Airsports.tv have released a news style video of the PPG Worlds in Bejing, China on their site. Running for nearly fifteen minutes the piece covers the various tasks of the championship and includes footage of the pilots flying over the Great Wall. Click here to view.

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After one week of competition and eight tasks the Paramotoring World Championships are over. Ramon Morillas was crowned champion for the third time after all the protests and counter protests had finally been resolved. Former champion Mathieu Rouanet took second place in the single foot launch ahead of the UK’s Michel Carnet.

In the single trikes Daniel Crespo managed to hold onto his lead to take the gold medal ahead of Tomasz Kudaszewcz (POL) and Michaela Machartova (CZ).

In the tandem classes Spain’s Nino Muelas and Antonio Lope took first place in the trike discipline. Winners of the foot launch discipline were Jurgis and Arturas Smarlovskis from Lithuania.

In the team competitions France won the foot launch competition ahead of Great Britain and Spain. In the trike category it was Spain that took the top spot ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland.

At the final party all the protests and team rivalries were quickly forgotten as the awards were handed out and the partying started. Michaela Machartova and Jansy Kelly were awarded special diplomas for being the first women to win a task in a Microlight World Championship in their discipline. The pilots are now recovering with some sight seeing in Beijing before making the long journey home.

We will have a full report on the world championships in Issue 3 of Paramotor Magazine due out in October.

Photo: Michel Ferrer

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It looks like the last task of the worlds has been cancelled, apparently due to the proposed navigation task with estimations of speed not being in the locally declared list of tasks. This leaves Ramon Morillas in the top spot followed by Mathieu Rouanet, but with several protests still being heard we won’t know the true winner until the official results are posted tomorrow.

The last speed triangle task turned out to be a good one for the UK team with their pilots Paul Bailey and Dave Hairs taking the top spots ahead of Canadian Dave Sigier. The top three in the overall standings finished fourth, fifth and sixth all keeping the pressure on. In the single trikes class it was a task for the girls to shine. UK’s Jansy Kelly took the lion’s share of the points, followed by Michaela Machartova and the Chinese pilot Gao Desong. The overall leader Daniel Crespo’s lead was reduced after he landed out losing all the points for the out and return section of the task.

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The UK’s Laura Baumont, flying in only her second competition and one of only three female pilots taking part has won the 7th task of the worlds. Laura took first place the contract navigation task, where pilots have to declare the turnpoints they will use and then fly the course, ahead of fellow UK pilot Dave Hairs. There were no changes at the top of the overall scoreboard with Ramon still holding onto his lead. Laura and Dave’s high scores have helped the British team move into second behind France with the Spanish team now in third.

In the trike class Daniel Crespo is still in the overall lead with task winner Poland’s Tomasz Kudaszewicz moving into second ahead of Michaela Machartova who appears to have had a bad task.

Today the pilots have been enjoying some flying over the Great Wall of China, the highlight of the trip for many. They are now back at the field ready for the next task, which is due to be a speed triangle task with limited fuel.

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After Ramon and Mathieu had a less than perfect run in the Clover Leaf Slalom task the point scores have all got a little bit closer at the top of the overall table. UK’s Michel Carnet had a better task and has moved ahead of Mathieu into second place.

The next task is expected to be contract navigation.

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In the two single categories the Spanish pilots have managed to push into the lead. After winning tasks four and five, Japanese Slalom and turnpoint hunt, Ramon Morillas has wrestled the lead of his close rival Mathieu Rouanet. The UK’s Michel Carnet is currently in third place after finishing in joint second place in the turnpoint hunt alongside to more UK pilots Paul Bailey and Dave Hairs. Despite the strong team showing in this task the UK team are currently in 3rd place in the team ranking behind France and Spain. Spanish Trike pilot Daniel Crespo has now taken the lead in the single trike class ahead of German Jens Hicken. The vice European champion Michaela Machartova has moved into third place despite not scoring in the opening task of the competition.

The reports finding their way back from China suggest the event so far have been plagued by protest and counter protest, it would seem that the top teams have been watching rather to much F1 recently and think they can win the event in the director’s office.

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After two further tasks the current title holder Mathieu Rouanet has moved into the overall lead in the world championships currently being held in Beijing, China. The second task of the event was a precision take-off and landing task with seven pilots taking the top spot in the task with a minimum score of 25cm. The third task saw Mathieu beat Spanish pilot Ramon Morrilas by a mere 21 seconds after flying for over five and three quater hours; the pair flew for over an hour longer than their nearest rival. In the trike section things were a bit more sperated with vice european champion Michaela Machartova winning with a flight of just over three hours followed by fellow Czech pilot Petr Matousek and Polish Krzysztof Romicki.

Ojovolador reported that there was controversy when the British team tried to cool their fuel as filling was being measured by volume rather than weight. This was protested and the team were forced to use fuel at the ambient temperature. We are waiting to hear more from our mole on the ground.

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News has been trickling in about the Economy task. The predicted stable conditions changed to strong thermal conditions with very rough air being reported by many of the competitors. Whilst some pilots are already back in their hotel rooms, some were still flying and looked able to stay up till the task finish time of 5:30. There have been more incidents including a reserve throw following a cascade and at least one tree landing. Many pilots found themselves dealing with deflations with the added extra spice of having very few landing options in the mountainous terrain where the best thermals could be found.

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Michel Carnet has won the first task of the 2007 Worlds. After a delayed start the first task was a navigation task. Michel finished first ahead of Spain’s Juanjo Garcia and current title holder Mathieu Rouanet, although only 25 points separate the top six. In the single trike class Poland’s Krzysztof Romicki finished first with Daniel Crespo (SP) second, although we understood Daniel has filed a protest which could give him equal first place. In the tandem classes Jurgis and Arturas Smarlovskis took the honours in the foot launch section with Helmut Stern and Ulli Herbig winning in the trikes. In the team rankings it looks like Britain has made a strong start along with Spain although results issued so far appear to be provisional.

There were a few incidents: the marshalling has been a bit confused and after the marshals gave the green flag for three pilots to launch at the same time a Czech pilot was forced to make steep turn that saw him crash into the edge of the lake; luckily he escaped without major injury. Out on course there were several out landings including one reportedly ending in a tree.

Things are still somewhat disorganised at the event, with pilots complaining about their fuel rations, with some pilots embarking on their own adventures in search of their own supplies. Internet access has been sporadic and according to Ojovolador many of the non-chinese media have even struggled to gain access to the launch area.

Task 2 is predicted to be an economy task, and with the stable conditions in the area the UK, who are mainly flying four stroke engines, are looking favourites to take the task win.

Full results can be found at the official website

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Our associate editor, Michel Carnet, is now in China and will be bringing back all the news, results and behind the scenes gossip from the event on a daily basis.

Click here to read his reports and discuss here.