Challenge Cup finds a permanent home

Stories

Last season, Urs Haari won the Cross Country Cup in the Sport Class (paragliders up to EN C) of the Swiss Cross Country Championships for the fifth time. According to the rules of the Swiss Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SHV), the pilot who wins this Challenge Cup three times in a row or five times in total is allowed to keep it. Urs achieved the latter. His achievement is particularly extraordinary in view of the fact that in four of his victories the now almost 56-year-old flew the latest version of the NOVA MENTOR, i.e. an EN B category glider.

For more than three decades, Urs Haari from Dallenwil in the Engelberg valley, Switzerland, has been one of the best paraglider pilots in the world. As long ago as 1992 he achieved a world record open distance flight of 227.7 km – in those days a nearly incomprehensible distance. He broke this barrier with the NOVA PHANTOM, the “original” PHANTOM. For many years, Urs flew successfully in the Swiss national team before focusing on cross-country flying. And always very successfully. In the 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020 season, Urs won the sports class of the Swiss Cross Country Cup (wings up to EN C). Except in 2018, he always flew a standard class glider (EN B - called "Fun & Safety" by the SHV), i.e. a glider with an apparent performance disadvantage.

Urs was so successful in covering kilometres that the points he scored were enough for top rankings in the open class (up to CCC) – as if a passenger car was suddenly admitted to Formula 1 racing:
• 2012/13 2nd place overall open class with a MENTOR 3 (EN B)
• 2013/14 1st place overall open class with a MENTOR 3 (EN B)
• 2017/18 5th place overall open class with a SECTOR (EN C)
• 2018/19 5th place overall open class with a MENTOR 6 (EN B)
• 2019/20 4th place overall open class with a MENTOR 6 (EN B)

Urs Haari is not one of those pilots who have arranged their lives in such a way that they can take advantage of practically any halfway promising weather forecast. He has been self-employed with his company High Adventure since 1994, so he has to choose his flying days carefully. He develops his own products (for example the legendary BEAMER Rogallo emergency parachute) and is the Swiss importer and distributor of many well-known brands like NOVA, Woody Valley, Kortel, Naviter and Flytec. So, he is not only a world-class pilot, he is also an expert in time-management.

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Urs Haari allowed to keep the Swiss Sports Class "Cross Country Cup"

Challenge Cup finds a permanent home