Friday, September 8, 2006

Utah pilot declared national champion

Dadam wins paragliding competition at Bald Mountain

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Canadian pilot Ryan Letchford hauls his glider after landing near Trail Creek Road on Friday in the U.S. Paragliding National Championships at Bald Mountain. Letchford was given a ride back to Ketchum by an Idaho Mountain Express photographer and reporter. Photo by Willy Cook

A glider pilot from Utah was named national champion following a week of paragliding flights last week off Bald Mountain near Ketchum.

After the points from five competition tasks were tallied up, Matt Dadam, of Salt Lake City, was at the top of the leader board of the U.S. Paragliding National Championships that concluded Saturday, Sept. 2.

Australian pilot Brian Webb placed second, and David Prentice of Albuquerque, N.M. finished third.

Nearly 100 pilots competed in the event. Canadian pilot Nicole McLearn was the top woman competitor.

Event organizer Chuck Smith said five competition tasks are the most ever completed in the national championships. Total distance flown also set a new record, he said. The five courses flown totaled 460 kilometers (285.2 miles).

One competition task, that took pilots from Bald Mountain to Ellis, a small town north of Challis, was the longest ever in a national competition. Twelve pilots successfully made the 125 kilometer (77.5 mile) flight.

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"It was one of the most successful, if not the most successful national competition ever," said Smith, the owner operator of Fly Sun Valley, a Ketchum paragliding business.

"This competition certainly put Sun Valley on the map, nationally and internationally, for paragliding," he said. "I think you'll see a lot more paragliding coming to the area. Hawaii is famous for surfing, and now Sun Valley, along with other things, will be known for its great flying."