Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Champs vs Cubs - The Way It Really Happened

The winner of this year's challenge, Champs vs Cubs, is Team Cub.  As hard as it is for me to say that, it's true.  It was close though.
When the fly-in Friday kicked off, Champs and Cubs arrived from all directions.  But, it was difficult to know who was in the lead.  Up front, two of our sponsors, Sporty's with their Legend Cub, and Cub Crafters with their Carbon Cub, appeared to stake a claim.  Yet, along the tree line were quite a few Champs pitching tents for the long haul.
When Saturday rolled around we began the effort of getting all the N#s on the board.  One by one the owners walked over to make their mark.  When they were done it was a tie in all categories.   No joke.  What are the chances of that?
Champs vs Cubs in the "purebreds" category and Champs vs Cubs in the "all variants" category were even Stephen.  None of us could believe it.  Then we began to wonder how we'd handle a tie.  What would we do to break it?   Our concerns disappeared as the last few hours of Saturday ticked by.
Late in the day, after the smallest possible window of weather that could trash a fly-in had happened, the sun popped out and two planes appeared on the horizon.  Bringing up the rear, undaunted by the mid-day rain, came Amy Gesch in her Cub "The Oklahoma Kid", and Jody Bradt flying the latest greatest machine from one of our sponsors, American Champion Aircraft.
Seeing these two arrive made us all smile.  Aviators with decades of flying under their belt had allowed a little patch of clouds stop them from coming to the event.  But these two fine folks of the next generation of aviation made it.   They stopped and started and kept heading our way until the weather had passed and they could arrive under clear skies.  That's the spirit of aviation.
The arrival of these two planes did something else for the event.  It broke the tie.  Amy's Cub put the "purebreds" into the lead and the Xtreme Decathalon, with Jody at the helm, placed Champs "all variants" into the lead of that category.
Of course, since Cub owners had already squeaked out a victory in the t-shirt phase of the challenge, the win in the "purebreds" category gave them two out of three for the overall win.  American Champion, along with the Champs and their "all variants," put together a great effort.  But, in the end it was Jody Bradt who allowed chivalry to get the best of him by refusing to ditch that slow Cub.  By placing his jacket across the puddle of clouds, he allowed the winning plane to step easily into the event.  A plane which happened to be a Cub.***
Jody and Amy
 
*** This is how I perceived the events mentioned above.  It is possible, although the chances slim, that my perception was influenced by a passion for Champs.

PeeEss - Team Cub actually owes their win to Amy G.  She single handedly drug you across the finish line (T-shirt and Purebred category) and I hope all of you take the next opportunity you have to thank her for giving life to your team.

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