Yon Barcena writes:

Jose María Iriarte Ziritza, Tximo, passed away on January 13 at
the age of 55, victim of a hang gliding accident that he suffered a few days
earlier, on December 26. That day he went with a friend to make a local flight
and say goodbye to 2019 flying. They both went to a small hillside located south
of Pamplona, the city where he lived and worked. It seems that he had a failed
launch. There were no direct witnesses to the accident. He crashed into the
slope about 20 meters below launch. They found him unconscious. He had suffered
a severe head injury, of which he could no longer recover.

Hang gliding was his great passion.

Tximo started working very young as a mechanical turner. After a few hard years
of work, where he also tried to run a bar, decides to become a firefighter, this
was around 1995. It is at that time when he discovered hang gliding. Working as
a firefighter he had time to enjoy and spend more time for nature activities.

He did his introductory hang gliding course in 1998. He immediately fell in love
with this sport, joining the group of pilots who normally flew around Arangoiti,
in the Sierra de Leire, one of the best places to practice free flight in the
north of Spain. His competitive and challenging nature drew him he soon to the
world of competition. The Spanish championship in 2001 at Castejón de Sos was
one of his first important competitions.

From that moment on he was a regular at practically all competitions nationwide.
He won several editions of the Basque hang gliding League and in almost all the
championships of Spain in which he participated soon was among the first
classified. As a member of the Spanish hang gliding team he also participated in
international competitions, such as the European Championship at Turkey of the
year 2016, the Valle de Bravo Worlds at Mexico in 2017 and the World
Championship in Italy in 2019.

Man, of enormous vitality. Cheerful, direct and sly. Sometimes conflicting, too
generous and stubborn. A free man who leaves a deep emptiness in the
hang gliding community in Spain. He also leaves an 18-year-old daughter, his
other great love. His laughter and hugs will be hard to forget.

Tximo, goian bego.