Interunis

The Inter-university Gliding Competition, or ‘inter-unis’, started in 1979, and has been an annual event ever since. The main purpose is to bring together all the different university gliding clubs from around the country to a single semi-competitive event. The universities take it in turns to host the competition.

Although it is a competition, the format is very informal and the focus is much more on personal achievement and sharing experiences with other universities. There are three main categories that can score points:

• Progression – successfully completing things such as learning to stall a glider, learning to winch launch, learning to land, converting to a new glider, completing badge claims (e.g. silver height). This category is therefore open to pilots of all experience!
• Soaring – points can be earned for solo duration and height gained
• Cross-country – completing self declared cross-country tasks

The interunis normally takes place over the summer holidays (July/August time) and lasts for a week. The costs involved depend on the airfield the competition is taking place at, although they are not normally too high.

The University of Nottingham normally performs very well in the inter-unis, rightly so for one of the oldest university gliding clubs. In order to be successful we need members to really push their progression throughout the year in order to be at a high standard by the time the summer comes round. In 2018, we won the soaring category and came second in the progression category! We didn’t take home any silverware in 2022, but we hope to return in force in 2023.