Six 1000 point days made the Ozone edition of the SRS in Le Grand Bornand the best ever. 6 totally different tasks, each with stunning alpine lakes and rocky mountain scenery.

Baptiste Lambert was there to claim the only international title that he didn’t have – grand paragliding master of the SRS.

From the beginning, it was mission on to beat the World Champion. Flying the Delta 5, (low EN-C), didn’t make the job any easier for the other 125 competitors.

Task 1. Luke Nicol crossed the line five seconds before Baptiste, but Baptiste won on leadout points. They were a full 14 minutes ahead of the chasing gaggle.

Task 2. Baptiste managed to shed the entire lead gaggle in the Bauges by going behind the Roc des Boeufs instead of the windy side. Aurelijus Andreliunas, in second place, was fourteen minutes behind him.

Task 3. Marco Sommerfeld led the charge. Weighed down by live streaming equipment, he showed his capacity for being able to swear in three different languages but still came in a full three minutes behind Baptiste.

Task 4. Luke Nicol came in 20 seconds before Baptiste, but once again, lost out to the grand maestro on leading points.

Task 5. Matthijs Groeneveld crossed the goal line 1 second behind Baptiste – so close but not close enough.

On Thursday evening Baptiste gave a question-and-answer lecture which captured everyone’s attention and enthusiasm for the sport.

Task 6. The tactic was for those in the top ten to fly conservatively to keep the podium in sight. All the others tried to do zero to hero and go for the ultimate task win. Luke Nicol kept his place on the podium and managed to achieve mission impossible – arrive in goal four minutes ahead of the current World Champion!

A valiant effort from Luke, but one task win does not an overall winner make. Baptiste flew away with a new title to add to his collection – SRS event winner.

Mette Krum was first lady in four out of the six tasks, Lene Spaarwater and Sarah Zimmermann won the other 2 tasks.

Congrats to all the pilots and cheers from all the Ozone team!

Text: Sports Class Racing Series

Photos: Nicolas Cochet, Ruth Jessop, Joanna Di Grigoli