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Collin Matiza Harare Bureau
AN array of international paragliders have entered the inaugural extreme paramotor racing that is scheduled to be held in Victoria Falls in May.

According to one of the event’s organisers, Lawrence Madamombe, more than 22 paragliders from the United States, Spain, Argentina, Austria, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Poland and the United Kingdom have already confirmed their participation at this big international event that is set to run from May 2 to 6.

The extreme paramotor racing event will be staged by the Victoria Falls Paramotor Racing Club, an affiliate member of the Air Sports Federation of Zimbabwe (ASFZ), the motherbody of all aviation sports in this country.

“Two paragliding clubs – Fly Ozone from France and Black Hawk from the USA – have so far confirmed their participation and will jointly provide nearly 30 pilots.

“They will be joined by other top international paragliders from other countries such as Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. In fact, we have already received the names of 22 competitors who have expressed their willingness to come down here to take part in this international event.

“Approval for hosting this inaugural event has already been secured from the Sports Commission and it is likely to be televised live by SuperSport. We are expecting the first bunch of these international paragliders to arrive in Zimbabwe at the end of April.

“This is the first paramotoring competition of its kind in Africa and will be under the auspices of the ASFZ,” Madamombe said.

The former Air Zimbabwe pilot also said they were now busy running around trying to raise the airfares for these international paragliders.

Paramotor racing is a competition in which powered aircrafts, which have wings but do not have any rigid structures and are controlled via movable aerodynamic surfaces and pilot weight shift, are used. The engine/propeller combination is rated at about 15hp and weighs 15kg on average with decibel levels of about 100dB when flying at tree top level. At 100ft and above, the noise is barely audible.

“Extreme paramotor racing is a more spectacular type of racing. Dubai Extreme Paramotor race 2015 is a case in point,” Madamombe said.

He said the Victoria Falls event is planned to take place from May 2 to 6 May 2016 and the schedule of activities is as follows:

l May 1 – participants arrive

l May 2 to 3 – familiarisation with the circuit

l May 4 to 5 – competitions

l May 6 – prize-giving and closing ceremony

l May 7 – departure of competitors and officials

The competition circuit starts at the Elephant Hills Hotel’s golf course for the “take off” to the Big Tree and between the rain forest and the build-up areas to a point close to gorge 5 then along the river to the Victoria Falls bridge and up the Zambezi River on the northern shores and finally back to the departure point.

Top speed for the flights will be 40kts and flights will be below 150ft.

The competition will be held in accordance with the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body of all aviation sports.

International paragliders for the Victoria Falls Extreme Paramotor Racing

Cade Palmer, Loren Cox, Justin Brim, Karl Steslicke (all USA), Raffaele Benetti, Leonardo Pezzini, Pasquale Biondo, Bruno Madaffari (all Italy), Javier Tejeiro Lopez, Manuel Tejeiro Lopez, David Tejeiro Lopez (all Spain), Filip Peremans, Guido van den Eynde, Ellen van Weehaege-Meeuws (all Belgium), Miron Antipov (Estonia), Emilia Plak (Poland, Hernan Pitocco (Argentina), Pal Takats (Hungary), Mark Mogan, Marcus King (both UK), Carlos de Oliveira Gabriel (Portugal), Robbin van Herwaarden (Netherlands).