OPINION
WhyWe Have Had to Restrict The Number of Competitors
ALAN FORBES, NORTHERN MEETING PIPING CONVENOR
restricted to 25 players each, the third year that this restriction has been in
place.There are a number of reasons why we have continued with it. First – sheer practicality. A typical Gold Medal competition with 25 players and starting at 9am goes on until around
6pm.The same auditorium is required in the evening for the For- mer Winners March, Strathspey and Reel competition, which typically goes on until well after 11pm. It is just not practical to allow the GoldMedal to run on for longer, nor is it fair to the audience, competitors and judges for the evening competition. Second – consideration for the
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judges.Nine hours is a long time for judges to concentrate and it was deemed unreasonable to ask them to do so for longer, possibly by several more
hours.The general standard of these competitions is as high as it has ever been, and judges require full concentration
through
HE Gold and Silver Medal piobaireachd competitions at the Northern Meeting are
served simply by allowing the number of competitors to increase. The number of players reaching ‘A’ grade within the CPA grading system will, presumably, continue to grow year on
year.That being so, some other means of determining who should play in the Gold Medal competitions is
required.This is a problem of success, and it is a credit to the dedication and enthusiasm of competitors and teachers throughout the piping world that so many more people are playing piobaireachd to a high standard.With this success comes a need for a fair way of qualifying for the top competitions. Last year, for the first time, a
every
performance to be sure of producing a good
result.The Northern Meeting consulted the judges on the approved list prior to introducing this limitation and there was overwhelming support for it. Third – quality over quantity.We
believe that the top competitions should aim to be of the highest standard and that this aim is not
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separate qualifying competition was held at SilverMedal level and this was deemed to be a good way to select those who did not qualify automatically by virtue of their CPA grading or performance record. This will be tried for a further two years after which an assessment will be made as to whether it should be a permanent feature. This year, the number of ‘A’
graded piobaireachd players entering for the Gold Medal competitions reached 32, so, for the purposes of the Northern Meeting, some method of selection was
needed.After discussion with representatives of the Argyllshire Gathering, the senior judges and the CPA it was agreed that, for this year only, a practical solution would be to
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