The 13th European Paragliding Championship has started!

We are in Serbia, in the Kopaonik mountain range, near Raska.

Registration and Opening Ceremony are already 5 days old. The training day was a success but since pilots have been grounded by bad weather.  It should stop tomorrow and a few consecutive days of good weather are expected. You can follow the competition on the organisers website. Final day: August 16.

Dusan Arsevic, from the Aeronautical Union of Serbia, wrote to us...

"The 13th FAI European Paragliding Championship in Cross Country will be held in Serbia this year. The organiser of the competition is the Aeronautical Union of Serbia, with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Sport Association of Serbia, as well as of the companies Swisslion and Telenor. One hundred and twenty European pilots from twenty two countries will compete for the title of the Old continent’s best pilot from 3rd till 16th August on the fields of Kopaonik - Raska.

Our national team will be represented by the pilots Vladimir Bacanin from Krusevac, Srdjan Ristanovic and Djordje Prokic from Belgrade, Dragan Martinovic from Kosovska Mitrovica and Dusan Djordjevic from Nis. The European Championship is held every two years.

Vladimir Bacanin, the top-ranked Serbian pilot in international rankings, stated: “It is a great honour to represent Serbia in such an important competition. This is further reinforced by the fact that the European Championship takes place on the field where I have flown for the first time. I will do my best to achieve the best possible results, both in single and team classification”.

Take off points are planned to be in Jadovnik (1,500m of altitude), Kokorovac (1,300m), Orove stene (1,750m) and Cajetinska cesma (1,340m). Pilots will be flying in direction of Raska, Novi Pazar and Golija. In recent years, more and more important competitions were held on the terrain on Kopaonik, which only confirms the fact that this area is great for flying. Therefore, the Pre World Cup, the World Cup and the Pre European Championship were excellent preparation for this important championship.

The competition will begin with the opening ceremony in the center of Raska, where the athletes’ parade and performance of the group “DJ Dzi & Dziberi” will take place."