Dorin Borodescu is taking paragliding to new heights

For years, the small community of 100 or so Irish paragliders had spied the glass ceiling that was the 100km barrier, but no-one had ever managed to break it over Irish soil - until last week, writes Brendan O’Brien

It was early morning yesterday week when Dorin Borodescu packed his gear into the car and took off on the drive from Dublin to Templemore. Two days later and he was repeating the trip. This time it was a friend driving. Borodescu’s car was still in Templemore, just where he’d left it.

It wasn’t broken down and he hadn’t over-indulged on a wild night out. Instead, he’d launched himself off the nearby Devil’s Bit, head first, into a wind that was shooting east/north-east across country. Five-and-a-half hours passed before his feet touched the ground again and, when they did, he was 122.1km away, in Moneymeen, Co Wicklow.