President's Letter to Delegates and Committee Chairmen 2009-5

3rd September 2009

PILOT SELECTION PROCESS
for
World and Continental Gliding Championships

Dear Friends, please pass this information to your National Team Managers and Coaches.

Over the last years the number of entries at international championships has increased significantly. This is a very welcome indicator of the health of our sport, but it does mean that we need to find a way to manage the number of entries in IGC sanctioned championships if there were too many preliminary registrations. In March 2009 a somewhat complex debate occurred at the IGC Plenary meeting but, as no conclusions were reached, the Bureau was mandated to come up with a solution.

The Bureau have now created what we believe is a simple and fair process, which is detailed below.

We will be proposing the adoption of this process
at the Plenary meeting in March 2010
with effect from the 1st of APRIL 2010
to enable it to be used for the World Gliding Championships in 2010.

The aim is to ensure that the maximum number of entries can be achieved in each class within the total limit on entries imposed by a Championship Organiser.

We believe that the process now defined has a number of advantages:

• It ensures every NAC is able to enter a pilot in any class they wish without fear of exclusion.
• It allows the NAC to decide which pilot is their primary entry for a class.
• It enables the Organiser and the Bureau to adjust the number of entries once preliminary numbers are known
• It enables an NAC to reallocate their 2nd (or 3rd) entries to an undersubscribed class.

The Pilot Selection Process is:

1. In the Bid, the Organiser sets the maximum number of entries for the event. Places for World Champions will be included in the maximum number of entries for the event.
2. The IGC Bureau, in conjunction with the organisers, will set a maximum number of entries per each class. Places for World Champions may be in addition of the Annex A maximum of 50 entries per class. These initial class numbers will be made public at the presentation of the Bid to the IGC Plenum.
3. As usual every NAC may enter 2 pilots per class (3 in Juniors’ and Women’s Championships) but only one entry per class is guaranteed, the 2nd (and 3rd if applicable) entry being subjected to the ranking of the pilots. The NAC decides who will be the 1st entry in a class. World Champions, having a right of entry, are accepted in addition to the NAC nominated 1st entries.
4. At the closing date for Preliminary Entries the IGC Bureau in conjunction with the Organisers may transfer unused class allocations equally to other classes. NACs may only transfer their 2nd and 3rd entries (as appropriate when NACs have been offered a 3rd entry) to other classes if additional places are available.
5. At the closing date for Class Changeover, oversubscribed classes are reduced to the maximum class number by removing the lowest ranked pilots from the list of 2nd entries (or 3rd entries as appropriate) in accordance with the IGC pilot ranking list effective on that date.

The allocation of class numbers now agreed between the IGC Bureau and the Organisers of the 2010 WGC in Prievidza and the 2010 WGC Szeged are included here to show exactly how the process works.

Prievidza The total number of entries is 110 including the World Champions.
The maximum numbers of entries per class, for Preliminary Entries, are:
STD Class 45 [42 + 3 World Champions (Std + Junior and Women’s Std)]
CLUB Class 45 [42 + 3 World Champions (Club + Junior and Women’s Club)]
WORLD Class 20 [19 + 1 World Champion]

Szeged The total number of entries is 150 including the World Champions.
The maximum numbers of entries per class, for Preliminary Entries, are:
OPEN Class 47 [46 + 1 World Champion]
18M Class 51 [50 + 1 World Champion]
15M Class 52 [50 + 2 World Champions (15M + Women’s 15M)]

Best regards
Bob Henderson
President, IGC
3rd September 2009