Hitch-Hiking Competitions Rules

Part One

COMMON REGULATIONS. PARTICIPANTS. STARTS. ODDS. FINISH.

1.1 COMMON REGULATIONS
1.1.1. COMPETITIONS - examination of mastership, technical and physical hitch-hikers' preparation.
1.1.2. There are 3 main kinds of competitions - personal, pairs and teams competitions.
It is need for competitions:
1) Not less than 4 participants in personal competitions, not less than 3 pairs in pairs competitions and not less than 2 teams (3 or more participants) in teams competitions.
3) The route of competitions should not be less than 180 kilometres in summer time or 150 kilometres in wintertime in personal competitions and 300/250 kilometres in pairs and team competitions.

1.2. ROUTE
1.2.1. The route may be limited strictly (the route shown in the concrete), may be limited by passing controlling points in established or free order or have no any limitations.
1.2.2. Using the 2,3,4th kinds of passing transport (passing locomotive and goods train, bout hiking, air hiking) is not limited, except if it was not mentioned before the competition.
1.2.3. The route of competition is a concrete conception and the route can not be changed from the rated start time moment till the end of competition.
Deviation from the route is considered as a leaving of the route.
1.2.4. If the route is really unfit for the competition, participants may leave the route (if it was decided by all participants). It will be considered as a forced leaving of the route.

1.3. PARTICIPANTS
1.3.1. Applications for participation may be submitted by:
-every member of hitch-hiking club, which has a number;
-probationer, which should get a number after the competition.
The application can be taken back not later than in 12 hours before the start.
The probationer, who aims to get the number, must have 5000 km of experience for summer competition. Moreover, during the period of probation a probationer must get over 1000 km alone or on the leader in a pair. The route from work (study) place to home is not taken into the account of the experience.
A probationer must have 5000 km of winter experience for winter competition. Every kilometre made in summer counts on 0.5 km in winter, so 5000 km of summer experience equals 2500 km of winter experience. 1000 km made on your own in winter can not be replaced by any summer experience.
1.3.2 The organisation committee has a right to reject a probationer's application for the competition.
1.3.3 During winter contest a probationer must show or list all the inventory to the committee before getting a number.

1.4 THE START
1.4.1 There is a particular place from where the rated start is counted.
1.4.2 The starts of the participants are indicated according to the places they choose.
1.4.3 The organisation committee counts the time of the participants' start so that those who have no odds would be able to pass the place of the rated start at the rated time.
1.4.4 Only one participant (team) is allowed to start on a journey from one place at the same time.

1.5. ODDS
1.5.1 When counting the time of start the participants are given these odds:
1) If a participant does not know the route or a part of it and is hitch-hiking for the first time there - approximately 10 min. for every 100 km of middling complexity route.
2) If there are some health problem - 30 min.
3) For a probationer who is going to get the number - 5 min.
4) If a participant does not know of the place of the finish (when a particular address is indicated) - up to 10 min.
Due to the odds listed above the time of the start is counted earlier.
1.5.2 If a participant is late in the start, the wasted time is not counted either in the finish or while staying the night.

1.6 THE FINISH
1.6.1 The moment of finish is when the finish point is touched.
1.6.2 The moment of arriving to the controlling point is when the place of sticking of the control stick is touched.

Part Two

POSITION

The position is a part of the road that is suitable for stopping cars in the direction indicated. The length of it is appointed according to the maximum way needed to stop a car in the circumstances present.

2.1 When two participants meet in the position the one who arrives later must to leave the position for the first one; i.e., to move forwards in a distance of stopping a car or backwards - out of sight.
This rule is applied for both - participants who have got out of a car and those who approach on foot.
The moment when a participant touches the road with his feet is considered to be the take - up of the position.
The take - up of position at the controlling point is also the moment of arriving at it (see part I).

A participant who arrives later has a right to thumb a lift only when he moves forward from the position of the first competitor, or backward out of sight.
It is strictly forbidden to thumb a lift in the position of a competitor.

2.3 If the first participant wants to move in the direction of the journey, the second one must not move on well in order to keep a certain distance. The second participant is allowed to stay where he is, at the position that he took up according to the first one.
2.4 Only if both the competitors agree, they can move together.
2.5 When the first participant is going opposite to the direction of the journey the second one can also move keeping the distance required.
2.6 When the second participant intends to get out of the first one's right opposite to the direction of the journey, the latter has a right to follow in the same direction in order not to allow the second participant to get out of his sight. However, if the second one disappeared of sight at least for a moment the first one, if he comes into sight again, loses the priority and becomes the second one.
The zone of sight includes not only the main route, it's also the crossing roads, gas station, etc.
A car is considered to be stopped by a certain participant when it pulls in ahead of him or behind not move than in its body length (without a trailer).
To avoid vague situation the distance can be slightly increased.
A participant leaves his position when he crosses the border of it either on foot or by car. Nobody has a right to run into this position and thumb a lift before it is abandoned (not even if a participant is already sitting in a car).
2.7 A participant after he has moved to a new position (mostly at a crossroads) loses all the rights and the priority to his last position.
2.8 A short leave from a position (WC, woods, asking for information, etc.) is not considered abandoning it, if the competitors have been warned beforehand.

