In recent paramotor news, the first ever long-distance paramotor adventure race has come to an end. Paramotor pilots from the around the world had a chance to compete in the first Icarus Trophy.
The Icarus Trophy is the world’s longest powered paraglider race, at one thousand miles. Pilots started out on October 12th from Eatonville, Washington. The grueling race was expected to end 10 days later, on October 22nd, in Valley Springs, California. However, things did not go as expected. The two first place winners crossed the finish line seven days early, and within minutes of each other.
The Icarus Trophy had two different classes: the supported class, where racers had ground support, and the unsupported class, where racers were completely on their own. As to be expected, pilot Kristan Fischer of the supported class was the first person to the finish line. David Wainwright of the unsupported class finished only minutes later. Fischer and Wainwright both completed this one thousand mile adventure race in only three days’ time.
Several racers did not complete the race due to equipment failure and injury, but overall the race was a success. The majority of competitors completed the race on the tenth day, as expected, with one racer finishing on the eleventh day.
The popularity of paramotor sports is on the rise and new competitions are being created to give paramotor pilots the chance to show their skills. If you are a competition level pilot applications are new being accepted for the 2016 Icarus Trophy.
Final standing and photos can be found here.
Daily reports and more photos are here.
