PLEASE NOTE: To participate in the X-Scotia you MUST have a functioning Garmin Inreach or Spot GPS Satellite tracker with two-way communication enabled.

All potential participants are reminded that as stated above this is a HARDCORE MOUNTAIN HIKE and FLY RACE. Once the event is given the official green light the race will go ahead rain or shine. Those who are not committed to taking on the challenge in less than perfect conditions should not apply to take part.

Communications and Briefings
Prior to the event start time any announcements regarding changes in rules, briefing timings etc. will be made via the X-Scotia Competitors Telegram Group. During the event announcements will be made via Telegram and via satellite tracker devices.

E​vent registration​ will start at 5pm Friday during which competitors may be subjected to a kit inspection. Please arrive with your kit packed and ready to the extent it can be inspected.

A mandatory event safety briefing​ will take place at 7pm on Friday evening, during which the organisers will discuss local weather and possible route options and demonstrate the tracking systems and the safety support systems in place. Pilots must share this information with their supporters.

A ​final safety and conditions briefing​ will take place around 7am on Saturday morning just before the race starts.

Compulsory Briefing and Start Time
Competitors are required to report for the compulsory race safety briefing at the event base camp, at 7.00am on the Saturday of the event. The organisers may elect to start the briefing at an earlier time in which case all participants will be informed over Telegram.

The race will begin at a time to be decided and announced at the Friday event safety briefing. Any change to this plan will be announced over Telegram.

The race finishes at 4.00pm on Sunday.

Mandatory Rest Period Overnight
A compulsory overnight rest period begins at 9.00pm on Saturday. All competitors need to stop flying by 7pm (obligatory land-by time) and report in their last position to the event organisers by 9pm. Competitors can start racing again at 7am the next morning. They must start from within a 400m radius of the race ending location registered at 9pm the previous evening.

In cases where the pilot is out of mobile coverage, they must send in the Satellite message “OK” by 9pm to mark their position for the start of the rest period.

It will be up to each competitor to decide if they intend to bivy / wild camp, go to a campsite, sleep in a car / camper etc. While we feel its best to offer competitors a range of options, the organisers recommend spending the night in the hills to enjoy the full adventure experience and bonus points will be awarded to encourage this (see scoring).

If they have left for the night, At 7am on the following day, the pilot must then report back to within 400 metres of the place they ended on the previous day, where they can then continue the race. The start point is marked by sending a further satellite message to the event organisers.

Methods of Movement
During race hours, the pilot can only elect to walk, run or fly. No other form of transport is allowed.

During the mandatory rest period, from 9pm Saturday until 7am Sunday, the pilot can move using any form of transport.

Race Equipment
All entrants must be fully qualified to fly paragliders in the UK. They must be registered BHPA Members with a minimum of a Pilot Rating. Club Pilot or equivalent ratings are not sufficient to take part in the event and entrants without a full Pilot rating will not be allowed to participate in the race for insurance reasons.

The SHPF X-Scotia Hike & Fly 2023 is intended to be a cross-country flying & hiking race, therefore the use of paragliders with 15m2 or less (speedwings) are prohibited. It is also prohibited to fly with paragliders which have a wing loading greater than 6Kg/m2.

All flying equipment must be homologated and must comply with the latest edition of the following EN certification standards:

Paraglider: EN 926-2 and 926-1 or LTF 91/09 (inc. CCC FAI class), less than 7,2 aspect ratio
Harness: EN 1651 with certified protection, or LTF 91/09
Emergency parachute: EN 12491 or LTF 91/09
Helmet: EN966 or snowboarding EN 1077 class is accepted
All competitors are required to carry the below minimum equipment to fly:

Paraglider
Harness including certified back protection
Emergency parachute
Helmet
Mobile telephone (and backup charging facilities)
2m band Radio (Race frequency = 143.675)
Backup GPS tracker device in addition to the live tracker supplied by the event organisers. (e.g. Spot / inReach, a PLB will not suffice)
A bivy or tent
A headtorch
Competitors must be appropriately kitted out for fell running/walking during the race at all times.

Once the race starts, a pilot cannot change their selected equipment.

Special attention must be given to mapping or battery back-up for electronic navigation aids.

