National Competition Committee (NCC) News
Greetings from the NCC Team,
This season looks to be equally as challenging as the last for trying to host a national competition with border restrictions and individual state requirements varying greatly. The team is unanimous with respect to awarding National Champions this season, if any state has restrictions and or quarantine periods in place for the returning pilots then it won’t be a National competition. This is a little problematic with the worlds being held in Narromine in 2023 and results contribute to the selection process, however we feel that equal and fair access is most important.
The team has decided to try and maximise the opportunity for pilots to fly and has selected two sites and class configurations for the competitions this season.
The Sports (ballasted and unballasted), 18mtr and Open class Nationals will be held in Benalla on the 19th to the 26th of February 2022. (Current December dates postponed)
Club, standard and 15 mtr Nationals will be held in Narromine on the 7th to the 18th of March.
If the borders are still preventing the events to be held as Nationals, then the hosts are still very keen to run the events for the pilots who can attend, it may be called the “ Covid Cup “ or something but still a great opportunity to catch up with friends and do some racing.
The team has also put in place go / no go timelines for the National events to allow pilots and volunteers enough time to cancel accommodation and change leave requirements if needed. This should encourage all pilots who wish to attend too at least register. The decision will be made 6 weeks from the commencement date of the competition (ie) if restrictions are still in place, no National titles awarded. The NCC team will be meeting 8 weeks prior to assess the situation.
We are working through the competition survey conducted earlier this year which has some great comments and suggestions to better understand what we can change / implement / introduce to entice pilots to attend, not just National events but also be part of the local and state competitions which can be great fun and learning experience. The days of just racing around three turn points at state level has morphed into states having developed their own formats which include GP, Long Wedges, HC circles, AAT’S and more.
The NCC team is made up of Kerrie Claffey, Nick Gilbert, Matthew Scutter, Bernie Sizer, Michael Keller and David Jansen and with me still stuck in WA, we pretty have all the states covered. I’d encourage you to catch up with any of the representatives if you have any questions, ideas or need a little advice on how to prepare for an event.
Fly safe, fly for fun, then fly fast
Cheers
Lumpy Paterson
NCC Chair
