GoldRiver Rules 2026 - draft. Comments invited
- Jonathan Binnington
- Oct 2
- 34 min read
VIME Event Regulations - 2025. The GoldRiver Rules.
Draft: 2/10/2025
Acknowledgement: I, Jonathan Binnington, as proprietor of Vancouver Island Motosports Events formally and respectfully acknowledge the fact that the lands through which my events pass, the oceans, mountains, rivers and lakes form part of the traditional unceded and never surrendered territories of Canadian First Nations.
I am grateful for our opportunity to travel these roads.
The First Nations are the Mowachaht/Muchalaht Nations in the place now called Gold River, the Uchucklesaht, Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations in the place now called Port Alberni and the K’omoks, WeWaiKai and WeiWaiKum First Nations in the place now called Sayward.
Together, these First Nations form part of the Coast Salish First Nations of the Pacific Northwest surrounding Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.
On behalf of all motorcycle riders who travel these roads, I thank you.
Introduction to the 2026 revision of the GoldRiver Rules.
Backcountry Navigation Trials, events run by Vancouver Island Motosports Events (VIME) are uniquely positioned in the motorcycle Motorsports spectrum as low bar to participation, grassroots, competitive events run on open public roads for participants riding road legal motorcycles with ICBC registration, insurance and driving licenses or equivalents from other jurisdictions.
Motorsports run in this manner are obliged to ensure participants conform to BC road traffic legislation. Failure to conform to legislation will result in the prohibition of these events - and has done previously elsewhere.
Unequivocal advice has been received from compelling sources that racing or speed trials on VIME events would very quickly lead to the prohibition of these events.
Event organisers and participants have an onus of responsibility to ensure all elements of legislation are upheld for the continuing privilege of indulging our passion. To this end, the GoldRiver Rules for 2026 includes regulations introduced in 2024 with the intention of prohibiting “racing and speed trials” within the meanings of BC road traffic legislation. These regulations were successful in 2024 and are carried over from 2025 to 2026. Part of these regulations includes an escalator of sanctions should an event participant be found to have been involved in Racing or Speed Trials during an event. The highest, last and least likely to be used level of sanction will be reporting that individual to the RCMP along with timing data to support such a representation.
While such a sanction might be seen by some as remarkable, it is important to understand that this form of motorsport is exceptional in that it occurs in an entirely public venue - open, public highways. Such a sanction as reporting to law enforcement is not without precedent, Motorsports participants who operate vehicles while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs can also expect to have to explain themselves to law enforcement agencies.
The prohibition of racing and speed trials regulations will not have any effect on the way participants ride these courses when they follow the course instructions in the roadbooks.
A motorsport pundit not-recently said "If it's not in the rules, it means you can do it...!" This is true. One of the hallmarks of competition is that there always should be tension between those that write the rule books and those that seek every competitive advantage - hence the revision of the rules for 2025 and now 2026.
Two new events are planned for 2026 to run alongside the GoldRiver regularity rally. A description and rules for a “Bracket hillclimb” event are included below.
A 24hour event is also in preparation. The way this event will run will be very similar to the three day “Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally” with the addition of checkpoints that close at specified times in order to keep riders on a schedule.
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2026 Regulations
New additions are in bold. Deletions are in brackets.
Synonyms: the most descriptive term for this genre of motorcycle motorsport is “still evolving”. You may see these events variously described as “backcountry navigation trials” - although more accurately we ride in the midcountry, “DS/adventure raid”, “enduro-raid”, “regularity raid”, “enduro-trials”, Roadbook raid, the list goes on….
The essence of all these names is the same:
roadbook navigation,
road legal dualsports and adventure bikes and riders,
rough wilderness gravel roads,
timed average speed legs,
GPS map back-up navigation,
road legal motorcycle motorsport aimed at entry-level and grassroots participation.
For 2026, the tablet computer systems will remain unchanged from previous years.
Gaia will be the gps mapping system
Roadbooks will be written in Rally Navigator
They will be published as PDFs with the intention of being uploaded into Rally Roadbook Reader (or printed by participants if they prefer)
Progress will be monitored and scored by Richta gps Rally Timing.
Prevention of racing and control measures. This is important!
o VIME events are run on public, open roads, to which there is uncontrolled access by every variety of road user - including heavy industrial vehicles.
o In keeping with this, you can also expect to encounter "lost" event participants riding the course in the reverse direction...
o Backcountry Navigation Trials are permitted in the jurisdiction of British Columbia because this genre of motorsport has not brought unfavourable attention to itself. If this situation is to continue we have to continue to preserve this good reputation.
o The events are "navigation trials", the challenge of the event is to test participant's skills at navigating backcountry routes by roadbook and keeping to set, legal average speeds.
o VIME events ARE NOT RACES!!!
o EVERY MEASURE TO DISSUADE RACING WILL BE TAKEN BY EVENT ORGANISERS.
Forest Service Road posted speed limits are 50kph and 60kph.
For the purposes of these event regulations…
SPEEDING means riding in excess of the set average speed indicated in the roadbook.
RACING means either head-to head competing between two or more riders at the same time or place on the road, OR solo time-trial riding to attempt to achieve a minimum time over a leg or legs in a course.
The roadbook-set required average speed will never exceed the posted speed limit.
TEST LEGS. The event organisers will be at all time aware of the possibility of individual legs being unofficially identified by competitors as "test legs" within the context of a whole day's route for any side-bets. Riders demonstrated by timing data to have "raced" a particular leg in this manner and by so doing, bring the event and VIME into disrepute will be subject to the same disciplinary process as if they had been racing in some other manner.