Flying Rules
All entrants hold final responsibility for their own safety, both flying and on the ground.

No scoring movements are allowed in the hours between 9pm Saturday night and 7am Sunday morning.

Cloud flying is not allowed and will be penalised. The type of penalty applied will be agreed by the organisers but might include disqualification.

All pilots need to follow Air Law, UK flying code and rules of the BHPA at all times during the race.

Supporters
Competitors are very strongly encouraged to have at least one supporter during the race. Even if it is simply a person nominated to follow the participant’s progress and be available to liaise with the organisers. They should be roughly aware of the pilot’s likely route choice.

Pilots must inform the event organisers of the names and contact details of their supporter(s) before the compulsory safety briefing on the day of the race. Supporter(s) must try to remain accessible via mobile phone or satellite systems throughout the duration of the race.

Tracking
Competitors need to be in charge of the tracking device provided by event organisers. The FlyMaster Tracking Devices should have sufficient battery capacity for the duration of the race, however every competitor must carry their own GPS device to make a back-up recording of their track. Mobile coverage in the Highlands is quite limited.

End of Race
The race will end at 4pm on Sunday and no further scoring movements can be made after this time.

All competitors must return back to the event base camp before 4pm on Sunday. In any case where a competitor has not been able to make it back by 4pm on Sunday they must call in and return to base camp as soon as possible. Retrieve will be offered if necessary. Competitors will face a deduction to their points for late finishing (see scoring).
Any competitor may quit the race any time. However, they must inform the event organisers of their decision to do so. Failure to report quitting early will disbar the participant from future events!

Scoring
The race will be scored according to the ‘points for peaks’ format. A race map will be issued for the two or three potential event locations informing competitors of the location and value of official scoring peaks.

As a general rule 10 points will be awarded for the peaks most easily accessible from base camp, 15 points for further away peaks and 20 points for the most distant or challenging peaks.

All turn-points have a standard radius of 400 metres whether taken in the air or taken on foot.

Radius is based on files provided by the race organisers only!

Tracklogs / Satellite tracking will be used to verify routes, flight and then for scoring. It is recommended that participants make back-up GPS tracklogs (IGC format) using their own instruments so that they can be submitted to supplement live tracking data acquired during the race if technical problems occur and to help verify any disputes.

The event finishes at 4.00pm on Saturday and late finishers will have the following points deducted. 10 points will be deducted from the pilot score for each ten minutes of lateness. From the 1st second past 4pm, 10 points will be deducted, 20 at 10 minutes and 1 second, up to 60 points at 4:50 and 1 second. Returning to base camp more than an hour late scores zero points.

A 20 point bonus will be awarded to pilots who choose to camp or bivy independently in the mountains on Saturday night.

Bad Weather
After the official green light has been given to indicate the event will go ahead, should we face bad weather/rain or poor flying conditions, the race will still take place. In this case competitors may elect to get into hill running (or walking) mode for the day (see below).

Hill Running Mode
On each competition day, competitors can elect to leave their flying kit behind at base camp or with their supporter for the whole day and enter ‘hill running mode’. Organisers will not facilitate transport of gear to or from competitors utilising ‘hill running mode’.

To do this they must inform organisers using the X-Scotia Competitors telegram group or satellite message BEFORE racing begins on that day. This must be before the official race start on Saturday or before 7am on Sunday when the mandatory rest period ends. You cannot change this decision during the day even if the weather improves and becomes flyable.

In ‘Hill running mode’ it remains mandatory to carry the following:

Mobile telephone with backup charging facilities
2m band Radio (Race frequency 143.700)
GPS 2-way messaging device (e.g. Spot X / inReach)
A bivvi or tent
A headtorch
Suitable outdoor clothing

By utilising hill running mode, all points scored on that day will have a factorial value applied that reduces the value of the peaks bagged during that day (For instance: if the organisers deem that the factorial should be 0.8 for the day in question then a score of 100 points bagged in the day would be reduced to 80 points – a 20% penalty). This factorial will be announced at the pre-start briefing on Saturday morning and via the X-Scotia Competitors telegram group on Sunday morning.

Note: the event organisers reserve the right to remove this penalty if they agree that no competitor should fly and that ALL participants should leave their flying kit behind.