To those who don’t live in Alaska, it might seem like one of the most remote places in the United States without much to do, despite its immense land mass. To those who live in Alaska, they probably won’t offer much opposition to the first point (as it kind of is), but they certainly will disagree with the second assessment. Just recently, the Alaska Drone Racing League (The AKDRL) has started gaining traction from within Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley.
On Sunday, the group met up at the Northway Mall to race quad drones on a homemade track. The set-up is undoubtedly smaller than what they hope the league to be, but it is a firm starting place for the sport to grow in the state. In my personal opinion, the event probably worked more as a publicity stunt to get more people interested in the sport, rather than as an actual race for the pilots to score points off of each other. This also helps push the league towards accomplishing their next goal, which is an official airspace for them to race all-out.
A small compilation of the event, as well as the pilots in attendance
“This whole drone racing phenomenon is global,” said AKDRL director Steve Colligan. “Our mission is to let people know about how to fly safe, what the air space is, who they should call, and what they should do.”
The AKDRL is an Alaskan nonprofit that has partnered with MultiGP and theDroneRacingLeague to provide the opportunity for local pilots to compete on the national and international level.
Props to the team for loving the sport as much as they do! For more information, check out the original article here.