The measures used to prevent and monitor speeding and/or racing will include, but not be limited to:
Staggered, solo starts at intervals of one, two or three minutes
Monitoring of participant's leg times
Monitoring of participant's finish position with respect to their start position
Confidential “unsporting conduct” reporting to "blow the whistle" on any unsportsmanlike conduct.
The event GPS timing system, Richta, will be set up in such a manner that each timed leg on a course is timed from the end of the previous leg, or flying start to the start of the subsequent leg, or flying finish. In this way, each individual leg is timed separately. It will be the usual time measurement for each leg to be timed in a stand-alone manner.
Rider's end-of-day Richta scorecards will be examined by the event organising team to identify any riders who have consistently exceeded set leg average speeds by recording correspondingly low leg times.
Any rider who records three or more leg times in a day that are 25% (or more) less than the set average - for example rides a 40kph average leg at more than 50kph, a 50kph average leg at 62.5kph (60kph leg at 75kph) will be required to explain themselves to the event organisers and may face sanctions.
If their explanations are found to be wanting, their scores for that day could attract a penalty premium, could be negated, the rider could be asked to leave the event, be declined entry to future events or possibly have their conduct and the timing evidence presented to the RCMP.
Sanctions will be decided by an Event Sanction jury comprising three people, the Event Director, an event entrant representative and one other person agreeable to the other two people. They will examine timing data, hear the circumstances and mitigation and decide the sanction - if any.
The decision of the Event Sanction jury will be final.
The intention of this regulation is to preserve the spirit of the navigation trial as a test of navigating skill and to prevent these events from degenerating into unregulated racing on the public highway.
Competition Rules, Event Regulations and Disclaimer Notice for backcountry navigation trials events held in the Canadian Province of British Columbia
Index:
Introduction. 1.1 Motorsports 101. 1.2 Child Protection. 1.3 Data Protection. 1.4 Governing body notes.
Event Regulations. 2.1 Entry and Eligibility regulations. 2.2 Route regulations. 2.3 Competitor/Participant regulations. 2.4 Motorcycle and Equipment regulations. 2.5 Environmental regulations. 2.6 Event conduct regulations. 2.7 RICHTA Rally timing. 2.8 General regulations. 2.9 Covid-19 regulations.
Disclaimer Notice.
Motorsport can be dangerous. VIME events are designed, produced and delivered to be navigation trials, not races/speed trials/rallyraid events. They are to be ridden by qualified riders riding road legal motorcycles in a responsible manner. Riders participate in VIME events under their ICBC (or equivalent) driving documentation. These events, when ridden in accordance to the instructions in the navigation roadbooks present no unusual hazards.
Participation in VIME events is conditional upon acceptance of personal liability for untoward events and the consequential losses. Also participants implicitly absolve VIME and all individuals who are acting on behalf of VIME from any liability related to the actions of event participants.
Location of apps for download.
Rally Navigator (Roadbook Reader). https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/rally-roadbook-reader/id1440988194
Richta Rally timing. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/competitor/id1448298019
1.1 INTRODUCTION:
Motorsports 101 - To get everyone on the same page.
Anecdotally, motorsport was invented the day after the second vehicle was completed…. Superficially, it all appears to be “racing”, two wheels or four, but the reality is different disciplines have developed to meet different ambitions and resource limitations. In the interests of clarity the major types of motorsport are listed and explained.
Race. Two wheels or four. Circuit, tarmac or dirt. Vehicles start together and the drivers race against each other. Specialist vehicles not road legal, not intended for road use. The GR200/GR300 and other events put on by VIME are NOT race events.
Speed. Two wheels or four. Circuit or single route, tarmac or dirt. Vehicles start singly or in pairs. The intention of speed events is for the drivers to complete the course as quickly as possible without racing each other as the starts are separated by one or two minutes. Variations are drag racing, hill climbs, sprints, time trials. The GR200/GR300/GR400/GR XXV/GR26 and other events put on by VIME are NOT speed events.
Rallying. Rally motorsport introduces the challenge of navigation through an unmarked route, following a set of route directions (sometimes called roadbooks, comprising Tulip Diagrams) prepared by the event organisers. The most dramatic variety of rallying is Special Stage rallying. Competitors start singly at minute intervals and are required to drive as quickly as possible over an unknown course following direction instructions called out by their co-driver. Special stage rallying is a Speed event. The GR200/GR300/GR400/GR XXV/GR26 and other events put on by VIME are NOT Special Stage rallies.
Regularity Rally is a version of rallying that uses road-legal, registered insured and licensed vehicles and drivers following the same type of navigation instructions as Special Stage rallying but driving/riding over public roads with the twin challenges of successful navigation and keeping to a predetermined average speed which is set to be less than the posted speed limits of the roads comprising the course. VIME events are regularity rallies.
In this way the risks, costs and impacts of this version of motorsport can be minimised. Regularity Rallying is also known as TimeDistanceSpeed Rallying, Rallyraid or Routebook Rallying. It is also possible to produce events that simply have the challenge of following the navigation instructions and award placings to “participants” (note not “competitors”) who record a time that is nearest to the median finishing time, which also is intended to have the effect of moderating the speeds vehicles are driven at.
With the development of commercially available GPS based timing apps running on smartphones, it is possible to run regularity rallies with many timed legs per route to give as close to an authentic Rally event as possible within the constraints of a grass-roots, affordable and accessible motosport. The timing system in use is Richta Rally timing. Instruction details can be found in the www.gr200.com blog. Relevant Event Regulations can be found further on in this document.
