Rockpolishers is one of a number of inter-club leagues that take place across the country. Our league is made up of Aston Down, Nympsfield, Talgarth, Usk, Shobden and the Long Mynd, all ridge sites, hence the rock polishing aphorism. There are three classes:

Novice for anyone with a Silver C and the XC Endorsement who has not competed in a Regional, Inter-Services or Junior Nationals competition or flown a 300k flight that qualifies for Gold distance

Intermediate for anyone not having competed in a Nationals competition or flown a 500k flight qualifying for Diamond distance.

Pundit open to anyone

There are four events each year held over weekends roughly a month apart during the soaring season. These events take place at the club sites on a rotational basis so that each year two of the clubs do not compete at home.

At each event the home team provides a competition director, task setter and met person and we all pray for good soaring conditions. Points are awarded for positions in each class over the two days and aggregated for the whole event, giving weekend scores for each team. Winners get 6, second 5 and so on. Day winner prizes are usually awarded in each class. The overall winner at the end of the four events goes forward to the National Finals to meet the winners of all the other leagues

Although it is a competition the idea of the event has always been to introduce novices to cross country flying, provide opportunities to fly at other sites, learn some of the more arcane side of competition rules and to meet and mix with more experienced pilots with a view to learning from them. It is not unusual for instance to find oneself on the grid with a former World Champion! It is good humoured, good experience and above all good fun.