Updated: Glenfiddich adds qualifiers, drops USPF and Silver Chanter

The Glenfiddich Invitational Championship, considered by most as the apex of the solo piping year, has added two more events to the list of competitions from which the winners will garner an invitation to compete in October at Blair Atholl Castle.

Glenfiddich spokesperson Liz Maxwell said that both the Masters Invitational at the Glasgow International Piping Festival and the aggregate winner of the Scottish Piping Society of London’s competitions will now gain an automatic invitation. She said that the winners of the Silver Chanter and the United States Piping Foundation will no longer be put on the reserve list for invitations to the Glenfiddich.

The addition of the two new qualifying events brings the number of contests that gain automatic invitations to 10. The other eight spots are held for the winners of:  

• The previous year’s Glenfiddich Championship

• The Clasp at the Northern Meeting

• The Senior Piobaireachd at the Argyllshire Gathering

• The Silver Star Former Winners MSR at the Argyllshire Gathering

• The Silver Star Former Winners MSR at the Northern Meeting

• The Bratach Gorm at London

• The Highland Society of London Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering

• The Highland Society of London Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting

If the number of winners from the qualifying contests does not total10, the Glenfiddich then moves to inviting those who finished second or even third in the qualifying contests, with the exception of the Gold Medals.

In other solo piping news, the organizers of the Dunvegan Medal piobaireachd competition held in Portree, Skye, each August announced that entries in the contest will be limited to 25 competitors, on a first-come first-served basis.