7:54am Friday 9th March 2007
By Mike Didymus
A FYFIELD gliding enthusiast who recently became a British champion is hoping the experience will help him to a European honour later this year.
Kim Tipple qualified for the European Championships by winning the open category of last year's British Gliding Assoc-iation competition.
And the 47-year-old sees his progression to the international event as a springboard to the World Championships in 2008.
He said: "There's a lot of luck involved in these competitions, but I've got the ability to win.
"I've always had a problem with an inner confidence, I've always thought that I'm not quite as good as everybody else - it's taken me 24 years to realise I'm actually quite good at this game.
"Winning the nationals last year was a huge weight off my shoulders because I could say I've done it now, I can win'."
"I'm not interested in looking at those people behind me thinking I hope they don't catch me up', I'm looking at catching the ones ahead of me now."
Kim began his association with the air by taking up hang gliding in 1983, but moved to gliding a decade later and has never looked back.
He said: "I wanted a new challenge really.
"Hang gliding became a bit uncomfortable as I got older, you don't want to always be craning your neck around and in a glider you can sit a lot more comfortably.
"I've tried a lot of sports over the years but gliding has become my favourite - it's become my life really.
"I don't really do the taking pictures thing, but I've got memories where I can just say that was incredible', like flying past the summit of Mount Cook in New Zealand and waving at the climbers. They'd taken two weeks to get up there, and I'd done it in an afternoon."
Kim is based at Lasham airfield near Alton where he is part of a syndicate which owns a two-seater glider.
But he will have to borrow a higher performance single-seat glider from a friend to take part in the European Champion-ships in August.
He said: "I'm not in a position to buy one so I'm going to be flying in the borrowed one short term at least.
"In the future I'll probably have to come back down to earth and get myself something more affordable and sensible."
"There's no money in gliding at all really, I just do it for the thrill and the pride."
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