Richta Rally timed events will give an event finishers table based on Control Points - CPs completed and Time Penalties accrued.
An examination of the legal framework within which VIME events are conducted can be found at https://www.gr200.com/post/vime-events-the-bc-legal-framework
1.2 SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTION. CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS. CANADA.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone under the age of 18. Having effective safeguarding measures in place is primarily designed to protect people in this group.
Child safeguarding is about keeping all children safe from harm, abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect. Having effective child safeguarding measures in place means that organisations or clubs are proactively working internally and externally to ensure that children are kept safe.
Child protection is protecting an individual that has been identified as being at risk of harm, abuse, violence, exploitation or neglect. Child protection forms part of child safeguarding measures, but should be seen as the last line of defence in child safeguarding.
The same principles apply to Safeguarding vulnerable adults.
While it is true that everyone has a duty to uphold BC law, specifically with respect to Safeguarding and Protecting children and vulnerable adults, the activities of motorsports organisations and businesses that require participants to hold full entitlement driving licences would appear to exclude participants and competitors, e.g. customers, clients, service users who would potentially fall into the definitions of “child” and “vulnerable adult”.
While this does not entitle individuals involved with such organisations and businesses the opportunity to abdicate their wider responsibilities to contribute to Safeguarding and Protection or report instances of abuse when it comes to their attention, it does appear that such organisations and businesses have a limited obligation to designate Safeguarding Officers within their business structures or activities.
While children and presumably, vulnerable adults will not be expected to be participants in the motorsports business activities regulated by these documents, it is likely that children and vulnerable adults will be casual, non-entry fee paying spectators.
It is therefore reasonable to expect that the Event Director/Event Organiser will have a working knowledge of the principles and BC Laws relating to Safeguarding and Protection and have a process in place to share safeguarding concerns with, for example, police officers present at events.
It is not anticipated that there will be a need for a formal Child Protection Official at VIME events or within the VIME organisation. This may change in the light of experience.
1.3 DATA PROTECTION. BC PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT (PIPA 2003) CANADA.
o Personal information collected and stored by event organisers will be kept with due regard to its security, will be a minimum reasonably required for the operation of motorcycle events and not shared, consistent with PIPA(2003).
o Participants will consent at the time of event entry fee payment to the collection and secure storage or such personal information as is required by the event organisers to stage such an event. This information is normally comprised of the name, address, telephone numbers, email addresses and vehicle manufacturer, model and licence plate of the entrant PLUS the name, relationship, address and contact information of the person the entrant would like to be contacted in the event of a serious or untoward incident.
o No record will be made of credit card or other financial institution information will be made by Vancouver Island Motosports Events or anyone acting on the behalf of VIME.
o No Personal Information will be shared with any third party with the exception of the Emergency Response Services in the event of a serious or untoward incident.
o In the event of a serious incident, personal information of those people involved in the incident will be shared with emergency services who have a reasonable need to know that information without seeking or obtaining permission from those people.
o Personal, identifiable information collected and stored by Vancouver Island Motosports Events will be limited to event entrant's names, submitted postal or residential addresses, their email addresses, their telephone numbers and the name and telephone number of their "emergency contact.
o No financial information such as credit card details, PIN numbers or passwords will be held by VIME.
o No record of driving document information (licence, registration or insurance) will be made or kept, other than the fact that each participant's driving documents were presented for inspection at sign-on and were found to be in order.
1.4 VIME EVENT REGULATIONS. (Regulations for the organisation administration and regulation of motorcycle navigation rallies in BC Canada by Vancouver Island Motosports Events)
At the time of publication, January 2026 there is no Governing Body in BC for Motorcycle roadbook regularity rallying. In view of this the following regulations are offered as an initial guide.
These Regulations and Rules are not intended to be applied to race, speed or special stage rallies.
Regulations and Governing Bodies for these types of motorsport already exist.
2. COMPETITION RULES:
2.1 Entry and Eligibility Rules.
o All participants will be holders of current BC, full entitlement motorcycle driving licences.
o Event participants from “foreign” jurisdictions whose driving privileges are recognised and permitted in BC will be eligible to participate in VIME events, provided they show their valid driving documents at sign-on.
o They will be 19 years of age or older (see above).
o Their machine will be road-legal, registered, licenced and insured for continuous road use.
o When signing-on for an event, the rider’s driving documents must be produced as evidence of their identity and eligibility.
o No record will be made of the personal information on those documents. The record will be that they were produced for inspection and found to be in order.
o Note. BC registered off-road vehicles (ATVs, Quad-bikes, Side-by-Side vehicles) are not entitled to be used to drive/ride ALONG public highways. VIME events can be expected to include transfer stages along public highways, connecting one set of Resource Roads to another. Therefore, such vehicles are NOT eligible to participate in VIME events.
These rules and regulations are appropriate for Navigation Rallies and Regularity Rallies only. See Motorsports 101 for explanation of these events.
2.2 Route Regulations
The routes.
The GoldRiver200/300/400/GR XXV/GR26 and other events will be run over the gravel roads to the north, west and east of the municipality of Gold River. The posted speed limits on these roads is 50 or 60kph.
Each day’s routes will amount to something in excess of 100miles (hence GoldRiver200/300) 200 miles/300km for the GoldRiver400 and therefore the event riding will be a long way from centres of habitation. The expected duration of each route will be as much as 6-8hours.
The routes will be prepared using a GPS map app Gaia and converted into roadbooks to be read in Rally Navigator - Roadbook Reader on mobile phones (no cellphone tower signal needed - all downloaded and running autonomously on the devices.
