Nico Sand, Leo Geary Memorial Trophy 2019 winner

Nicolas Sand says:

"For someone coming from a flat country like Belgium, I have strangely always been attracted to mountains and heights and how to play around those. After almost a lifetime of climbing, then moving to slackline and highline, I got into paragliding shortly after settling in Queenstown. And I quickly fell in love with the sport, it is such an unique feeling to be able to go out and fly with so little gear and discover new places from the unique perspective of the sky. One thing about paragliding that makes me thrive so much is the apparently endless room for progression and learning. Whether it is about technical flying skills, meteorology, risk management, finding the right mental space, etc.

"Now, just two years after getting my license, it is a huge honor (and surprise) to receive the Leo Geary award at the end of this year national competition in Nelson. Flying a competition is a great experience for any pilot of any level, discovering new sites and learning a lot from all those incredible pilots around.

"The Leo Geary prize is such an encouragement for new pilots to keep learning and progressing, I am looking forward to dive further into paragliding, whether it's XC or acro or sharing those experiences through instructing and tandem.

"A huge thank you to all people putting time and effort into the sport, none of this would happen without them! And also to all instructors, mentors, pilot friends, etc. for sharing their passion."

From Kris Ericksen:

There were two strong contenders for the Leo Geary Award this year. Nico Sand, however, clinched the award by getting to goal on the third task: http://xc.highcloud.net/tracklog_map.html?trackid=25273&comPk=262&tasPk=1132 Here are all his competition tracklogs: http://xc.highcloud.net/pilot.html?pilPk=2818

Nico moved to New Zealand in 2017 and started to learn paragliding shortly after arriving here.

Back to Leo Geary Trophy page.

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