[NSRCA-dist6] District Champion

[Clifton Bradford]

I disagree with the take that we as a district should support the NSRCA Nationals and whomever is lucky enough to win should be our district champ.

I think you should look at what represents a district champ. For me it isn't the highest placing dist 6 pilot at the Nats. I am of the opinion that the dist champ should represent the district and not the Nats.  Pattern contest are few and the distances you must travel are huge, to say O points earned for attending a contest with less than three would kill the few that we have. If there is no reward why not stay home and practice or take the kids to a movie or whatever.

So who represents dist 6 as the Champion now, it is the person who spends his or her money putting the miles on and attending and supporting the local contest. To me this is as it should be. In 1995 I attended 6-7 local contest and placed 3rd in sportsman at the Nats, the Nats was the only contest I lost and I was not the district champ. At that time there was a contest in the Dallas/Fort worth area  and whomever won that single contest was the champ. In my opinion that person did not represent the district, but only the winner of a local contest.

I campaigned rather hard and was vocal with my thoughts at the time and the District champ was changed to the format we now enjoy. To adjust the system to a point that attending a local contest had little impact on the Championship would be a huge mistake. 

Personally I have only made the trip to the Nats, three times. Each time I left with the feeling that I had attended a local contest and chose not to make the trip anymore. I may or may not attend in the future but if I worked at winning that contest and spent my money towards that instead of supporting pattern within the District 6 area I would not feel that I should be champ because I won the Nats.       

Pattern contest have dwindled to the point that only a few remain, after a long absence I was able to attend two local contest this year one had only 9 people across all classes, the other had only 12. To follow Scott's suggestion would have a negative impact on these contest, by removing any opportunity to gain points toward the Dist Champ. 

Our District Champ should be just that. I see that as the person that puts in the time to attend as many local contest as possible. By rewarding that we will continue to have local contest but make them worthless and the result will be no contest and pattern will continue to fall even further in our area.

Cliff Bradford, NSRCA 1481

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