Hangliding is ‘freedom like no other’ for Dalby competitors

FOR the experienced hang gliders competing in this year’s Dalby Big Air competition it’s hard to describe the sport they have grown to live and breathe.

Dalby Hang Gliding Club president Bruce Crerar said the experience of flying through the air was “freedom like no other”.

“The sport absorbs you fully… everything else in life is forgotten,” Bruce said.

“It’s airborne chess.”

About 60 competitive gliders from around the world took to the sky for the first day of the annual competition at the Dalby Aerodrome on Sunday.

One of them was fifth world-ranked Australian Glen Macfarlane.

“It (hang gliding) is an escape…you have to entirely focus on where you are at the time,” he said.

“It’s a thinking man’s game.”

Glen discovered hang gliding when he was windsurfing in Newcastle 20 years ago.

“I looked up at them in the sky and thought ‘one day’,” he said.

It wasn’t until seven years ago that Glen explored his curiosity and joined a hang gliding school.

“I was infected by it immediately,” he said.

Glen has since competed at locations across the world, and though most of his flights have been over coastlines, Glen said he has grown to love the open plains of country areas like Dalby.

Though other competitors are looking in his direction as the one to watch, Glen said his strategy for the seven-day competition was to be consistent.

“It’s about flying efficiently, not fast,” he said.

Hang gliders will adorn the Western Downs skies until the last day of competition on Sunday.

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