MEXICO: Paragliding competition kicks off in Mexico
- 00:01:23
- ITN Source
MEXICO: Paragliding competition kicks off in Mexico
The gruelling Monaraca Paragliding Open kicks off in Mexico - a six-day, non-stop even in which competitors will face daily flights of over 55km (34 miles). The Valle de Bravo is a two-hour drive out of Mexico and a world class paragliding mecca. But paragliders out there this week are not your average extreme sports tourists, these are the professionals, in the Valle to compete in the grueling Monarca Paragliding Open - a six-day non-stop event in which competitors will face daily flights over 55km (34 miles). This the competition's fourth year running, and includes some paragliding royalty among the ranks. Steve Cox is a current world paragliding champion, after taking out the last World Air Sports Federation champs in Brazil. He says he will be out testing a new wing this round. "For me its a really good training now for me to fly my new wing, I have a brand new wing for the world championship at Australia, and this is great because I can more or less find out if the wings are ok for the worlds and make some fine tuning if necessary for optimizing the decline and speed and everything," Cox said told Reuters recently. The Swiss-born Cox started paragliding when he was just six-years-old in South Africa, where he was raised. This is not his first time in the Valle and he speaks volumes about the place. "This is perfect and Mexico, I must say it is a perfect place, like it said on the statistics they fly out of six competitive days, they fly six days which is actually very unusual if you compare it with the whole world average in the Alps for example you only have 50% fly chances," Cox said. As Cox launched from the competition's take-off point, he joined in the some 150 pilots from across the globe competing this year. The Monarca Open is named after the Spanish word for the great red Monarch butterfly, that migrates to Mexico to winter. But there are more gliders than butterflies to be seen in the skies during the Open - soaring above the valley's spectacular mountain lake. These kind of views are not of the type you see every day - even for paragliding enthusiasts. The Monarca Open will come to a close on February 3.
ITN Source | February 3, 2007
