For two weeks in early April, southeastern Tennessee will be the center of the glider universe -- or at least the Western Hemisphere.
But there has been a change in location.
Chilhowee Gliderport in Polk County still is hosting the first-ever Pan American Gliding Championships, but the flights will be starting and ending at the McMinn County Airport in Athens because of weather-related runway issues at the Benton facility.
Practice days for the 27 pilots from the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina are set for April 3-5, and the competition will run April 6-17. That allows for rainout days, but the nature of the sport requires a good deal of time anyway.
As a recent news release stated, the event is "a series of cross country speed challenges" in which the pilots use air currents to keep their crafts aloft. The gliders, which measure up to 15 meters in wingspan, will be towed into the sky from noon to 2 or 2:30 p.m. each day and land again about 5 or 5:30.
One of the competitors will be Jason Arnold, a co-owner of Chilhowee Gliderport with his wife, Sarah. She is the organizer of the event, or else she would give it a female participant.
Francois Pin of Knoxville, a member of the U.S. Soaring Team, and Fernando Silva from the Atlanta area are among the other entries. Seven current or recent national champions from the four countries represented will be in East Tennessee for the first Pan-Ams.
"For years and years they've had regional and national competitions in the U.S., competing in the American system," Sarah Arnold said. "Then there's the FAI, the international governing body, which holds world competitions in the even years and also allows continental championships in the odd years."
Europe has had continental glider tournaments for three and a half decades, but this is the first time for such an event in the Americas. The next one will be held somewhere in Argentina in two years, and it will return to the U.S. two years after that.
"It's exciting to be able to have a world-class competition in the years between world championships, using the same rules and procedures," said Colin Mead, the U.S. Soaring Team captain.
"There's been interest in the U.S. and Canada in being able to have an event like this for quite some time, but I guess I was the first organizer to step up and make a bid to hold one," Sarah Arnold said.
She grew up in British Columbia but came to Calhoun, Tenn., in 2001 to work at a group home for troubled teenagers. She went to work at the gliderport in 2002 and became the owner in 2004.
Chilhowee Gliderport has been offering glider rides and instruction since the early 1970s, Arnold said.
"The runway is supposed to be ready again about the first of May," she said. "Once it gets firmed up and finished out, we're looking forward to another good flying season."
Sarah won the sports class nationals in 2011, making the U.S. team, and competed in the 2012 World Championships in Argentina in January 2013. She earned a bronze medal in the women's worlds in France that July.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.