had been sent out,
  
• no invitations had been sent out,
  
• no web site was established for the event.
  
• no system for entering the contest had been established
  Consequently, NACs had no possibility to enter teams in the event and many are now unable to make arrangements to do so.
  

It is an IGC requirement that the NAC awarded a WGC shall organise a Preparatory Contest one year ahead of the WGC. This is to prove that the organising staff is proficient and that the participants have the possibility to acquaint themselves with the conditions locally and in the contest area. The contest shall as far as possible be run under the same rules and conditions and at the same time of the year as the main event.

As the local conditions in Rieti due to the mountainous terrain are quite special, the preparatory contest is believed to be of greater importance than in venues with flat terrain. The absence of a preparatory event with the possibility for the competitors to get acquainted in the area significantly affect the chances of the 2003 WGC being a fair contest, competitors unacquainted with the area will suffer a significant disadvantage.

Based on the lack of preparations for the 2002 Preparatory Contest, the IGC Bureau has decided that the venue for the World Gliding Championships in 2003 will be moved to Leszno in Poland instead of Rieti in Italy.

Tor Johannessen

IGC President

The 27th World Gliding Championships takes place in Mafikeng, South Africa, from 18 to 31 December 2001, with official practice beginning on 10 December 2001. The excellent soaring conditions common to the Southern African region, promise to make this a record breaking event and the South African Weather Service will provide a purpose built forcasting facility to ensure a high quality service to WGC 2001. Plans are in place to provide Internet based tracking of the top 6 gliders each competition day, and downloadable GPS traces of the previous days flights.

Please visit www.wgc2001.org for further information and updates.

This Championship took place in Pociunai, Lithuania with 12 countries represented and 41 participating pilots.
Gillian Spreckley (GBR) won the World Champion title in the 15m Class, while Sarah Steinbeck (GBR) finished first in the Standard class and Tamara Sviridova (RUS) in the Club class.

Links :
- Web site of the competition
- FAI Events Site

The 4th World Gliding Championship for the World Class will be held in the North Island of New Zealand in February 2003. The competition site has thermal, ridge and docile wave conditions and is set in beautiful, friendly farming countryside. The organisers have now launched their web site and welcome your interest.

For further information click www.worldclass2003.com

The International Gliding Commission of FAI (IGC) has announced its approved IGC Waypoint Format.

This initiative was started by the IGC Sub-Committee which handles the championships rules. Organizers of championships found that they had to handle a larger and larger number of waypoint formats in their analysis of flights. One common standard was seen as being an immense help to championship organizers, and pilots and Official Observers in the field.

For details see: http://www.fai.org/gliding/gnss/wpformat.asp

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