Congrats Glen! - whilst our swimmers are winning gold in Athens & the boys are whacking the Kiwis it almost went un-noticed that Glen Dell has been crowned Advanced World Aerobatic Champion following the annual competition held this year in Sweden. This is a huge achievement but is not that remarkable to those of us who are privilged to know this really remarkable, unassuming guy. He just went out there & beat the rest of the world. Mind-blowing!
Way to go Donga! Here's a few clips, this one from the FAI website:
6th AWAC - Glen Dell wins AWAC
Glen Dell of South Africa is the new Advanced World Aerobatic Champion. Dell lives near Johannesburg. He is a pilot for South African Airways. The 6th Advanced World Championships came to a close today. The Third Unknown was not flown due to bad weather and the contest was called by Contest Director L-G Arvidsson. In the Team results, France won the FAI Gold Medal. In second was Russia followed by the Czech Republic in third place. The next AWAC is scheduled for 2006 with a location yet to be decided.
and this one from his home-town newspaper
World aerobatic champ from EC
EAST LONDON - Former Queen's College schoolboy Glen Dell won gold for South Africa just hours ahead of the opening of the Athens Olympics on Friday. Dell, a South African Airways pilot and self-confessed aviation nut, became the new Advanced World Aerobatic Champion. The week-long championships, which are held every second year, finished on Friday in Ljungbyhed, Sweden. Dell beat 62 pilots from 20 nations who took part in the competition. Dell, 42, won the South African Aerobatics Championship in June this year when it was held in East London, piloting a South African-designed and built Slick 360. Dell's parents, long-time Queenstown residents Phyllis and Arthur Dell, were full of admiration for their high-flying son. “It's just too wonderful to take in. We are really pleased. Glen has already achieved so much in life, but this is quite something," Phyllis Dell said yesterday. Glen Dell, who matriculated at Queen's College, had an overpowering interest in flying from an early age, his mother said.
4HP