The 2nd Round of the British Open Series takes place in Scotland from Saturday 31 May to Saturday 7 June (8 day competition)
All the information needed to join this event either as a competitor, development pilot, or retrieve driver/free flier is available on the 2025 BOS info tab.
If you have any queries or need support, please feel free to contact Irene Carson on 07876683987

Its my great pleasure to announce the team selected for the Sports Class competition in Laveno, Italy this June.

Team Captain: Gary Wirdnam

Team Members: Tim Swait and Graham Phipps

Reserves: Richard Milla and Doug Neil

I'm sure everyone will agree this is a fantastically strong team and will be glued to the livetracking willing them on.

Applicants are invited to fly as part of the British Team in this year's Sports Class Worlds.

The team will be selected by the process described in the Panels Constitution.

However due to the small team size (3) and the unusual nature of the Team Captains role, the panel will round up (to 2) the number of automatic selection places leaving 1 place for discretionary selection as specified in the constitution.

Additional places may become available to compete in the competition so all interested pilots are recommended to register as soon as possible.  However any additional places allocated will not be included in the team score.  

Pilots should read the local rules before registering as there are specific exclusions for gliders and prior CAT 1 participation. The local rules are still in draft and have not yet been approved by the FAI.

Please send your application along with your case for selection and your suggestions (and reasons) for the other two team places to the panel (hgcompspanel@gmail.com)

By applying for team places pilots are agreeing to comply with the Panels code of conduct. 

Please send your application by valentines day…otherwise known as the 14th Feb 2025.  The panel will meet and notify pilots of their selection by early march. The two automatic selection pilots will be invited to attend the meeting to provide input to the remaining selection.

2025 HANG GLIDING EVENTS - Dates for your diary

The HG Competitions Panel has finalised the competitions calendar for 2025.  Further details will follow, but here is the outline and some key information for the coming year:

British National Championships

In a break with tradition, the Nationals will be shared in 2025 with the Italians, and will take place at Monte Cucco from the 9th to the 16th August.  Sharing with the Italians guarantees a high-profile, high-quality field, excellent organisation, world-class meet directing and task setting, and a wonderful arena to play in.

25 places are reserved for British pilots.  You need to register, and pay the entry fee deposit, by the end of February to claim one of these reserved places.  After that you can apply for one of the additional places, but the entry fee rises significantly on 28th March.

Entry should be made at the competition website, which can be found at https://civlcomps.org/event/trofeo-monte-cucco-open-italian-british-championship-2025

British Open Series  (BOS)

The HG Comps Panel will run 3 events in 2025.  

BOS Round 1 - South Wales, Glanusk Caravan Site, Crickhowell (4 days)  

• Sat 10 - Tues 13 May

BOS Round 2: Scotland, Blair Drummond Caravan Park, Near Stirling (8 days)

• Sat 31 May to Sat 7 June 

BOS Round 3 - Mid Wales, Fforest Fields campsite, Near Builth Wells  (4 days)

• Sat 6 - Tues 9 Sept 

The British Open (for Class 1) will run alongside the first round, weather permitting.

All hang glider pilots are welcome at the BOS.  The BOS events will include full-on racing for experienced XC pilots, and an integrated Pilot Development Pathway (PDP) to enable pilot development, from newcomers all the way up to the elite level of British team members.    

Class 1 Sport ("Sports Class") will replace Club Class in the BOS in 2025, aligning the BOS with the FAI standard classes.  

Depending on entries, one or more of the competitions may be FAI Category 2 status, allowing participants to earn WPRS points in all three classes.  This will be confirmed a month or so before each event.

Further details, including information about campsite booking, the flexible pricing structure, a coordinated retrieve system and the new Pilot Development Pathway, will follow early in the new year.  

Keep an eye on the competitions website https://hgcomps.uk/, British Hangies on Facebook and the BOS Telegram groups.

XC Development Weekend - 22 - 23 February, Ashbourne

The weekend is a non-flying training event, aimed at competent hill pilots who have either not yet flown XC, or lack confidence in any aspect of XC flying (including preparation, instruments etc), and would like support to develop their skills and confidence.

