Rio de Janeiro – Three Brazilians (Thoma Frank Brown, Marcelo Prieto and Donizete Baldessar Lemos) set a new world distance record for paragliding: 514 kilometers in 11 hours of free flight. The flew over the northeast of Brazil, in the easternmost point of the Americas, with the cities of Natal and Fortaleza overlooking the Atlantic. The previous, the 503 kilometers reached in South Africa by Nevil Hulett, was set in 2008. But while the men’s world record in paragliding distance is now in the hands of Brazil, Italy resists in keeping the female world record: 377 km, established by the Friuli-native Nicole Fedele in 2013 in Brazil. But nothing prevents her from improving her own performance, as she is back in the South American country, in Quixadà, alongside seven other Italians who on October 30 will cross the ocean. The adventure goes under the name of Project +500 and is the brainchild of Moreno Palmesan, from Trento, and which involves fellow pilots Luigi Grandi, Giulio Michelin and Paolo Grigoletto from Vicenza, Lorenzo Zamprogno and Claudio Mancino from Treviso, and Eric Galas from Trento. They too chose Tacima as a starting point (a small town in the hinterland of the state of Paraiba, about 100 km from Natal). (9Colonne)
