Leo Geary Memorial Trophy

Leo supported the New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (NZHGPA) and took part in the competitions. He would be exceedingly honored and proud that it established a trophy prize category in his name. See large pictures of the trophy. In 2003, Peter Groves sent email from New Zealand with recent news and support for the Leo Geary web pages. Peter is a paraglider who is also an organizer of the 2004 competition. The following information is from his emails.

The NZ Paragliding Competition manual outlines awards for 4 main prize categories. The fourth award is the Leo Geary Memorial Trophy. Here's what the manual says:

"Awarded to the most outstanding performance at the National Championships from an up and coming pilot. This award is generally given to pilots with three years flying experience or less, and is only given to NZHGPA member pilots.

The recipient of the Leo Geary Memorial Trophy is selected between the Paragliding Competition Committee and the current sponsor of the trophy."

Here is Peter Groves' description.

"The Leo Geary Trophy is a quite stunning - it is a carved Maori Mere (a short war club with sharpened edges), about 15 inches long, carved from a NZ native wood. We'll get a photo when the Trophy is presented to the next recipient at the January competition. The trophy is given to the Best Newcomer, and as an incentive to encouraging their development in the sport, it is generally accompanied by a prize of a substantial discount off the purchase of a new paraglider."

• 2006 Sandy Yong (see statement)
• 2005 Peter Elliott (see picture and statement)
• 2004 Dan Antill (see picture
• 2003 Dan Robertson of Auckland, NZ, at the NZ Nationals in Manilla, Australia (see picture)
• 2002 Bruce Vickerman of Auckland, NZ
• 2001 Dylan Vickerman

"I would like to reinforce that the trophy is considered a great honour each year and also our continued respect for Leo."

The 2004 and 2005 competitions took place at Treble Cone, near Wanaka, a favorite destination for Leo Geary and friends. I sent Peter Grove Leo's notes from 1991. Here they are on a separate page, with Peter's reply as update and introduction.