Four members of the Royal Marines and Royal Navy went to Colombia to compete in the 2025 British Paragliding Winter Open.
In the winter in Europe, the sun isn’t strong enough to produce the thermals which pilots use to gain altitude therefore the competition is held in the southern hemisphere. The team arrived on 12 January, with three days of flying before the competition started which allowed the pilots to brush up on their cross country skills and learn the area. The pilots went to Colombia with various degrees of experience, with one having competed for team GB and for another this was their second competition. Between them all they flew 3000km over 150 hours.
The competition consisted of seven tasks, one for each day. After the morning brief on the mountain the team had 1.5 hours to plan the best route to take, update their flight instruments, complete final checks of their kit, launch and fly to the start line.