The great winged beast turned to the morning sun and launched from the field. Soon it caught a lift from a thermal current and rode it high above the floodplain below. The rivers and boulders and trees quickly blended into the distance.
With no need for either engine or motor, the white beast glided along with just the silence of the air currents for company. But soon a wedge-tailed eagle climbed to its side, stared at it with a wary eye, and wondered just what to think of its decidedly strange cousin.
In its cockpit sat Tocumwal’s own Lumpy Paterson, who last week took home first place in the 18m class of the 2024/25 Australian Gliding Championships at Lake Keepit, Tamworth.
At the championships, held from November 25 to December 4, Mr Paterson, 56, won the entire 18m class on cumulative points, in addition to several of the individual race days themselves.
With a final score of 4319, Mr Paterson placed first out of a pool of 12 competitors from across the nation.
Mr Paterson, who first took to the skies in a glider as a 12-year-old in Western Australia, said he never dreamed he’d become the national champion.
“To have that as a culmination of basically a lifelong dream of being in a sport was very exciting,” he said.
He said he loved gliding, and added that it offered a unique way to see the world.
“It’s a pretty exhilarating sport,” Mr Paterson said.
Indeed, gliding has been a passion of Mr Paterson’s ever since he first laid eyes on gliders when his family moved to the western state.
“I saw gliders going around, and thought, ‘I’ve got to go give this a try’,” he said.
After saving up enough pocket money to purchase his own glider and licence, he took his first solo flight at just 15 years.
He said he flew his friends around in a glider before he could drive them in a car.
After a 20-year hiatus, Mr Paterson returned to competitive gliding in 2016 when he entered into that year’s national gliding championships.
In his time, Mr Paterson has racked up an impressive resume. Since 2018, he has held the Australian record for the fastest mean speed in a 1000km unpowered flight at 148km/h. At Uvalde, Texas, he claimed first and third place in multiple days of racing in the 2024 World Gliding Championships.
For the past several years, Mr Paterson and his partner have operated the Tocumwal Soaring Centre.
“I work in an industry that I love, and I’m fortunate to be able to go gliding most days,” he said.
Mr Paterson will be joining the winner of the open class, Allan Barnes, at the 2026 World Championships in Poland to once again represent his country.
The Tocumwal Soaring Centre offers a range of high-flying courses and programs aimed at beginners all the way through to masters of the sport.
For more information on the centre’s programs and courses, visit tinyurl.com/yx7xv9ze, the centre’s Facebook page, or contact the centre through email@tocumwalsoaring.com