The event, organised by the FlyBadajoz club with launches alternating between the east and west launches on the summit and the Cabeza de Buey hill, saw altitudes of up to 2,700 metres and thermals of 3 to 5 m/s throughout the week. Several pilots beat their personal bests, although the competition’s all-time records were not broken.
The title was decided on the final task. Bonilla came back strongly after hitting the speed bar at kilometre 50, turned south-east and crossed the Sierra de Segura from end to end before landing near Albacete, with an official flight of 311.6 km. That result gave him the championship by the narrowest of margins: he finished level on points with Dani Rizo, who did not bomb out once all week but flew 60 km less in total. Bonilla, by contrast, had lost several minutes sinking out and relaunching several times the previous day.
Overall results 2026 Spanish Paragliding XC Championship
- Pau Bonilla (Niviuk X-One) — 752.1 km, 2,929 points
- Dani Rizo (BGD Diva 2) — 691 km, 2,929 points
- Víctor Aguilera (Niviuk X-One) — 722.4 km, 2,891 points
- Alberto Martín (Ozone Zeno 2) — 700.4 km, 2,890 points
- Jonatan Sastre (Ozone Zeno 2) — 593.5 km, 2,491 points
Andalusian pilot Víctor Aguilera completed the podium after winning the first task and staging a comeback on the last one after sinking out at launch. Only two pilots flew a CCC wing (Niviuk X-One) throughout the event, while the rest of the overall ranking was contested on EN-D and EN-C wings, categories won by Dani Rizo and Ángel Ignacio Martínez (Axis Vega 6) respectively. In EN-B, Laia Luz (Niviuk Ikuma 3) was the fastest.
The week’s routes took pilots north, across the Montes de Toledo to Gredos, Piedrahíta and Villatoro, and also east towards Cuenca and Albacete. The long distances flown meant night-time retrieves, which in some cases went on until four in the morning.
The event is also known as Driu-Power in tribute to Andrés Sánchez “Driu”, the Extremaduran tandem paratrike world-record holder and one of the great figures of free flight in the region, who passed away in 2021. The Zarza-Capilla launch bears his name, and each edition turns the town’s sky into a tribute to him once again.
+Info: rfae.es
