Can-Am Challenge Pattern Contest
Concrete Municipal Airport/ Concrete, WA
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President

The 2nd Annual Canadian American Pattern Challenge contest was held in Concrete, Washington on August 6th and 7th. John Foglesong CD'd the contest with help from his fiancée Lori. This event is held at the Concrete Airport and has a very nice runway and excellent facilities. We were able to use the pilots lounge for scorekeeping. The lounge is a very nice facility with a large living area to relax between rounds and enjoy lunch etc. There were 20 competitors with pilots in every AMA class and FAI, 6 Canadians and 14 Americans.

Concrete Competitors and their aircraft

We managed to fly 4 rounds on Saturday and 2 more on Sunday. Clear skies presented us with a bit of trouble because the sun would start to enter the box around 10:30AM and by 1 or 2PM is was pretty hard to fly! The other challenge we had was the late morning and afternoon wind. It was calm in the morning but as the temperature increased through the morning the wind increased and by noon it we were faced with a pretty respectable breeze, definitely flyable but an added challenge.

Mark Byrne flies with his custom made "sun evader" while Dave Reaville calls

We ran two flight lines and Meri was our expert scorekeeper! John's fiancée Lori works for Sound Community Bank and we were fortunate to be sponsored by the bank. This resulted in some nice perks like; custom call cards, pens, coffee cups and a fantastic feast on Saturday night. The lunches were also very impressive.

Rex Lesher and Meri Anderson pause for a photo

In addition to the 20 pattern competitors we also were joined by an IMAC pilot Kevin Miller. Kevin flew his IMAC airplane through the FAI pattern and we judged him so he could get the feel for pattern competition. We did not include his scores in the final results because his aircraft was not pattern legal but, if we had he would have won the contest! Kevin did have a great time I we hope to see him back with a pattern legal airplane next season.

Frank Capone and Hartley Hughson relax between rounds

The full standings are listed below, the Americans took 1st place in all AMA classes and the Canadians took 1st place in FAI. We had some very good competition and everyone had a great time.

Sportsman    1st Stu Pickford            4000.00 

Intermediate 1st John Wondra           4000.00 
                    2nd Andrew Beranek    3777.50
                    3rd Bill Carder              3558.34 

Advanced    1st Kody Knudtson        4000.00 
                   2nd John Foglesong        3886.21 
                   3rd Paul Bedford            3799.63 

Masters      1st Gary McCellan           4000.00 
                  2nd Frank Capone           3936.72 
                  3rd Gordon Anderson      3872.97 
                  4th Dennis Cone               3729.72 
                  5th Bill Bowen                  3727.58 
                  6th Michael Lance            3674.14
                  7th Rex Lesher                 3599.31 
                  8th Leo Katila                  3518.88 
                  9th Ray McClellan            3147.36 
                 10th Hartley Hughson        2911.13 

FAI           1st Dave Reaville              3990.45 
                 2nd Brett Bowen              3955.47 
                 3rd Mark Byrne               3652.53

Click here to see scores for all rounds.

Concrete is a pretty small community and we felt very welcome in fact the local paper had a front page article about the pattern event, this resulted in a number of spectators both Saturday and Sunday. We also had a number of students visit and Dave Reaville flew a demo flight for them while we explained the basics of RC modeling.

Gary McClellan lands his Angel after another round winning flight

Thanks to John and Lori for their gallant efforts in pulling off this event and feeding the pattern crowd! They both worked very hard throughout the weekend to keep things running smoothly. I would also like to thank Meri for her efforts in keeping up with the paperwork and scoring the event. The scorekeeper really keeps the contest moving. We all owe Harold Hanson a huge thank you for the use of this outstanding facility. Lastly thanks to the pilots for supporting this event and helping judge. Remember to come back next year and defend your country's honor!

Masters pilots Hartley, Gordon, and Frank

Meri and I were both honored by John at the close of the contest. John gave Meri a card signed by all the pilots! I was presented with a "Pattern Animal" trophy for my efforts. Thanks John! It is nice to be noticed

See you in the pits….

Click here to see more pictures!