Kelly Myrkle writes:

My biggest competitor this year in hang gliding was a girl. The
Gecko Girl Niki Longshore. Who would have thought it would have worked out this
way? The first time I competed against Niki was in The 2015 Green Swamp Sport
Klassic at Quest Air (a beginner comp that I highly recommend for anyone that
just wants to get better at flying). She beat me.

Fast forward to Green Swamp 2016 and she beat me again, along with every other
guy in the Sport Class. She was the first female to win a comp since the 90's I
believe.

I know what you're thinking, you let a girl win? The answer to that is hell no.
I never once just let her win. Fact of the matter is I tried to make it as hard
on her as possible and I wasn't going to give anything away.

The more you fly the better you get, and I thought for sure I would be leaving
her in the dust while my learning curve shot up like a rocket. But then I would
arrive into goal and see her glider already there sometimes half broken down.
This happened on many occasions.

Who is this girl and how is it that she keeps kicking my ass? She is one of the
ones that you hear about from time to time in different sports, one that just
excels beyond everyone's expectations. A girl that is cut from a different
cloth. Niki really is a full on badass, with the heart, tenacity, and drive that
rivals any guy that I know.

When she was flying her Icaro Orbiter I would be on top of her in a thermal more
times than not. But then she found the new secret weapon in hang gliding for
sport class, the Gecko. Next she went to Texas to chase some personal bests,
hone her skills and soak up knowledge from some of the top pilots in hang
gliding. This my friends is where she became even more badass.

She stepped up to the Gecko challenge. What the challenge consisted of was
breaking Redbull and Moyes pilot Jonny Durand's record 189 km open distance
Gecko flight to win a brand new Moyes Matrix race harness. Not only did she
break the distance but she went almost went 100km further to shatter the record!

Big Spring Texas 2016, she kicked my ass. The best day of the comp we had a task
of close to 100 miles, she made it and I was on the ground after 20 miles. I
found myself asking the same question, who is this girl?

First day of the Santa Cruz Flats Race I was flying a Gecko thinking I'd never
see the new Gecko Girl sticker that was on the under surface of her glider. I
spent quite sometime looking up at that sticker wondering how in the world she
got up that high. The days that we flew together it was a neck and neck race.
There was no telling who was going to get to the top of the climb first.

When I was ahead I couldn't shake her. When I was behind I had to push to keep
up. I no longer have to ask who is this girl. I know who she is and she is a
force to be reckoned with.

So my biggest competition this year was a girl and I couldn't think of a better
person for that to be. I pushed her, she pushed me and together we both rose to
new heights. Thank you #1, I'm a better pilot because of you.

This is an example of why Sport Class is so important in
competition.