The final day of the 2026 Australian Two-Seat Nationals at Narromine produced a solid cross-country task to close out what had been a well-contested week. Task 7 was set as a three-hour Assigned Area Task routing crews northwest to Nyngan Airfield, south to Tullamore, then northeast to Trangie before returning home to Narromine. The declared task distance was 205.69 km, though with the assigned area cylinders in play the achievable range extended out to 513.14 km, with competitors ultimately averaging around 354.68 km flown.
The Day's Racing
Paterson and Thomsen from Tocumwal Soaring Club flying an Arcus M out of, took the day outright with a handicap-corrected speed of 141.40 kph over 424.21 km in 2 hours 58 minutes, earning the full 1,000 points on offer. It was a well-timed flight that squeezed just under the three-hour window, and the result will have been welcomed by a crew that had been sitting eighth overall going into the day.
Barnes, Medlicott and White from Lake Keepit in — one of two three-person crews in the field — came second on the day flying their DG1001, covering 384.66 km at 128.20 kph to score 962 points.
Third place was shared between Edwards and Taylor and Jansen and Scott (GEM), both flying ASG 32Ms with essentially identical handicap-adjusted speeds of 133.40 kph and 133.38 kph respectively, each scoring 869 points. Given the ASG 32M carries one of the higher handicaps in the field at 1065, those scores reflect genuinely strong distance flown — both crews covered just over 400 km.
Further back, Davison and Campbell brought their DG1001 home fifth on the day at 119.43 kph for 828 points, followed by Atkinson and Smith in CHA who averaged 128.77 kph in their Arcus M for 821 points.
Two crews, Marel and McIlroy (BSC) and Jurotte and Brassier (GKX), did not fly on the final day, recording DNFs.
The Overall Result
When the totals were tallied across all seven tasks, Jansen and Scott from Kingaroy Soaring Club in took the national title with 5,001 points, flying an ASG 32M. Their consistency across the week proved the deciding factor, with a comfortable margin at the top despite not winning the final day outright.
Edwards and Taylor in finished second overall on 4,873 points, also flying an ASG 32M from Lake Keepit. The two Lake Keepit crews had a strong week, with Barnes, Medlicott and White in GGT rounding out the podium on 4,814 points.
Gage and Cubley in a Duo Discus from Benalla held fourth overall on 4,616 points, ahead of the three-crew entry of GoreBrown, Williams and Kudzius in on 4,560 points.
The two Arcus M entries from Kingaroy (Butch and Sundance) and (Atkinson and Smith) — were separated by just a single point in the final standings, with 4,522 to 4,521. Across a seven-task competition that kind of margin comes down to a very small decision made somewhere over central New South Wales, and it will no doubt be a conversation replayed more than once on the drive home.
Bennett and Bennett in, flying a DG505 for Hunter Valley, competed hors concours and finished on 4,068 points — a score that would have placed them well within the competitive field had they been formally entered.
At the other end of the standings, Thompson and Boulter in and Marel and McIlroy in closed the competition on 2,338 and 1,927 points respectively, with Jurotte and Brassier in GKX finishing on 1,800.
Some Notes on the Week
The task design on Day 7 was characteristic of good AAT setting in the central west — three cylinders of generous radius giving crews real decisions to make about how far to push into each area given the conditions. The spread of distances flown on the day, from just over 309 km at the lower end to 424 km at the top, shows the task was genuinely open and that crew decisions mattered.
The glider fleet across the competition covered a reasonable range of modern two-seaters. The Arcus M, with its 1055 handicap, was the most common high-performance type, while the older DG500 and DG505 entries faced a steeper climb against the more modern 32M. The ASG 32M with a handicap of 1,065 proved itself taking the top two positions.
Narromine is a world class venue for cross-country soaring competitions, with the flat terrain of the central-western plains allowing for well-spread tasks and a landing field never far away when conditions tighten up late in the day.
Full results at Soaring Spot tinyurl.com/2seatnats