The start and finish of each route will be in Gold River, with a timekeeper and an event clock counting each participant out and counting each back to account for everyone with contingency plans to follow-up on stragglers and have a course-closing procedure.
o Routes will be prepared on Gaia mapping software and distributed by Rally Navigator software. The intention is for the roadbook to be read on Rally Navigator - Roadbook Reader apps. Event organisers will not be responsible for participant’s computer literacy skills or difficulties running roadbooks on software.
o VIME will not be responsible for, provide printing facilities or print paper roadbooks, either page-by-page or as a roll. Event participants wanting to display paper roadbooks will be responsible for preparing their own documents.
o For 2026, routes will be published as PDFs by email less than 24 hours before each event day. Riders who insist on preparing their own paper scrolls will upon request be sent the route PDFs one week before the event for printing and taping into scrolls. Because the recipients of early access to the route information will be at an advantage to those riders who have less than 24hours access, paper scroll-riders WILL NOT be eligible for consideration for event prizes or placings.
The route PDFs can be displayed on secondhand smartphones that do not have SIM cards. This is a cheap solution to displaying PDFs and requires a smartphone and handlebar mount, a usb charger wired into the electrical system of the bike and a suitable charging lead.
ROUTE and EVENT SITE SAFETY:
o Courses are marked out in a manner to present the minimum of danger to competitors and spectators.
o Spectator areas are marked with double roping and spectators must stay behind the second rope or fencing and observe the ‘KEEP OUT’, ‘RESTRICTED AREA’, or ‘MOTORSPORT IS DANGEROUS’ notices displayed.
o Each organiser has the right to order the removal of any machine which, in his opinion, constitutes a danger to other riders.
o The riding of any event-entered motorcycle by any person other than a signed-on competitor or traveling marshal is strictly prohibited.
o Other than on the route and public roads, machines may only be ridden (at walking pace) in designated areas such as the paddock or scrutineering area.
2.3 Competitor/Participant Regulations
Rider Regulations - licence, registration and insurance.
o Participants can expect to have to ride appreciable kilometres on public paved roads where it is not possible to complete a stage entirely on single-track or FSRs. For this reason, all riders are required to have a full motorcycle licence, registration and insurance appropriate to the machine they ride.
o As a consequence of the regulation requiring each participant to hold a full motorcycle licence, there is an implicit minimum age for participants consistent with the legal minimum age for holding a motorcycle driving licence.
o Foreign nationals who do not meet the age or experience qualifications for full entitlement motorcycles in BC but who have the equivalent entitlement in their home jurisdiction and are legally entitled to operate motorcycles in BC are welcome to enter VIME events on the understanding that they will present their driving documents at sign-on.
o There will be no event classes for children or young people who are not old enough to hold a full motorcycle driving licence. Consequently, there will be no Child Protection obligations on the part of the event organisers.
o VIME and other event organisers will be fully in compliance with the BC data protection laws laid out in The Personal Information Protection Act (2003). All data collected by the event organisers will have a direct relevance to the event, participants will imply consent to the gathering of relevant data by their entry to the event and payment of entry fees. In the event of a serious incident or emergency, the event organisers will be obliged to share the personal information of the participant(s) involved with the relevant emergency services without the prior implied or express consent of the individuals involved in the incident.
2.4 Motorcycle and Equipment Regulations
PROTECTIVE CLOTHING:
o Protective clothing must be worn in any event at all times while riding. Boots, gloves, jacket and trousers as a minimum.
HELMETS:
o Type approved full-face or open face helmets are compulsory.
o DoT half helmets, skull-caps or DOT labeled military style helmets are not allowed.
o Helmets will be worn at all times a rider is riding a machine.
o Helmet cameras are allowed provided the mount is not fixed to the helmet by drilled holes in the shell, as are helmet mounted auxiliary riding lights.
o Machines will be road-legal motorcycles, registered and insured by ICBC or an equivalent motor insurer for extended road use.
o Competition machines, Frankenbikes and motorcycles authorised by ICBC to only cross public roads to pass from one gravel road to another will not be permitted to be used on VIME/GR200/GR300/GR400/GR XXV/GR26 events unless they are fully compliant with road-use requirements including registration and insurance. The onus will be on the participant to demonstrate how their motorcycle conforms to BC Road Traffic law for extended highway use.
o Machines may be examined by event staff or RCMP at any point in the event and if in the opinion of TWO event staff or ONE RCMP officer are not in compliance with ICBC on-road use the participant will be obliged to withdraw from the event and have no results posted or recorded.
o As a minimum, machines will have compliant lighting (extra lighting allowed, for example for night stages), effectively silenced exhaust systems with spark arrestors at times of high wildfire risk, appropriate tyres and effective brakes on both wheels.
o Where event organisers and directors decide it is necessary for the orderly running of an event, participants will display on their machine clearly a number allotted by the organisers that is in a contrasting colour to the surround of the number placement area. The number may be provided by the organiser of the event or it may be provided by the participant.
o Noise emissions by motorcycles, consistent with regulations above, motorcycles will have engines and exhausts that do not generate more than 90dB(a). Riders of machines that appear to be exceeding this noise level will be required to present their machines for closer technical inspection.
