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2008 Scale Aerobatics Nationals
2008 Scale Aerobatics Nationals—What a Show!
| With over a year in the planning, the 2008 Scale Aerobatics Nationals has been deemed by many as the best Nats ever! Contest directors Craig Knight and myself (Lee Prevost), and contest co-ordinator Bob Hudson, pulled out all the stops as we hosted this three day event at the beautiful Cambrian RC Flyers field in Azilda Ontario (near Sudbury). |
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| Registrations totalled over 52 pilots from Quebec and Ontario, and all classes from Basic to Unlimited were represented in good numbers with the largest classes being Basic, Sportsman and Unlimited which bodes well for the future of IMAC and scale aerobatics in general! |
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| Opening ceremonies included the President of MAAC- Mr.Richard Barlow, the Northern Ontario Zone Director- Mr.Kevin McGrath, and the North Central IMAC Regional Director-Mr.Bob Hudson. After the national anthem was played, these three in addition to the contest directors had a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially kick off the event. |
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| The Cambrian flying field is, according to the MAAC president, of world class status and this was made possible through the tremendous efforts of some special individuals from the Cambrian club. This included president Grant Mackay, vice president Kent Fabbro, club members Brian Wright, Gilbert Rowe, Fred Pella, Brendan Grace, John Goddard and Dave Nicholls who literally spent weeks at the field expanding the runway and parking areas, painting , adding fences, water tanks etc. A tremendous job fellows! |
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| Friday was the “fly ‘till you die” day as Craig and I wanted to get in three full rounds from every class. With the help of Brendan Grace and Kevin McGrath as flight line co-ordinators the first round went off in record time. Then the rains came! We managed to fly in between rain delays until 5 o’clock and called it a day with two rounds in for all classes except Advanced and Intermediate. |
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| A great Italian dinner at the field was organized by my wife Kathy. With help from Mimi Knight, Lisa MacKay, Gilbert Rowe, Rino Zorzi, Kathy and Lindsay Grace, Stelly Wright and a host of other volunteers, we fed over 80 people. Many took note of the Quebec pilots who know how to dine in style. They even brought real cutlery and wine glasses—classy! |
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| Saturday the weather was much better and flying started at 8:30am sharp. The second round for the two classes was done first with Basic flying round three. Then we flew the 1st round of unknows. Yes-the 1 st round! We had planned from the beginning to fly two rounds of unknowns at the nationals, which is possible given three days. However because of the rain on Friday it was decided later in the day to toss out the 2 nd unknown for Sunday…which made for a very relaxing and enjoyable banquet! |
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| The crowds that came to watch were estimated at over 1000 people. Advertising duties by club member Don Huntington had obviously worked! As it was windy, we didn’t fly the planned round one of freestyle, but one pilot-Nicolas Pinzon, put on a terrific freestyle routine that left everyone crying for more. By the end of the day all classes had three rounds of knowns and the unknown (Basic with 4 knows since they don’t have an unknown). |
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| The banquet hall looked beautiful and the prize tables were awash with donations from our many sponsors. A special award was given to Andrew Coholic by the President of MAAC. This was his induction into the MAAC hall of fame. His achievements are many and varied and his tears of joy were echoed by many. |
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| Next was a special award given to Bob Hudson by Sam Fillipelli-the “Bob Hudson Achievement Award for Canadian Scale Aerobatics”. This is a perpetual plaque that will be given to those who promote and are exemplary in the field of Canadian IMAC. Bob of course is the 1 st name on the list! |
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| Following a terrific meal, awards were given first to the many volunteers who helped make this event special. Next were pilot prizes donated by a who’s who of RC companies. A full list of sponsors is to follow. All in all, a very enjoyable evening! |
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| Sunday dawned bright and sunny and flying started at the civil time of 9:00am . A last round of knows was flown by all and then we had a freestyle competition that blew away the over 1000 spectators again on site. Terrific awards were given from 1 st to third place with a few surprises noted. Full details on the winners can be found at www.peneloperc.com |
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| So another Nationals is done and it goes without saying that it would not be possible without having dozens of people behind the scenes. To all the women who slaved in the food area all weekend notably Stelly Wright, Linda Rowe, Lisa MacKay, Isabella Wulthrich, Terry Huntington (great chili!), Julie (from Azure Hobbies-great gal) a huge thank you! |
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| Impound and raffle duties were once again masterfully done by D.B. MacKay and Dave Deluca. Parking duties and all around site co-ordinator Gilbert Rowe was busy with the huge crowds. Lindsay Grace and her boyfriend were terrific as scribes, and Brian Wright was our terrific sound man all weekend. To everyone who helped out, and to our terrific sponsors-notably Penzoil Ten Minute Oil Change (on Regent) and Apex Business Machines and Supplies…a huge thank you! |
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Lee Prevost/Craig Knight
CD-Canadian Scale Aerobatics Nationals-Aug 1-3, 2008
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