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Prize
Giving by the Neva |
| CHECKING.
Flights are over and scoring is done, but prizes cannot be given before
Jury has verified the results. Checking reveals only one dubious thing.
Result sheet claimed that competitors 1, 6, 9 and 11 had switched off
engine at the touch-and-go. Don had been watching the task and he had
not noticed that number 9, Gennady Oparin, had stopped his engine.
Report sheet from the scoring official tells otherwise. We know that steward Rick Wallace has recorded the task on video. He is chased out of bed - officials and pilots try to catch some sleep after a very short nap during the previous night - and we watch and listen the video. Oparin did not switch of his engine. Instead there was another number 9 who did: Woyjciech Bamberski, who has number 1 in this competition but who carries number 9 on both sides of his gondola. It is there from the time his father Pawel competed at the previous World Championship in year 2000. Number 1 is placed on the gondola nose. Confusing and misleading! Oparin's penalty of 100 points is removed. Nothing is added because Bamberski is already penalised as competitor #1. Ranking remains as it was, but the final results are now closer to truth. Besnard from Switzerland has won the World Championship again, it is the third time in a row. Nikolai Galkin from Russia and Koerner Eckardt from Germany win silver and bronze with only 35 point difference between them. EVENT DEBRIEFING. Jury signs its report, including comments and recommendations, and proceeds to its last duty, holding the event debriefing session, which is attended by practically everybody. Competitors, crew menbers and officials present in complete agreement that the airship competition rules could be improved and the style of competition could be made more interesting and more challenging. GPS receivers, loggers, timing devices and new technology generally are seen as a welcome change in the future of airship events. New ideas should be brought forward through BX Working Group and national delegates. "It is the responsibility of all sportsmen to contribute", says Jury President Jean-Claude Weber who chairs the session. WALK THROUGH THE FORTRESS. Championship brotherhood drives in a long convoy from Tsarskoye Selo to Peter and Paul Fortress where the Prize Giving will take place. With a milice car in front it takes only one hour. I explore the fortress before the ceremony begins. They seem to be waiting for the wind to calm down. We have done that before. |
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| A LADY MILICE
IS A LITTLE
SHY. NEVA AND MARBLE PALACE BEHIND
HER. IT WAS BUILT FOR
GRIGORY ORLOV, LEADER OF THE COUP THAT RAISED CATHERINE II TO
THRONE. NUMEROUS
MEMBERS OF THE MILICE, OMON AND REGULAR FORCES
ASSURE OUR SAFETY. THAT IS SLIGHTLY BEWILDERING. |
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| SOUTHERN GATE. I LEARNED THAT THE FIRST
HIGH-COMMANDANT OF ST. PETERSBURG WAS ROBERT BRUCE,
A SOLDIER OF SCOTTISH ORIGIN. |
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| PETER I IN THE FORTRESS HE STARTED TO BUILD IN 1703. THE
SCULPTURE IS A GIFT FROM ITS CREATOR MIKHAIL
SHEMYAKIN, WHO
AS A LENINGRAD NONCORFORMIST ARTIST WAS SENTENCED MANY TIMES TO MENTAL
ASYLUM BEFORE BEING EXILED IN 1971. THE STATUE INCORPORATES A LIFE MASK OF PETER MADE IN 1719. |
THE CEREMONY, FINALLY! |
| EVENT DIRECTOR PIT THIBO
FLANKED BY EVENT PRESIDENT DMITRY KLOKOV AND EVENT SECRETARY TATYANA
AZOVA PIT SPEAKS AND SPEAKS UNTILL THE RIGHT MOMENT COMES |
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WHEN IT FINALLY COMES HE
DECLARES: I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE THE BRONZE MEDALIST KOERNER ECKARDT
FROM GERMANY TO THE PODIUM - BUT LOOK UP BEHIND YOU, HE IS UP THERE
FLYING HIS
ARSHIP! A MOMENT LATER OPARIN AND CONTEGIACOMO ALSO FLY ABOVE RIVER NEVA. |
| JURY PRESIDENT JEAN-CLAUDE
WEBER TRIES TO PROTECT HIS CHAMPAGNE AGAINST THE FALLING GLITTER |
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| BESNARD WITH GOLD MEDAL AND THE TROPHY, GALKIN WITH SILVER
MEDAL. A MOMENT LATER THEY INVITE THEIR CREWS AND
FRIENDS ON THE PODIUM. |
Fireworks! It is over! CLICK DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE IMAGE, IT IS LINKED TO 12 PHOTOS |
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