Survival, communications and safety equipment.
o Participant riders are required at all times they are riding their machine on stages to wear a motorcycle helmet that complies with the BC legal requirement for riding motorcycles on the public road. Evidence that a participant has ridden their motorcycle during the event contrary to the law requiring helmets will result in the removal of their times from the results for that day.
o It is strongly recommended that riders also wear other motorcycle safety equipment such as safety eyewear, gloves, boots, jacket and trousers. Motorcycle-appropriate body armour may also be worn at the discretion of each participant.
o Communications equipment. Mobile (cell) phones, satellite phones and/or satellite SOS devices. It is strongly recommended that each participant carries at least one of these communication devices. It is customary for map and roadbook apps to run on tablet-type mobile phones. The same device can be used as the communications system.
o It is strongly recommended that each participant carries a minimal emergency survival package that includes a survival/bivvi bag and a minimum of 1000kCals emergency rations (three chocolate bars….) and one litre of drinking water.
o Outside assistance.
For participation events (eg Gaia navigation) there is no prohibition of riders taking routefinding, mechanical or nutrition assistance from bystanders, supporters, other participants or event personnel.
For competitive events different regulations may apply to competitors taking outside assistance.
Fire and fuelling.
Participants are required to refuel their machines and auxiliary fuel tanks at recognised Gasoline stations. Participants are forbidden from refuelling their machines from gasoline jerry cans in the vicinity of the community hosting the event. This is a specific request from the Fire service community as it is unlikely that everyone will have a fire extinguisher when refuelling from a jerry can. Refuelling from an auxiliary fuel tank while on the event course as a result of running out of fuel from the machine’s main tank is permitted as the location will be remote.
o GPS navigation tech and average speedometers. The spirit of regularity rallying is for riders to test their navigation and speed management skills against each other and the course using the same equipment. GPS navigation apps and average speedometers go against the spirit of the competition and are ubiquitous functions on tablets and smartphones. Pro-level competition rallies specifically outlaw such equipment for obvious reasons. The events staged by VIME are grassroots, accessible events with a low-bar to participation. As such, cheap tablets and smartphones are the obvious way of displaying navigation information and running Richta timing apps. Therefore it is not feasible to outlaw tablets and smartphones in the way pro-level events do. Instead, the event organiser and other event entrants have to trust each other not to cheat by use of unfair advantage.
If it can be shown that a entrant has used unfair “technological doping”, regardless of whether they have actually derived a benefit from such use, they will be removed from that day’s results.
2.5 Environmental Regulations
ENVIRONMENTAL RULES:
o Machines will have spark arrestor equipped exhaust systems when the wildfire risk is posted as “High”.
o Machines will not give off excessive smoke or noise.
o Riders will obey “Engines Off” instructions.
o Wastes will be disposed of appropriately.
o Visor tear-offs will not be allowed.
o Competitors and Participants will not leave litter/rubbish/trash behind them.
2.6 Event Conduct Regulations
SCRUTINEERING:
o A rider’s machine, helmet and equipment must be in good condition.
o The helmet will be type-approved for road use. Full-face or open-face with goggles or safety glasses if a visor is not fitted. DOT “approved” skull-cap, military style or helmets intended for other non-motosport uses are not allowed.
o The machine will have one number plate facing forwards with the event number clearly displayed and at all times easily readable. Riders participating in Gaia-navigation event classes will show event numbers, as will Richta riders.
STARTING METHOD:
o Gaia riders will not be timed or scored on their passage over the course.
o Consequentially, there will be no starting order for “Gaia” riders - except they will NOT start one hour before the first Richta rider, OR one hour after the last Richta rider, in order to preserve the “competition element” for the Richta riders.
o Gaia riders may, if they wish, ride in large groups, pairs or solo. The Gaia rides are non-competitive touring rides.
o Each Richta rider will be started at discreet time intervals, ranging from one to five minutes depending on conditions on the day of the event.
o The starting order will be assigned by drawing lots at the start line.
o In the case of multi-day events the rider who was last in the previous day’s results will start last (or first according to their choice) the following day. The reason for this is there is a potential advantage in being able to follow the tracks of previous riders.
o The course will start at the Start Line and Finish at the Finish Line. These may well be in the same physical location.
o Each start and finish will be recorded to account for all riders at the end of the event.
o All machines will be walked to the start queue and stand with engines off until each individual is instructed to start by the starter.
FLAG SIGNALS:
o Red Flag or red sign: All Riders Stop when they see the red flag waved by a clearly identifiable event staff member. Riders receive further instructions
o Black Flag: when pointed at an individual rider they are to stop immediately.
CONDUCT:
o All persons attending events are asked and required to conduct themselves in a socially acceptable manner.
o Behaviour that is perceived to be abusive, threatening or violent will be required to leave the event.
o Abuse of event officials in any manner will not be tolerated.
o Vandalism, theft and robbery are not acceptable. Such actions will be reported to the RCMP and people involved in such behaviour will be required to leave the event.
DISCIPLINARY CODE, PROTEST JURY
o All infractions of the event rules and regulations will be dealt with by the Event Director unless a Event Rules Referee is present at the event.
o A Jury of three event officials will adjudicate protests and appeals against rulings and instances where racing is believed to have occurred.
o To ensure the adherence to the rules of competition by riders in the competition Richta classes, there will be a travelling Rules Referee who will have the event authority to stop any event participant and check their conformity with the competition rules. They will wear a hi-viz vest, clearly marked with Referee and stop event participants either by holding a hand up in the recognised "STOP!" manner or by waving a red flag. They will specifically be looking for evidence of "Technological Doping". Any rider found using forbidden equipment e.g. average speedometers or Gaia mapping will be reported to the Event disciplinary Jury for ruling.
