Three teams from Idaho competed in this year’s ARC Air Derby.
· Wendy Frazer and Mimi Steel
· Cheryl McCord and Mollie O’Marah
· Sherry Kandle and Doug Kandle
The Air Derby allows teams to plan their own route of five legs, each at least 65 nm. Waypoints are flown over and one landing is required. Each team sets their own time for each leg of the route, and it can be flown any day within the 10-period. Scoring uses the ForeFlight track log recorded by the team. Winners have the lowest absolute deviations for the legs.
You might be familiar with the Air Race Classic, the annual women’s 2,400-mile cross-country race. The Air Derby was organized by the same group during COVID. It has proved to be quite popular and is now an annual event. https://derby.airraceclassic.org/
See the 2024 ARC Derby in Review video.
Wendy and Mimi won best team name, Cheryl and Mollie won 2nd place on the 1st leg, and Sherry and Doug were awarded “Dedicated Team” for their years of support of Air Race Classic. Doug has scored the Air Race Classic for many years. Sherry is on the board and has raced many times.
The winner of the Air Derby is not the fastest flyer. The morning of the race, each team submits a detailed flight plan. The objective is to arrive at each waypoint at a precise time, not the fastest time.
Cheryl McCord and Mollie O’Marah completed the 2024 Air Derby on October 6, 2024.
The route Mollie and Cheryl flew started at Orchard (south of Boise) and then to Buhl, Lake Walcott, north to a turn at Laidlaw Corral and back to Burley for landing. After lunch, they flew from Burley north to a turn at Richfield on to Wendell, and then back to the starting point at Orchard.
The scenery is quite varied and beautiful across the Snake River Plain of Idaho. There are the deserts of grass and sagebrush, and the Snake River canyon that widens at Hagerman and then narrows its rugged lava rock walls to be spanned by the by Perrine Bridge at Twin Falls. There is Shoshone Falls and the flat spans of farmland marked with green and golden rectangles and circles. Lake Walcott spreads out for miles, and to the north of the lake and Burley, it isn’t far to the black, patterned lava flows coming from the Craters of the Moon.
The race is a fun learning experience for a team, and it is open to almost any airplane and a team that includes at least one woman pilot or student pilot.
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