Part Three

MEETING IN A CAR

3.1 It is legal for two or more participants to go in one car. Moreover, if a participant asks a driver not to take up another competitor, he breaks the rules.
The second participant who gets into a car is considered to be taken up, even if it was not an initiative of the first participant.
3.2 When a car stops the one who has been taken later, leaves the position to the first participant.
3.3 If the one who takes up the second participant stops the some car for the second time, he loses the priority.
3.4 If two competitors go in the same car till the very finish or up to a controlling point, the first finalist is the one who gives a lift to others even if those participants manage to overtake him on foot. The latter rule is valid only if none of the participants thumb a lift after going together.
If another competitor (not these two) reach the controlling or the finish point between them, the one who had given a lift loses the priority.
3.5 During a short stop (gas station, WC, police, etc.) if the first participant gets out of the car for a short while and then gets back he maintain the priority.
3.6 If two participants are going in a row of several vehicles the one who gets into a car later is considered to be taken up only when his car stopped due to the influence of the car ahead where the first participant was. Otherwise, both the vehicles are independent of each other. The first is the one who reaches the ground first.
All the rules of this part are valid only when more than two competitors meet in a car (row of cars).

Part Four

THE CHRONICLE. INFORMATION.

4.1 Moving along the competition route a participant must write a chronicle.
The chronicle records:
-time of start;
-time of getting into a car;
-kind of vehicle;
-place of getting out;
-time of getting out;
-time and place where a participant overtook his competitor (or was overtaken);
-exact time of sticking a stick at a controlling point;
-exact time of sticking a stick of all participants, which were in this controlling point before;
-the beginning and ending of the REST (see part 9);
-time of finish.
In some competition chronicles are the certain tables which must be filled in the time of passing controlling points.
Going without a chronicle equals breaking the rules.
4.2 Controlling points are foreseen and agreed about beforehand and this is where a participant must stick a stick.
The stick must include:
-the number of a participant;
-time of sticking a stick;
-time which hasn't been used for rest.
4.3 The sticks are stuck from top to bottom one after another according to the time of arrival.
4.4 The stick confirms that a participant has passed the indicated controlling point. No other person is allowed to stick the participant's stick.
4.5 If there is no stick, the part of the route up to this controlling point is considered unsurmounted and a participant loses.

Part Five

RETREAT FROM THE ROUTE. SIGNAL OF AN ACCIDENT. CONTROLLING TIME. PENALTIES FOR BREAKING THE RULES.

5.1 Retreat from the route.
5.1.1 Retreat from the route can be either voluntary or compulsory.
5.1.2 When a participant retreats voluntarily he falls out of the competition and is granted the last prize.
5.1.3 Prizes among those who retreated voluntarily are not allotted.
5.1.4 With drawing from the route a participant must indicate this in his chronicle.
5.1.5 If he was wearing a number in the competition, he must take it off.
A compulsory retreat is the one when a participant gets hurt, a car accident occurs, he falls ill or gives medical helps to somebody, he gets held up by the road police for long or because other important reasons which do not depend on a participant.
5.1.6 In winter a compulsory retreat is possible because if the lack of warm clothes or due to bad weather.
Still, in some cases this is considered to be carelessness and a participant gets a penalty. It is for the arbiter to decide if the retreat has been compulsory.
5.1.7 In some special cases the arbiter can decide, that it is a compulsory deviation from the route even if a participant has not indicated it in his chronicle.
5.1.8 Due to the compulsory retreat, a participant is grouted the prize which would have been appointed to him at the moment of his retreat. Then in the finish this prize is not given to anybody else.
5.2 Signalling an accident (stopping in extra - case).
5.2.1 Both arms throw up in horizontal position is a special gesture to stop other participants in extra - case.
It is forbidden to show this gesture without necessity and also to pass it.
5.3 Controlling time.
5.3.1 When the route is announced before the competition a certain controlling time is given.
5.3.2 A participant who does not manage to cover the distance of the route in this agreed time is considered to retreat voluntarily from the route and is to reach the finish as quickly as possible or inform about his place of staying.
Not going to the route after the participant was registered, equals retreat.
5.3.3 If a participant informs about his decision not to take part in a competition in less than 12 hours till the start, such behaviour is the same as compulsory retreat.
5.3.4 The application in this case is cancelled.
5.4 Penalties for breaking the rules.
A participant is punished for breaking the rules in these ways:
-warning;
-strict warning;
-dismissal from the route;
-temporary disqualification;
-full disqualification.
Warning is given to a participant for small faults (carelessness, etc.). One is strictly warned for more serious infringements of the rules, which still had no serious consequences.
Severe infringements of the rules cause dismissal from the route. That is a participant must leave the route at the moment of his committing a fault.
If several participants are dismissed from the route, they are not given prizes anyway.
Temporary disqualification (up to 1 year) means dismissal from the route as well as prohibition to participate in competition for a certain time. This disqualification is imposed for serious faults or in case a participant is dismissed from the route for the same fault for a second time.
Full disqualification means banning a participant to take in hitch - hiking competitions lifelong. He is given this penalty for committing the same offence for which he has been temporary disqualified.
Full disqualification is also given for stealing the vehicle.
5.4.2 Appointing and annulling penalties.
5.4.2.1 A participant, who has been given 2 warnings or 3 warnings for the same fault or a strict and simple warning, can be dismissed from the route.
5.4.2.2 If a warned participant took part in two competitions without further warning, the old ones are forgotten.
5.4.2.3 After a participant is dismissed from the route or temporarily disqualified, all the warning are abolished.