Untoward Occurrences
o Should a participant come across the scene of an untoward occurrence involving another VIME or GR200/300/400/GRXXV/GR26 participant, they are obliged and required to render any assistance in their power to bring about a satisfactory resolution to the untoward incident. Failure to comply with this regulation could result in exclusion from the event and subsequent VIME events. For example, in the event of a machine breakdown with no injury to any individual the expected response would be to make an electronic note of the time and position of the breakdown, the name/number/contact details of the stranded individual and at the earliest opportunity convey that information to Event Control. In the event of an injury to a participant sufficiently serious to force their retirement from the event, subsequent participants are required to coordinate their efforts to make the injured individual as safe and comfortable as possible, communicate relevant information including time and position of the incident, the name and contact details of the injured individual, the nature of the injuries and their best estimate of the rescue strategy needed (retrieval by 4x4, ambulance or air evacuation).
o To incentivise the rendition of assistance when an untoward incident is discovered by riders, riders will be eligible for “bonus reward negative time penalties” in recognition of the assistance they provide in the event of an occurrence they come across and stop to help at.
o Ordinarily, the bonus will be to adjust their time penalties in the timed leg that they stopped in to Zero time penalties. Extraordinarily, if the rider rendering assistance is required to abandon their day as a result of their assistance, any time penalties acquired in the leg where the incident occurred and subsequent legs will be recorded as zero.
o Each Richta leg is timed in isolation from every other leg, hence it will only be necessary to “zero” time penalties for the leg in which assistance was rendered.
o Riders rendering assistance in these circumstances will be required to “claim” their “bonus” with the event director on the day of the incident. The event director will require to hear a full account of the situation. The event organiser will not be able to automatically award such bonuses as the “in-event” monitoring technology does not allow for moment to moment monitoring of participants position and speed.
o If a bonus is not claimed, it cannot be awarded.
o Event participants are expected and required to be have in a reasonable manner when they are in urban areas connected with the event. Anti-social behaviour such as stunt riding, drunken disorderliness, illegal activity will render the individuals liable to immediate expulsion from the event. We, as a motorcycling community depend on the good-will and support of communities that host our events, we are obliged to behave in ways that mark us out as “good neighbours”.
o Alcohol, Cannabis and other intoxicants.
Motorcycle riding is a potentially hazardous activity. It is generally accepted that the effects of alcohol and cannabis impair an individual’s capacity to operate machinery in challenging environments.
o Any participant that, in the opinion of TWO event staff or ONE on-duty RCMP or Fire officer, is impaired due to the effects of alcohol or cannabis will be denied their start in the event or disqualified if they have already started. If that individual refuses to withdraw from the event they will be assumed to have taken responsibility for any and all consequences however they may occur. Their performances in the event will not be recorded or reported and they may be denied entry to any VIME or GR200/GR300/400/GRXXV/GR26 event in the future.
o Signing-on. Participants are required to present themselves and their machines at the event HQ for registration prior to the event at which point they will “sign-on” in the usual Motorsport manner. A record will be taken of the rider’s name, their event number, their machine make and colour for use in identification and search situations. Participants cell phone number will also be recorded for communications purposes along with the phone number of a significant other. A record of the participant’s place of accommodation during the event will also be made should a search for a missing participant have to be made. Participants will present their driving licence and insurance documents as proof of their identity and their legal driving status. Consistent with BC PIPA(2003) data protection laws, no record of the data on these documents will be recorded electronically.
o Participants starts in the event will commence when they present themselves at the event START, at which point their start time and their physical presence will be noted by the event team. They will be “counted on the way out”.
o Their finish will be when they present themselves and their machine at the event FINISH, at which point their finish time and their physical presence will be noted again by the event team. They will be “counted on the way in”.
o A tally of starters, finishers and accounted-for retirees will be made to account for all who started. The day’s proceedings will not be declared over until all have been accounted for.
Missing participants will be searched for in an escalating urgency manner, by phone, colleagues, search parties and if unsuccessful, notifying the RCMP for missing persons actions.
o All participants will acknowledge the importance of accounting for everyone during travel through remote and potentially hazardous country.
2.7 Richta Rally Timing
Event participants are invited to read the technical essay on sources of error in GPS and wheel driven odometers when traveling over mountainous country measured by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping apps. They are invited to use supplementary remote GPS receiver-antennas to benefit their smartphone GPS performance.
(New for 2023.) Richta Rally timing. Richta Rally timing is a GPS-driven rally timing system that runs on GPS receiver-equipped smartphones and tablets. The app system replaces traditional Intermediate Time Controls staffed by people out on the event route with GPS located Richta Control Points (CPs), triggered when each rider passes each CP at a time generated by the smartphone’s internal clock.
Each Richta competitor must download the Richta Competitor app and the Richta Scoreboard app onto their smartphone, then sign on to the appropriate Richta event. At the start line, each competitor must demonstrate the functioning of their Competitor App before taking their start.
During their passage around the course their Richta app will record their progress and their accumulating Time Penalty total. Time penalties will be awarded for early or late arrival at each CP up to a maximum predetermined time score (one TP point per second).
If a competitor misses a CP they will incur a maximum score for the stage leg immediately before the missed CP and the leg immediately afterwards.
Each route may contain one or more Passage Control points. Each Richta competitor MUST STOP at these Passage Controls. The Passage Control may be at a time-neutralised fuel and rest stop or it may be a Marshal Stop and Go checkpoint. The purpose of these Controls is to provide the event organiser and staff the opportunity to conduct a census of the event participants, in order to track people around the course. Failure to stop and report to a Passage Control point will incur an additional Maximum time penalty score in addition to a Maximum for the leg immediately before AND after the Passage Control point.
