In the dark ages there used to be a system of regional competitions that pilots were required to attend and do well in in order to be able to attend the Nationals. Or at least that's what they tell me, as I don't really remember. So what happened? The Regionals went away. Why?

First, there are many regions in the US and it was hard to have every region well organized enough to run a Regionals, so it became "unfair" if only two or three regions could run a Regionals.

Second, there was no support from the USHPA to run a Regionals. No money, no scoring program, no computer, no meet director, no set of standard rules, nothing. The USHPA just expected the clubs in the regions to do all the work.

Third, there is limited time within which to run a Regionals before a Nationals. Often the best time for a Regionals is the best time for the Nationals.

Fourth, there was no coordination. The Regionals need to be set up, scored and the results tabulated by someone.

Fifth, it was too great a burden on the Nationals organizer to have to deal with all the complexities of the results from uncoordinated Regionals.

Sixth, finding meet organizers was tough. They had a lot of work to do for little reward. They have huge liability concerns, which are not addressed by the USHPA insurance.

Seventh, the local clubs were not strong enough to support regional competitions.

Eighth, there is (and were) too small a competition pilot population (or potential competition pilot population) to support Regionals. If we had 56,000 members (like the US Cycle Racing Association) then we could and would have a lot more competitions. If competition were the main point of hang gliding (like Racquetball), then we would have a lot more competitions. I've entered three cyclocross races in the last month.

Ninth, this requires significant support from the USHPA, which they (the office and the BOD) are unwilling to give. There has to be someone whose job it is to make sure the Regionals happen, that their results are tabulated, that pilots are notified that they are eligible for the Nationals, etc. It is a significant piece of work, which the USHPA is not willing to fund.

Tenth, the Nationals organizer is not interested in restricting the number of pilots that can attend his meet. He is interested in turning a profit (and certainly was then), and restricting the number of pilots cuts into the possible profit.

The USHPA is not planning to actually tackle these issues even though it wants to re-instate the Regional system (Lisa Tate has stated that is what she wants). They apparently are thinking about a bunch of sticks to batter folks into having a Regionals system, but there are no carrots. This will not work.