The weather forecast was very encouraging and an eighty km task was set. Even though the cloud remained stubbornly on the launch, we were getting reports of blue sky in the valley. Once the cloud cleared enough to launch, it became clear that the conditions were pretty poor with a pretty heavy upper cloud layer. Thoughts of optimal starts were abandoned and the best place to be was on the mountains. Once in the flats the going was very slow, and every climb was milked dry. After La Victoria, Victor Aguilera, Luis Pol and Pepe Malecki broke away directly towards Obanda. Victor and Luis maintained their lead of several kilometres through the first two turnpoints, where the vast majority of the other pilots got stuck and landed. Victor continued alone south towards Zarzal, to be eventually followed, about 25 minutes later by Carlos Lopes, Raphael Oerer and Cesar Urrego who patiently worked their way to Zarzal in the difficult conditions to eventually overfly Victor. Cesar made it furthest to seal the task win, despite Victor taking all the leading points, and this was enough for him to win the whole competition.

Results can be found here: https://airtribune.com/srs-2026-1/results

Well done to today’s winner, Luis Pol Bernal, to first lady Rasa Grigoraitiene and to team BGD
Before the start, things were looking ominous; the sky had rapidly filled in and the whole valley was shaded.
But five minutes before the start things opened up, and good climbs started popping everywhere.
The first turnpoint passed without drama, but the second turnpoint in the mountains south of Roldanillo proved more problematic, and some pilots found themselves grovelling below the low windy ridges, before managing to get established again.
After that, it was classic Roldanillo climb and glide up to the Northerly turnpoint beyond Obanda, and back down the low hills to Zarzal, where a booming climb was the last of the race. The winners left the climb very early, relying on the smoke plume from the sugar cane factory to lift them on their way to ESS and then goal.
Well done to the 69 pilots who made goal.

Well done to today’s winners, Isaac Michel, leading lady Magdalena Janaway and top team Panamerica Vuela.
Today’s task was a 62km race south with a long leg back north to goal.
The start cylinder stretched right across the valley giving options to start the race on either side of the valley.
Those who crossed the valley to take the start found that there were plenty of really good climbs and nice clouds to lurk under. But, as the start opened, 3m/s climbs turned into 0.1m/s and they had to patiently work everything that came their way. Things got weaker and more shaded until they passed Zarzal, where the shady valley suddenly started to work with birds climbing everywhere. This huge release got those on the east side of the valley really high, and the race was on between those on the west of the valley and those on the east.
However, just before the most southerly turn point the race turned into a final death glide for everyone, from east to west as peals of thunder were heard in the mountains.
The retrieve back to Roldanillo, in a range of farming vehicles, was an exchange of mud stories.
The scores are now online at: https://srs.live/task.

We had a great first task yesterday. Well done to the winners: Team Gin 2, Jhojan Styven Marin Orozco and Summer Barham.

A 64km task got the competition off to a flying start. The task started with a fairly challenging start cylinder, giving the pilots the choice between staying reliably high on the terrain but far away from the start line, or trying to find thermals in the flats early in the day to wait close to the line. Once started, progress was easy to the northerly turnpoints, with booming thermals and easy climbs. The same applied on the southerly leg, and it was possible to push hard through the regular, strong thermals. At Zarzal, however, things changed and it was necessary to change gear and start grovelling in the weak, shady thermals. The smokestack of the sugar cane factory provided smelly relief, but got us high enough to take the southerly turnpoint and glide into goal. Well done to the 67 pilots who made goal, better luck today to those who didn’t.