Rest and Refuel Passage Control checkpoints.
In the interests of managing the total duration of each day’s duration, the time allowed for each rider to remain at each intermediate “Rest And Refuel” Passage Control point will be twenty minutes. These halts are for the purpose of refuelling, eating and “personal comfort”. Riders will be recorded and timed into the Passage Controls and told what time their restart is scheduled. They will be restarted by the Control Point crew and their delay to restart will be converted into seconds, rendered as that many Time Penalties and added to their TP score for that day.
The exception to this will be in the case of “mechanical repairs required”. The rider will declare to the Control Point staff how long they require to effect repairs, a time which will include their “rest and refuel” time. Their restart time will therefore be their arrival time plus their requested “repairs required” time.
“Stop-Go” Passage Control points will not require a twenty minute stop. They will remain as stop-go controls.
Time Speed Distance scoring. General Principles.
1. Regularity Rally scoring is based on the concept of defining “timed legs” within a rally course that have a start and end Control Points (CPs) and therefore a known distance.
2. Each timed leg has an average speed set for the duration of that leg and from the “speed = distance / time” relationship, the “target time” for that leg is calculated.
3. Regularity rallies are scored by comparing each participants actual time taken to complete each leg with the target time for that leg and assigning one (1) time penalty for each second each leg was completed in, ahead or behind the target time.
4. A Maximum score for each leg is assigned, beyond which further time penalties (TPs) for that leg cannot be accrued. Typically for VIME events this has been 900 TPs per leg.
5. Scoring has been based in the past on the principle of sorting firstly by the number of CPs triggered and recorded and then by the lowest number of TPs.
6. This has had the unintended consequence of disproportionately penalising riders who miss a CP, perhaps because it is in a technically difficult section that the rider does not want to tackle.
7. Scoring has been complicated in past events when some smartphones running Richta Rally Timing apps fail to record a presence at a CP.
8. Ad Hoc solutions to complications have had to be adopted to everyone’s satisfaction.
9. The usual arrangements of timing gates at Control Points is to have the last CP of one leg serve as the first CP of the subsequent leg.
10. The only time this varies is at the start of a course where the first CP is a “flying start” CP (eliminating any false starts where a competitor inadvertently trips the start) and subsequent flying restarts after a “clocks paused” rest zone.
11. The consequence of this is that if a rider “passes” on a leg and takes a reroute to miss a difficult section (say), they will also miss the leg that comes subsequently. They take a “double hit”.
12. A balance needs to be struck between not having the Maximum TP score in a leg so high that taking a double-hit is disastrously disadvantageous and opening the possibility of gaming the scoring system by taking as many “penalty maximums” as possible and potentially scoring fewer TPs than riders who rode all the legs…
13. Additionally, each leg “maximum” serves as a reasonable cap to the TP score that a rider can accrue if they make a total cockup of a leg (= technical term).
In the interests of promoting fair and engaging competition the following scoring rules developments are proposed to be adopted for 2026.
1. Legs continue to be scored as 1 TP per second ahead of or behind the leg target time. Target time is calculated from speed = distance / time relationship.
2. Scoring of the route/day/event will be based solely on TP totals
3. Missed legs score the leg maximum
4. A missed leg will also score a maximum in the subsequent leg as the “start” CP will not be triggered
5. If a CP is not triggered by more than half of the field, it will be discounted from the scoring for that route (and the subsequent leg if the “unreliable CP” is the start trigger for the subsequent leg).
6. Leg Maximum Scores will follow the following scale:
Legs less than 5km in length, Maximum TP score = 300TPs
Legs between 5km and 10km in length, Maximum TP score = 600TPs
Legs greater than 10km in length, Maximum TP score = 900TPs
(The purpose here is to provide a disincentive for “opportunistic” riders to game the system by trying to accrue fewer TPs by bypassing legs rather than riding them).
A neutralised section around refuelling and refreshment stops mid-course will be set up and marked on roadbooks.
(2025 regularity scoring deleted)
2.8. VIME Hillclimb rules. “Bracket” Hillclimb.
General description.
Hillclimb as a motorsport event is well established. Hillclimb events are speed events carried out either on a tarmac road climbing a hill or off-road vehicles attempting to climb a ferociously steep dirt track. Both forms require considerable skill on the part of the drivers/riders and the potential consequences of a mistake or mishap can be severe.
VIME event participants are not expected to have these expert-level skills yet it will complement the GoldRiver event if another event category were to be included in the programme.
One of the essential elements of dualsport and adventure bike travelling is climbing hills that combine loose surfaces and tight turns. It would be an interesting counterpoint to the long distance regularity event if a “less-hazardous” second event could be developed around the same themes that underpin and permit the gravel road regularity event.
These “themes” are an event design and location that minimises risk to the participants and event crew, has a low bar to participation (expensive equipment, extensive experience and expertise, equitable competition are easily achieved), that the event can be run within the limited resources available to VIME and that the risk element is within the control of each participating rider.
With a little divergent thinking, there is a motorsport genre that can be adapted to fit these needs. Bracket drag racing.
Bracket drag racing tests a driver/riders ability to run the strip repeatably and consistently, striving to get as close as possible to an elapsed “index time” without going faster. Bracket racers pass the strip often enough to be able to call their index time without taking a run and of course, the drag strip condition doesn’t change much from run to run and also not so much from venue to venue.
“Bracket Hillclimb” would have riders make an initial inspection on foot of the Crown Land FSR course that would be between 1000m and 1.5km, rising at a gradient between 10 and 15%.
