Registration

Registration Information 2024.

Page last updated 06/11/2023

Join us from the 18th – 23rd June 2024

Please read this page carefully before proceeding to the registration form. The following information is correct as as of publication date above, but may be subject to change so please keep checking regularly.

All British participants are advised that due to the requirements of our event insurance through the BHPA, membership of the BHPA is required. This must be at either Club Pilot (power) or Pilot (power) grade.
For any non-BHPA pilots who wish to compete, but have appropriate level of experience, membership through the BHPA Alternative Entry scheme can be arranged in advance. Please contact the BHPA technical office for details.

If you are not familliar with the various classes of competition available, please read this article which explains the competition classes you can register for.

2024 standard pilot entry fee: £TBC

This includes entry to the event, camping on site, an official competition T-shirt, and all printed competition flying maps. More specific details of this year’s championship are available here.

Published entry fees are valid if paid in advance up to 1 week before the first briefing. Fees paid after that date will incur a £20 ‘late entry’ surcharge. Payments will be taken through Paypal, linked via the registration form.

REFUNDS POLICY: if, after registering, you are no longer able to attend the championship, a full refund of fees will be made if the request is recieved prior to late entry cut-off date. We regret that after that date, no refunds will be possible, unless the comptition is officially cancelled by the organisation committee, in which case all pilot entry fees will be refunded. This will only happen if it is absolutely clear that weather conditions will prevent a valid championship from taking place.

All pilots competing in the Open Championship (PF1 or PL1) class must hold a current BHPA Pilot (Power) rating. Please state this and enter your BHPA number in the appropriate section of the registration form so we can verify your details in advance. If you hold a BHPA Pilot (Power) rating then you may register into either Open Championship or the Discovery Challenge.

Pilots in training and currently rated BHPA Club Pilot (power) have the opportunity to develop your skills and graduate to Pilot (Power) rating by entering the Discovery Challenge class. You should bring with you your logbook, and provide contact details of the instructor / club that you have been training with for references during the registration process.

The BHPA Alternative Entry scheme is designed specifically to allow pilots that have been trained outside of the BHPA to easily convert this training to a BHPA pilot rating without having to follow the full BHPA training course from the beginning. For any non-BHPA pilots wishing to compete, we can arrange with the BHPA to ensure that you have the opportunity to complete the Alternative Entry in advance of the championship, but you will need to contact us or the BHPA office in plenty of time before the championship. All you will require for this are to provide evidence of your flying experiences, for example through copies of your log book, IPPI card, ratings, licences or any other evidence of your flying ability; you must also sit a short exam with a BHPA club coach to prove that you know the relevant air law. We can arrange for you to take the exam at a club local to you in advance of the championship.

Please select the ‘non-BHPA Alternative Entry’ option on the registration form and we will contact you to make the arrangements. The cost for this is:
One year’s BHPA flying membership: £TBC
BHPA joining fee: £25 (this is waived if you are taking the Alternative Entry specifically to compete in the championship)
Rating issue fee: £10
Total fee £TBC

We recognise that this is a large additional expense, and for this reason, the championship entry fee is halved for pilots wishing to enter the championship through after taking the BHPA alternative entry route.

We welcome foreign pilots to the British Open Championship. NEW SINCE 2022: It is no longer a requirement for foreign pilots to take out temporary BHPA membership. You must provide confirmation that you hold valid 3rd party insurance in your home country which includes cover for competitive paramotoring in foreign countries, up to a value of £1.3m equivalent. You will be requested to upload a copy of your insurance policy during the registration process, and pay the standard competition entry fee.

We regret that due to the size of the competition, the sensitivity of the site, and the risks associated with other local airspace users (helicopters), we will be unable to facilitate free flying at the championship this year. We encourage all pilots wishing to free-fly, however, to register for the Discovery Challenge; the open and relatively unrestricted nature of the Discovery Challenge format offers the opportunity for plenty of ‘free’ flying for pilots who are not interested in scoring tasks, but it enables us to better regulate and track when and where all pilots are in the air, for increased safety of all participants.

We need plenty of support from Marshals, but we also have a finite limit on budget in order to support the number we need to effectively run the champioships, and we must allocate the places we need preferentially to BHPA Members (due to insurance), and to those with most experience. For 2024, we will be requesting that interested marshals submit an ‘expression of interest’ form to us, after which Our chief marshal will be in touch to confirm marshal places allocated.

Spectators are welcome at the championship and there is no charge for daily visiting. If you want to camp on site we request a donation of £5 pppn per night towards the use of the infrastructure. There is no need for day visitors to register in advance, but if you are intending to camp on site, please use the same form linked below and select “spectator” option, so that we can factor in numbers.

We welcome sponsors to join us throughout the event and camping on site is free to sponsors. Details of 2023 sponsorship packages are available through the official Sponsorship page.

Traders:

Trade stands at the trade show event on Saturday 22nd June are available only to official Championship sponsors from Silver level and above. Traders wishing to host a stand should get in touch via the form on the official Sponsorship page – which will be published soon. You will be required to supply all your own materials, tables, etc, and demonstrate evidence of 3rd party liability insurance before you can exhibit.