Published today is the latest completely revised edition of ‘Practical Guidelines for Organising CIVL/FAI Category 1 Championships’.  It can be found at: http://www.fai.org/civl-documents under Event Organisers/Practical Guidelines...

This comprehensive document covers the entire process of organising a CIVL Category 1 event from preparing the bid to post-championship tasks.  It has been completely re-written and includes chapters outlining the roles of key personnel (Competition Organiser, Meet Director, Safety Director) as well as aspects such as Logistics and Media & PR. 

The Guidelines are available as a complete document in a single download, or in individual chapters.  The aim of the modular version is to enable key organising staff to select the sections relevant to them.  It will also enable easier updating, as the Guidelines are designed to evolve as rules and technology change.

The revised Guidelines have been written and compiled by Louise Joselyn, herself a past FAI Category 1 Championship organiser, together with Heather Mull and Nicky Moss, experienced Meet & Safety Directors for hang gliding and paragliding, and competition organisers.  The work has been reviewed by Davis Straub and Flavio Tebaldi, both of whom have been extensively involved in the organisation of FAI Category 1 events.

“Ever since we ran the FAI World Hang Gliding Championships in Laragne in 2009, I have wanted to rewrite the  Organiser Guidelines,” Louise Joselyn stated.  “Running a Cat 1 event is a three year task, and I felt it was important to share our hard-gained knowledge, in an effort to make it easier for other organisers,” she added .

“I hope that recent and upcoming Cat 1 organisers will take the opportunity to comment on the Guidelines so that they can be regularly updated and expanded where necessary.  This is a start point!” she confirmed.

Davis Straub commented: “I like the writing style. It is easy to read and friendly.”  He added: “It seems you have much more helpful information for meet organizers than we had at the last Worlds. Of course, it makes running the Worlds look very expensive - which it is!”  He picked out one particular pointer that he liked from the ‘Role of the Meet Director’ chapter: ‘Run all briefings on time.  Pilots will learn to turn up on time if you stick to the set schedule.’

Flavio Tebaldi was also favourably impressed with the revised document.  “I think that this is a great work that will help every future organizer.”  He added: “Now we have highly detailed guidelines for all the key people involved in organising a Cat1 competition.  I appreciate also the chapters about logistics and about all the things that previously were not so clear and open to many interpretations.  Importantly, it clarifies that the stewards will be verifying that the organisers are applying the rules.”

Photo caption:

Heather Mull (right) Meet Director at the FAI Hang Gliding World Championships 2009, Laragne, is a co-author of Practical Guidelines for Organising CIVL/FAI Category 1 Competitions.