Jill Borst: 23 March 1962 - 18 January 2004
The second Jill Borst Memorial trophy was presented to Grant Mittendorf (Middy) at the Wanaka Paragliding Festival in January.
One of New Zealand's top paraglider pilots, Middy was nominated for the award for an outstanding cross country flight. On the 17th October 2005, Middy took off from Snow Farm near Wanaka, and landed 142.7km later, at the MacKenzie Pass near Fairlie. In doing so he not only smashed the paragliding distance record for New Zealand, but missed breaking the hang gliding record by a whisker! Here is his account of the flight.
Middy, aside from being a top pilot, is a person who always has time to help and encourage other pilots, qualities he shared with Jill, making him a very worthy recipient of this year's award.
Andy Maloney, Mark Hardman and Grand Middendorf at presentation. Photo: Teresa Kovacs
