The European Cross-country Paragliding Championship has opened with a parade of the pilots through the streets of Montalegre in Portugal to receive warm greetings from the President of the Portuguese Free Flight Federation (FPVL), which is organising the event, the Town President and a kind video welcome message from the country’s Minister of Sport.

The first day consisted of a test task where the competitors were required to fly almost 48km to goal, with the majority of pilots reaching the landing site in Montalegre without problems.

Joachim Oberhauser demonstrated his expertise on this practice task, leading the first group of pilots to goal and he was closely followed by Biagio Vitale and Marco Busetta: all three pilots from Italy.

The official first task is programmed for Wednesday 18th July with the competition running for the following ten days… Some of the best 150 Pilots in Europe, from 28 countries are competing in a bid to be crowned European Champion.

Web site:  http://europg2018.pt/