Part Six

RESTRICTIOND. PROHIBITIONS

6.1 A participant is punished for taking a position in the route before the time of start by dismissal from the route.
6.2 The use of any kind of public transport causes dismissal from the route.
The use of a TAXI causes temporary disqualification.
6.3 Thumbing a lift in other participants' position and other kinds of deliberate disobeying the rules of this appears to be only carelessness, a warning is given.
6.4 If a participant is drunk or intoxicated with drugs, he is dismissed from the route.
6.5 One is dismissed for giving a piece of deliberately untrue information.
6.6 The one who pretends to be a policeman or a member of some other traffic services is either dismissed from the route or disqualified.
6.7 A participant who asks the police to stop a car is dismissed.
6.8 Dismissal is also given to the one who asks the driver not to take his competitor.
6.9 Disqualification is given to the one who sends a police against his competitor.
6.10 One is disqualified for covering part of the route by his own or lended car.
6.11 Asking other people to thumb a lift or stick a stick cause dismissed from the route.
6.12 The one who takes physical measures against a competitor or a driver (except for self- defence) or threatens them is disqualified.
6.13 Full disqualification is given to those who steal a vehicle.
6.14 Bad behaviour (cursing, beating the leader or other ways of hurting a team- mate, littering the route or a car, etc.) causes dismissal.
6.15 Dangerous ways of thumbing a lift that can cause an accident also cause dismissal from the route.
6.16 One will be dismissed for passing the sign of an accident or giving it without any need.
6.17 It is called "wrong information" to tear sticks of other participants off (unless it is the last member in the route).
6.18 It is considered bribery when a participant pays money to the driver, so he is dismissed from the route for this.
6.19 Passing an intermediate finish causes dismissal from the route.
6.20 One is dismissed for using the vehicles of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th kind, which have been forbidden beforehand.
6.21 A warning is given for the lack of a first - aid kit in competitions that last for several days.
6.22 If a pair starts going apart of each other (except for a row of cars), they are dismissed from the route.
6.23 If one moves along the route in the arbiter's car and then does not return to his previous position he is dismissed from the route. The same penalty is given to a participant for the arbiter's help to thumb a lift.
6.24 One is warned for having no chronicle.
6.25 If a participant does not acknowledge his not giving a start in the route or abandoning it, he is warned (or strictly warned).
6.26 If one creates a certain situation that can cause health problems for a leader, he is warned, strictly warned or dismissed from the route.
6.27 One is warned for the lack of warm clothes during winter competitions; which causes a compulsory retreat from the route.

Part Seven

COMPETITIONS IN PAIRS

7.1 In separable pairs take part in these competitions. The pairs are made up either of two participants possessing numbers or the leader with a number and the participant who is being led. The latter one can be beginner or a probationer.
7.2 If both the participants in a pair have numbers, they have equal rights and the prize that they win is given to both of them.
7.3 If a pair is made up of a participant with a number and a participant who is being led (a training pair), only a participant with a number is awarded a prize; while a beginner is considered to have passed the probation period.
7.4 The pair is allowed to move in separate vehicles only in those cases when it is a row of vehicles and the participants can occasionally see each other. If this rule is broken, the pair must take certain measure to re-establish the connection.
7.5 A pair takes one position in the route, and it is appointed according to one of the participant's position. Furthermore, the participants are allowed to thumb a lift in different places at a time, but they cannot go away alone without each other.
7.6 The time of the arrival at the controlling point is the moment when the last member of the pair arrives.
7.7 Only training pairs take part in training pair competitions. This is the only difference between these competitions and the usual ones.

