| 2007 XC-OPEN - Piedrahita -The South African Ladies Paragliding Team Costs & Media Exposure |
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The 2007 Ladies Paragliding Team will have the most women South Africa has ever fielded in an international competition. Six South African Women have entered the second leg of the XC Open World Series in Piedrahita, Spain. The XC-Open 2007 World Series comprises of four cross country open distance paragliding competitions around the globe - Australia, Spain, Argentina and Mexico. Open Distance means that as a paragliding pilot you fly as far as you can for as long as you can. Your score is measured from the point you took off from to the furtherest point you flew to, measured by a GPS which each pilot is required to fly with. The XC Open 2007 World Series is the Marathon of the Skies. It is very different to the traditional Task/Speed orientated competitions where the ballsiest, most skilled pilot with the hottest wing dominates. In the XC Open, skilled pilots flying safer, slower gliders and flying consistently well, stand a chance of finishing high in the rankings. This is why we are supporting the XC Open in Spain. Except for Maryna, who we know is a tough cookie and perhaps Andrea who was sponsored by Red Bull and is probably the best female pilot to come out of South Africa to date, the rest of us fly Intermediate to Sport gliders. With that in mind we have choosen an international competition that suits our flying styles and requirements as a Team. Now we need help getting there. We are looking for a big sponsor for our South African Ladies Team. There are six of us confirmed and the cost for each individual pilot to compete overseas is R26 500, broken down as follows: What we offer in return: 1) Media Coverage. The SA Ladies Team will have it's very own Media Man covering the competition to ensure the best possible exposure for our sponsors. We are serious about giving back to our sponsors as we value their support in helping us to achieve our goals. As a Radio Presenter, Jeff Ayliffe will be supplying updates on 702 and Cape Talk sports shows.  Paraglider Branding Jeff is also an awesome photographer and will be taking photo's for Magazine and Newspaper use. 2) A six women team, in sponsor supplied branded clothing and branding on our gliders with Media coverage. 3) Daily report backs from Spain, accompanied by images on the Flygirl Website. I did this in Manilla and the Flygirl website became an international favourite for providing regular updates through daily articles and images of that XC Open event. One article alone received over 12 000 hits. Manilla Competition Updates and Photos 4) Tracey King, our Team mate, can arrange for articles to be published in two subscription based National Magazines, giving feedback on our Ladies Team achievements and thanking our sponsors. Here are three examples of our Go Fly magazine in PDF format. 5) Past Media Publicity - Women in Paragliding attract a fair amount of publicity and we will bring-it-on for our Sponsors Locally and Internationally - here are some examples of what has been achieved in the past in this respect. ANDREA JOUBERT - Former Red Bull Paragliding Pilot FLYGIRL - Paragliding Publicity - Humanitarian Aid work - The Natal Mercury Newspaper - Celebrity Race to raise funds for The Natal Mercury Hibberdene Children's Holiday Home - Femina Magazine. A 7 page article by Glynis Horning in December 1994 covering Rwandan Refugee Aid Work As with Kickboxing, Women in Competition Paragliding are still a bit of a novelty. We are few, but in February this year, Petra Slivova sent shock waves through the male element of the paragliding community by leading The Worlds Paragliding Championships, only to lose it on the final day. Petra showed us that the performance gap between male and female paraglider pilots is slowly but surely closing and that one day, a woman may win the title of Overall Champion. This Best of the Best competition is held every two years and was in Manilla, Australia for 2007. Flygirl is working towards increasing the numbers of women in Competition Paragliding, at least in South Africa. Why? Because I have found paragliding to be a life-altering experience and I would like more women to have the opportunity to experience this. Through paragliding I have re-discovered a very beautiful world, something which I lost the ability to see after my time in the Rwandan Refugee Camps of '94. Through paragliding, I am also learning to throw off the shackles of fear, day by day, month by month. It is excellent training for women who tend to fill a supportive role for their men rather than doing it for themselves. That is why it is quite unusual to find so many South African women wanting to compete on an international level. I am especially surprised by own fervour this year. I found myself desperate to go to Manilla and I am so glad I did. It was the perfect start to my international competition aspirations. Manilla as a paragliding destination will remain a firm favourite each year. At the XC Open in Australia, I was the only female South African representative. For the second leg of this series, I would like to assist five of my country women to compete in Spain in September. Paragliding is sometimes perceived to be an elite sport, but this is not true for all. Many of our most skilled and talented pilots are simply not able to compete internationally because of the high cost of airtickets, entrance fees, transport and accommodation. There is also the loss of income from our regular jobs. Through Flygirl, I am working towards removing this restriction through ongoing sponsorship in order that we may field our strongest team in competition flying - for both men and women. Maryna, Tracey, Desiree and Khobi have their sites set on The World Cup in 2009. At present, I use comps as a training ground to improve my long distance flying skills, Open Distance being my preferred discipline. Perhaps I too will be enticed to compete one day for the SA Ladies Title and represent South Africa at the Worlds. But for now I am happy to focus on flying further than any women in South Africa....regularly. We have two years to collectively lift our flying standards to a suitably competitive level and we need each other to do this. International competition experience is vital. It will take a Team effort to enable us to fulfil our ultimate goals, individually and as a Team. |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 15 June 2008 ) |
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