One of the Wimmera’s longest-running sporting events will be held for the 58th time over the next week.

The Horsham Week Gliding Competition will be based at the Horsham Aerodrome from Saturday until the following Saturday and will see thirty-eight pilots from four states compete in four classes.

Several Victorian gliding clubs are represented amongst the entrants, including the local Horsham Flying Club, along with competitors from South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland.

The competition involves daily tasks that can see gliders in the sky as far afield as St Arnaud, Donald, Birchip, Nhill, and the Grampians. With adverse weather conditions preventing flying on some days, at least three flights must take place for overall winners to be declared.

A new task is set each day, taking into account the forecast conditions such as temperature and wind direction, which is revealed to the pilots at a briefing at 10 am, after which they prepare their aircraft to take off in the early afternoon. A task usually involves a flight of between 200 and 350 kilometres, which can take three to four hours.

The gliders will launch at around 1 pm, and it can take up to an hour to get them all in the air, depending upon the number of competitors and tow aircraft available.

Once airborne, the gliders circle nearby until the nominated start time when they commence the task, which involves flying a predetermined circuit over set landmarks and bringing the competitors back to land at the airfield.

The aircraft are fitted with GPS receivers that record location, altitude, and speed, and upon returning to the ground, this information is transferred to a computer and used to establish the finishing order.

The winner of the race is based on the fastest average speed to complete the task.

All pilots must sign in upon their return so organisers can establish if anyone has not returned. Occasionally, a glider is forced to land elsewhere, and without an engine or a tow plane, they cannot take off again to continue their journey and require a rescue crew and vehicle with a trailer to retrieve the pilot and glider.

Points are awarded according to their finishing order, with the pilots who earn the most over the week declared the class winners.

Fourteen competitors have already been getting in some practice during the annual Horsham Coaching Week, which takes place in the week before Horsham Week and provides an opportunity for pilots of all levels of experience to develop the skills and experience required to fly cross county, and to learn the district before the competition starts.