Part Eight

TEAM COMPETITIONS

8.1 Two or more teams, which include the number of participants (not less than 3 people) take, part in team competitions.
8.2 A team is formed of a certain number of participants who have a right to go either alone or together with the team. Moreover, these can be a certain number of probationers in a team who can go with any of the leaders (the leader can change from time to time), not on his own, or together with some other probationer who has a right to go alone in an agreed part of the route and who has a number.
8.3 The qualitative structure of team must be the same.
8.4 In the finish every participant gets a certain amount of points which are given according to his results.
8.5 The prizes are given according to the sum of team members' points.
8.6 The winner is the team, which has the biggest amount of points.
8.7 When counting the points in the finish a probationer is regarded to as the one who has been taken up into a car (see part 3).
8.8 Points are given to a participant in the finish according to the place he has won among the competitors in the competition. For example, there are 8 participants (2 teams; 4 people in each), these points are allotted:
-to the first - 8 points;
-to the second - 7 points;
-to the third - 6 points;
-to the fourth - 5 points;
-to the fifth - 4 points;
-to the sixth - 3 points;
-to the seventh - 2 points;
-to the eight - 1 point;
-when a participant leaves the route or doesn't start- 0 points.
-when a participant is dismissed from the route - 1 penalty point.
-when a participant is temporal disqualified- 2 penalty points.
-when a participant is fully disqualified- 5 penalty points.
If 2 or more members of a team are dismissed from the route, the whole team is considered to be a loser.
8.9 When 2 teams have the same amount of points, the winner is the one, which got less warning during the last competition, and when even the number of warning is the same, the winner depends on a participant who reached the finish first.
8.10 The team settles the place and the succession of its members' start itself. If the team members are given certain odds, the whole time gained is divided in the team according to their wishes. The information about the start is reported to the arbiter, and it is not necessary to let the competitors know about it.
8.11 When the competition route is announced, in spite of those main ones, there can be some additional controlling points assigned which will be obligatory only to a certain of team members.
8.12 During a competition every team has a right to change a number of team members, who must be agreed upon beforehand, into reserve participants, so such conception as "compulsory withdrawal from the start" has no value in such team competition.
8.13 Every participant of a team or a pair of participant takes one position.
8.14 Interchange among team members in a position or a car is allowed as well as interchanges between pair members and a single participant; just the right of the priority must be preserved.

Part Nine

REST IN A FEW DAYS ROUTE

9.1 When the route is announced for a many - day competition, time for rest is also appointed.
9.2 This time can be indivisible or can be divided into several periods of rest time (2, 3 or 4- a participant is free to choose), which must be agreed upon beforehand by the committee.
9.3 The beginning and ending of the rest time must be indicated in the chronicle.
It is not allowed to record it later using a previous date.
9.4 If the last period of rest time is not used, it is added to the time of the actual finish and so the finish is slightly put off.
When a participant indicates the beginning of the rest in his chronicle, he has no right to move any further in the route, until he notes down that the rest time has finished.
9.5 During rest a participant is allowed to go wherever he wants to and by any means (hitch- hiking transport, or arbiter's vehicle). Still, the inscription of ending the rest time must be made at the same place where it started.
During rest time no right of the priority in a position is in power.

Part Ten

USING THE 2nd, 3rd AND 4th KIND OF PASSING TRANSPORT

10.1 Taking a passing vehicle of the 2nd kind the priority in unclear situation is set according to the moment when the first traffic lights in the first road (in the direction of destination) is touched.
10.2 In a locomotive the system of priorities "the taker- the taken- up participant" is similar to the one concerning cars.
10.3 Going in a train is similar to going in separate cars.
10.4 It is not forbidden to go in a passenger train's locomotive.
10.5 Rules for the 3rd and 4th kind of passing transport are similar to the ones of going in a train.

Part Eleven

ARBITRATION

11.1 People who do not take part in a competition can be arbiters. Also, a referee who has been appointed beforehand by VHHC committee can be an arbiter.
11.2 An arbiter can take his own car or hitch-hike in the route.
11.3 An arbiter is competent of warning the participant or dismissing him from the route for breaking the rules.
11.4 An arbiter's duties include watching the participants keep to the rules, checking controlling points and chronicles, providing necessary help for a participant, consulting on problems concerning the route or the rules.
11.5 An arbiter must be informed about teams' starts or some technical and tactical novelties, which are not mentioned in the rules; this information and tactical knowledge about competitors' moves must be kept in secret.
11.6 An arbiter must stop if a participant gives a sign.
11.7 It is strictly forbidden to take arbiter's transport or ask him to help to thumb a lift.
11.8 If a participant gets help up for a long time because of an arbiter (e.g. when he supplies a participant with technical help) or if somebody is dismissed from the route without a cause, such participant is considered to have made a forceful retreat.
11.9 If a participant does not agree with an arbiter's opinion, he has a right to appeal against his decision to the organising committee.