Leeton, New South Wales | 8–16 January 2026

Australia's summer nationals returned to Leeton in the Riverina district of New South Wales for nine days of racing across three classes. With 44 pilots entered across the 15m/Standard, 18m, and Open categories, the competition ran from 8 to 16 January 2026 and produced seven scoring days from a possible nine. The flat terrain surrounding Leeton, its reliable summer thermals, and its history as a soaring venue made it a fitting stage for a national championship, and the results across all three classes were closely contested for much of the week.

The Competition and Conditions

Seven tasks were flown and scored across the nine-day window. Task distances reflected the different performance envelopes of each class, with the 15m/Standard class flying shorter tasks while the 18m and Open classes were set longer courses, reaching 351 km on the final day. The opening task on 8 January set an early tone — a 518 km course for the 15m/Standard class, suggesting good conditions from the outset. Speeds across winning flights were generally in the range of 130–163 kph for the 15m/Standard class and up to 158 kph in the 18m class, indicative of solid but not exceptional soaring weather.

Two days were unscored, which is not unusual for a summer nationals in inland New South Wales, where stable days or overdevelopment can close the flying window.

15m/Standard Class

Matthew Scutter took the 15m/Standard title convincingly, winning six of the seven scored tasks outright and accumulating 5,920 points. Flying a SZD-56-3 Diana 2 FES, Scutter's consistency was the defining feature of his campaign. He won the opening day at 146.57 kph over 513 km and did not finish lower than second on any of the seven scoring days. On the final day, Task 9, he recorded the fastest speed of the class at 162.93 kph over 264 km.

Scott Lennon (Temora Gliding Club) flying an LS8 finished second overall with 5,296 points, a gap of 624 points to Scutter. Lennon was competitive throughout but never quite matched Scutter on his best days. Tobias Geiger (VG, Gliding Club of Victoria) rounded out the podium in third on 5,133 points in a Ventus 2ax, recovering well after a poor result on Task 3 where he placed twelfth. His win on Task 8 at 1,000 points demonstrated what he was capable of on the right day.

Fourth-placed Allan Barnes in an LS8 was close to the podium on 5,089 points, with Lisa Trotter (LT, Kingaroy Soaring Club) also worth noting as a strong competitor in ninth place overall despite a non-finish on the final day. The class had 16 starters, including Michael Strathern (280) from New Zealand's Nelson Lakes Gliding Club on an ASW20, and two Std Cirrus entries that flew the full competition.

18m Class

The 18m class was the largest of the three, with 20 starters and a number of JS3-Jet aircraft among the entries — reflecting the type's growing dominance at national level in Australia. Lumpy Paterson (Tocumwal Soaring Centre) took the title with 6,102 points in a JS3-Jet, finishing ahead of Ray Stewart (Kingaroy Soaring Club) on 5,978 points — also flying a JS3-JET. Adam Woolley (G1, Kingaroy Soaring Club) came third in a Ventus 3TS with 5,878 points.

Paterson's path to the title was not straightforward. He was placed fourth on Task 1 and fourth again on Task 3. His critical edge came on Task 7, where he scored 995 points — the highest single-day score in the class that day. Stewart, by contrast, won Task 1 and Task 5 outright but slipped back on the final day to place eleventh, which opened the door for Paterson to seal the overall win.

Geoff Brown (Beverley Soaring Society) deserves mention for placing second on Tasks 1 and 2 and winning Tasks 5 and 6 outright — he was the fastest on tasks where all three front-runners were present. However, a retirement or non-score on Task 8 and Task 9 dropped him from podium contention, eventually placing fourteenth overall. It is a reminder that in a multiday contest, consistency across the full series matters as much as speed on individual days.

The class also included visiting German pilot Uli Schwenk (HS) in an ASG 29, who flew competitively for much of the week before a DNS on Tasks 7 and 8 limited his final score.

Open Class

The Open class was the smallest field with eight starters, but it produced a closely fought contest at the front. The winning entry was Georgeson & de Chelard flying a Nimbus 4DM, who accumulated 6,167 points to take the title. Ryan Driscoll, Gliding Club of Victoria) in a Nimbus 3T at 25.5m finished second on 6,060 points — a margin of just 107 points — while Joshua Geerlings in a JS1-18m finished third with 5,941 points.

Driscoll won two tasks outright — Task 1 and Task 6 — and on Day 7 was the fastest in the field at 163 kph over the Open class course. Georgeson & de Chelard were more consistent, never finishing below fourth on any day and taking the final task win. On the last day, the order in the speed results was intriguing: Geerlings was fractionally faster than the eventual Open winner at 152.14 kph versus 151.85 kph, but the points scoring system, which accounts for the full task and starting conditions, placed Georgeson & de Chelard ahead.

Ashley Boyle (Narrogin Gliding Club) in a Jantar 2b was a notable entry — competing on older equipment and finishing fifth overall with 5,699 points, including a Task 5 win. The result underlines that pilot skill and sound decision-making continue to matter regardless of glider generation, at least when conditions allow the entire field to complete the task.

Observations

Leeton 2026 demonstrated the continuing depth of Australian competitive soaring. In the 15m/Standard class, the dominance of the LS8 across the field is striking — ten of the sixteen starters flew one variant or another. In the 18m class, the JS3-Jet has become the default choice at the front of the grid, though a Ventus 3TS and a Ventus 2cx were both competitive in the top three and nine respectively.

The presence of international pilots — Uli Schwenk from Germany in the 18m class and Tobias Geiger from the Gliding Club of Victoria (originally German) on the podium in 15m/Standard — adds an international dimension that strengthens the overall standard of results.

Full task details, daily results, and scoring information are available at soaringspot.com. tinyurl.com/y64caker