The hill will not have exposed drops and will have a nature such that a falling rider and bike will be “contained” to the course of the road.
The course would be on a blind-ended FSR that would prevent downward travelling traffic appearing unexpectedly.
Riders would then take a first run up the hill to set their Index Time.
They would do this at their own pace. This isn’t a competition for who can climb the hill in the shortest time.
Each rider’s Index Time would be measured by a GPS timing system and recorded. It would then be used as their benchmark against which their subsequent runs would be compared.
As per conventional Bracket Racing rules, climbs faster than each rider’s Index Time will be discounted, leading to the motorcycling equivalent of the classic tortoise-and-hare paradigm.
The event winner would be the rider who came closest to their Index Time without going faster.
All bikes and riders will be fully road legal, ie registered/licenced/insured. The nature of the hill will be such that the local speed limit cannot be exceeded AND a hard minimum Index Time less than the speed limit will be imposed. Motorcycle safety equipment will be required to be worn. Helmet, safety eyewear, gloves and boots as a minimum.
Riders will not be permitted to descend the hill until all participants have climbed the hill. Thus the event will be conducted in “rounds”.
2.9 General Regulations
Casualty Emergency Evacuations.
BC Emergency Health Services.
If you are eligible for and pay for BC Medical Services Plan (MSP), a road ambulance or a helicopter evacuation will cost you a flat fee of $80.
If, on the other hand you are not eligible for or are not paying for BC MSP a helicopter evacuation will cost you $4,400 per helicopter hour. Expect each call-out to bill a minimum of 4hours. In round numbers $20,000….
Event organisers WILL NOT pay this for you or have insurance to pay this for you.
Before you sign up, sign on and party on, CHECK you have MSP cover or alternative insurance!
Refunds of entry fees in the case of event cancellation or abandonment as the result of a serious or critical incident. If the event is forced to be cancelled or abandoned after it has begun as a result of a serious or critical incident there will be no refunds of entry fees. Cancellation or abandonment of the event in such a situation will be directed by the senior RCMP officer responding to the serious/critical incident.
EVENT STAFF:
o Event staff must be able-bodied, fit and capable of carrying out their duties.
o They must attend staff briefing and debriefing meetings as required.
o They must report to the Event Director.
o They must wear the hi-viz clothing issued to them by the event.
PROTESTS AND APPEALS:
o Protests and appeals against rules decisions must be made in writing to the Event Director/Clerk of Course and accompanied by a $100 fee which will be refundable if the protest or appeal is upheld.
o The protest will be heard by a jury of three event officials on the day of the event.
o Protests regarding results must be made within 30 minutes of them being posted.
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS.
o If an event is co-located with a retail fuel station, all refuelling MUST take place there. No refuelling in the paddock with jerrycans is allowed. In such situations there is no requirement for participants to have their own fire extinguishers.
o If it is not possible to co-locate an event with a fuel station and participants refuel their machines from jerrycans, each participant MUST HAVE a 1.5kg dry powder extinguisher.
o The event will have two(2) 1.5kg dry powder extinguishers at the start/finish line and a further one(1) 1.5kg extinguisher at the scrutineer/sign-on queue.
FIRST AID:
o There will be mobile first aid cover on the event, this may be 911 cover.
o Any rider deemed medically unfit to participate by the senior medical officer will be excluded from the event.
o No appeal for medical exclusion when called by a healthcare-qualified event worker.
ABANDONMENT OF EVENT.
o The Organiser, Event Director, Clerk of Course and senior Police officer reserve the right to cancel, postpone or abandon the event should a Force Majeure situation arise.
o Should the senior medical officer or senior police office decide at any time that it is unsafe to continue the event for safety reasons, the event organiser and Clerk of Course are obliged to abide by that decision.
DOGS:
o All dogs must be kept under control at all times, on leash.
2.9 Covid-19
COVID-19 has been a fact of life across the globe for more than the past two years. Events have been cancelled in the recent past due to pandemic outbreaks. Participants in events implicitly acknowledge that event organisers have no control over matters of Public Health. The risks associated with participation events is shared between participants and organisers. In view of this, there will be no refunds of entry fees if the event is required to be cancelled less than 3 months before the date of the event. Every effort will be made by the event organisers to reschedule the event for a time later in the year. Entered participants may choose to roll their entry over to the later rescheduled date. Should the event be cancelled due to COVID-19 reasons more than 3 months before the event date, participants will be given the choice of rolling their entry over to a later date or receiving a refund of their entry fee. Every effort will be made by the event organisers to make a full refund. If unrecoverable payments have been made by the organisers the refund may be less than the full entry fee amount
2.10 Any situation not covered by these regulations will be ruled on at the discretion of the Event Organiser, in consultation with representatives of the event Competitors/Participants
3. DISCLAIMER NOTICE.
To be prominently displayed in multiple locations.
MOTOSPORTS ARE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS
It is a condition of Acceptance of Entry that the promoters, organisers and officials of any meeting are not responsible in any way for any damage to any motorcycle or its accessories or other property, whether caused by fire, accident or other causes, nor for the theft of any motorcycle or its accessories or other property from any meeting. Neither shall they be held responsible for injury to any rider, parent, guardian or any other person attending the meeting.
4. Where to find downloadable apps
Gaia: https://www.gaiagps.com
Rally Navigator - Roadbook Reader: https://www.rallynavigator.com/ and https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/rally-roadbook-reader/id1440988194
Richta
Jdb 02/10/2025
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