This weekend is being run as part of our Pilot Development programme.  There are only a very few places left. Full details are included in the booking form below which must be submitted to secure a place. XC WEEKEND BOOKING FORM

HG Comps Panel: 20 Dec 2025

Message from Dave Barber

To those of you who expressed an interest in the XC Development Weekend to be held at Airways on 22nd, 23rd February and anyone else who might be interested.
We’ve had a really positive response and are now in a position to take firm bookings. The £50 cost for the two day programme will include presentations and workshops from some of the country’s leading pilots, as well as a buffet lunch and refreshments on both days.
Further details including payment details and deadlines are included in the Booking Form linked below
XC DEVELOPMENT WEEKEND BOOKING FORM
Book early - places are limited and filling up quickly

The 2025 Hang Gliding World Championships will be held in Ager, Spain from the 13th to the 26th of July 2025.  The United Kingdom plans to send two full teams, six pilots in Class 1 and four pilots in Class 5.

Applications for places in the team were invited from competition pilots.  We received nine applications for Class 1 and five for Class 5.  Therefore a selection process was carried out in accordance with the rules in the Competition Panel's constitution: you can find those rules elsewhere on this website.  As always the discussion was detailed, lengthy and robustly-argued.  We offer our congratulations to the pilots who were selected, and our commiserations to those who were not.

The teams are as follows:

Class 1

Grant Crossingham
Dave Mathews
Gordon Rigg
Jeremy Soper
Steve Penfold
Darren Brown

Class 5

Tim King
Mike Armstrong
Stewart Reid
Nigel Bray

Reserves are Malcolm Brown (Class 1) and Neil Atkinson (Class 5)

Team Manager: Gary Hume

Sports Class Worlds in Laveno

The decision has also been taken to support a team at the Sports Class Worlds in Laveno, Italy (1st to 14th June). The panel will be requesting pilots to submit applications once the local rules have been issued and team sizes and qualification requirements are finalised.

Neil Atkinson
Competitions Panel Chairman

Message from Neil Atkinson

Following our very productive annual HG Comps Planning Meeting, as incoming Chair I would like to thank Oliver Moffat for his excellent work as Chairman over the last three years. While panel membership remains the same as last year, some roles have been changed, with Irene Carson taking over as Vice Chair and Dave Barber as Secretary (with assistance from Doug Neil).  
The full panel and their positions can be found here: https://hgcomps.uk/index.php/panel-members

Further information about our plans will follow.

Panel Members can be e-mailed using hgcompspanel@gmail.com with the relevant panel member name in the subject box, or contacted directly as appropriate.

Proposed Hang Gliding XC Skills Development Weekend

The Hang Gliding Comps Panel are proposing to run an XC Skills Development Weekend for those who would like to start flying XC, or those who have started on this journey but would welcome support and guidance.  If this is you, read on!

Target group?
This is aimed at competent hill pilots who have either not yet flown XC or lack confidence in XC flying.

What will the weekend involve?

• A structured programme of both classroom based activities and flying tasks (weather permitting). 
  • Flying tasks will each have a specific focus to address concerns of pilots with limited or no cross country experience and any identified in registration form.
  • Many of the skills required to fly XC successfully can be learned within reach of a site and where relevant we will take advantage of this. 
  • The ultimate goal is to instil the confidence and skills needed to leave the hill and with this in mind (depending on the weather), we may set very short XC tasks to predetermined landing fields which will be visited prior to the task.
• Numbers will be limited to allow individualised support

When?

Hopefully at the end of the season (late September or October).  Otherwise possibly early spring.  Possible dates included in the Registration Form.

Where?
Site and base is yet to be confirmed. We are currently looking at the Long Mynd area but this may change. 

Cost?

• Cost of the event will be kept to a minimum but there will be a charge to cover any venue costs and limited expenses.  
• Participants will be responsible for their own food, accommodation and transport for the weekend.  
• We will have a system in place to support retrieves with contributions from pilots using this.

I am interested - What do I need to do?

At this stage we need an indication of the numbers as well as geographical location, experience and availability of interested pilots.

If you would like to know more, please complete the Registration of Interest Form as soon as possible.

Completion of the form does not commit you to anything at this stage. If the event is oversubscribed, priority will be given to those who respond earliest.

Dave Barber: Pilot Development Coordinator 

BHPA Hang Gliding Competitions Panel