Mathieu Roanet recently returned from the European Championships in Lomza, Poland. This is his comp report, in his words:

"The tasks were really interesting, and I think their variety gave us accurate results / podium at the end. The weather was not always good, sometimes raining, and in the end there were only 6 tasks, which is the minimum required for a Championship event, and the average is generally 10 to 12 tasks.

The French team was largely new this year, with many young pilots that were new to the scene. Alexandre Mateos and his sister Coralie were there for their first international competition, Alex flew a Viper 20m (he’s 16 and still very small) and Coralie flew her Rush Power. They did well for their first major comp. A few beginner mistakes put them a little low in the final standing but just a little bit more experience will put them at the top I think. I was impressed from the first day with their performance in spot landing precision, and they scored maximum points in this category even in turbulent air. They also performed well in the slalom events. The first task was spot landing, with some very turbulent conditions, and some gliders had closures (collapses) on the approach. Second was a speed task in a limited time, and here of course the fastest gliders were the wings with reflex profiles. Third task was an incredible race with pylons - it was an economy task where you had to turn a maximum number of times around the pylons. I finished second, just after a 4 stroke motor which has a clear advantage in this fuel consumption task. It was incredible to fly with 40 gliders in the same area, same direction, at the same time!  This was for sure the funnest task of the competition. The fourth task was a Japanese slalom; I finished second again, and Alex did well also, his Viper 20 is highly maneuverable and turns in a small radius. Fifth was an economy task, with a maximum number of turnpoints to reach. I made a big mistake on this task, and could not find the thermals I was expecting under the huge cumulus streets. I made a radical choise to follow the clouds, which was not a wise choice on this day. It was a big mistake, resulting in no sanction for the task for me, which was 400 points. Therefore, my overal result of third place is quite acceptable, considering this error. The sixth task was a minimum speed / maximum speed just after. Here also French team did well, and could maintain their overall second place ranking. At the end, The French team took the silver medal. This is a great result, considering that there were only 2 well experienced pilots in the team, and all of the others were new competitors! I was the first French, and 3rd overall.

The next Ozone pilot in the ranking was Alex Mateos. Even though he is only 16 years old, he was 17th overall in his first international competition. This is very impressive."

Excellent work Mathieu, and everyone! A special congratulations to the Mateos family: we're sure that this will become a major name in the worldwide PPG competition scene! Cheers from all the Team.