Jill Borst: 23 March 1962 - 18 January 2004
The inaugural Jill Borst Memorial trophy was presented to Queenstown pilot Dominic Eller at the Wanaka Paragliding Festival in January.
Dom was nominated by the Southern Paragliding Club of Queenstown. This is what Thomas Rold, (the current NZ paragliding champion ) had to say in the submission:
Dear Fellow Paragliders!
I believe Dom to be the most inspirational person in Paragliding today because he is a teacher with a true love of flying.
He has shown people that a Paraglider can do things safely we all thought were impossible.
I would not be an active pilot were it not for Dom. I had given up on paragliding after going negative and not really being aware of what had happened, what I had done wrong and how I could make sure it didn't happen again.
Years later I came to Queenstown and watched Dom do one of his standard routines and saw that what had happened to me was not only not a problem it could be FUN!
Dom is one of the most generous people in paragliding. He freely gives his time to anyone to explain anything they don't understand and does so out of the love of flying, not purely to get another student or another tandem flight!!!
I was nominated for this prize as well. I have motivated some people into flying, but I would not be flying was it not for Dom.
He is in many ways the godfather of modern Paragliding in New Zealand.
He loves the SPORT, not the money. He flies mainly for the love of it, not to WIN.
There can be no better ambassador for why we fly than Dom.
In addition, Dom has done exceedingly well in acro competition overseas, a category of competition flying not catered for in New Zealand. An example of his achievement is flying for the Airwave team in 2001, when with German pilot Stefan Hodek, he achieved 2nd place at the Omegna International Acro competition.
Special thanks go to Carl Koberstein for designing and making the beautiful trophy out of totara and petrified wood.
