As part of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s new eight-contest Champion of Champions League, the British Columbia Pipers Association is pleased to release some initial details of the RSPBA Pacific Rim Drumming Championship.
The competition, presented by the British Columbia Pipers’ Association will be held on Saturday, March 8, 2025. The prestigious event will take place in the Halpern Centre, at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus at the top of Burnaby Mountain, 8888 University Drive .
All events take place in the Halpern Centre
Doors open at 9:00 AM, Admission by donation, the first competition begins at 11:00 AM . The Pacific Rim Adult Snare Drumming Championship begins at 2:30 PM, Hornpipe/Jig 4:00pm. Results 5:00 pm. All times are approximate and subject to change. Social at BierCraft Pub on Campus to follow.
Schedule : Pacific Rim
This event offers North American drummers an opportunity to qualify for the World Solo Drumming Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in October, 2025. The winner of the event will win the J.Reid Maxwell Medal, styled with an orange ribbon as a tip of the hat to Maxwell’s signature orange ball cap.
RSPBA Pacific Rim Adult Snare Drumming Qualifier Results
BCPA Pacific Rim Drumming Results
J. Reid Maxwell medal first awarded in 2023 to Blair T. Brown
Prize Money available for this event
- Pacific Rim Adult Solo Snare Drumming Championship MSR – First $500, Second $300, Third $200
- Adult Hornpipe and Jig – First $500, Second $300, Third $200
- Overall Champion $1000 & J.Reid Maxwell Medal, 2nd $500 and 3rd $250
The Adult overall Drumming Champion $1000 prize is donated in memory of Hugh Dobbie, a true gentleman and founder of DOWCO. Hugh and Susan Dobbie sponsored the DOWCO Triumph Street Pipe Band. Hugh grew up in Scotland and was a side drummer in his youth. Hugh and the Dobbie family have been proud supporters of the Scottish Arts in British Columbia for decades.
Order of Play for RSPBA Pacific Rim Adult Snare Drumming Competition
Order of Play for Pacific Rim Youth and Adult Hornpipe & Jig compeition
2025 RSPBA Pacific Rim Adult Solo Snare Drumming Championship Information Guide
BCPA is offering the following snare drumming competitions at this event.
Additional Snare Drumming Competitions
For more information refer to the Information Guide
- Adult Hornpipe/Jig
- Under 14 Years – 2/4 March and 6/8 March
- Age 14 to 16 years – MSR and Hornpipe/Jig
- Age 16 to 18 Years – MSR and Hornpipe/Jig
We are pleased to introduce our RSPBA Judges for the Pacific Rim Adult Solo Snare Drumming Championship Greg Dinsdale, Ontario, Canada and Mark Wilson, Northern Ireland See Bios below
Greg Dinsdale
Greg Dinsdale’s interest in drumming started at the age of nine under the tutelage of Jim McComb of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. He later went on to study under Hugh Cameron of Kitchener, Ontario, playing in Waterloo Police and the Glenmor Pipe Bands.
Greg was lead drummer of the Toronto Police Pipe Band (Gr. 2) who won the drumming at both The World Championships and the Cowal Championships in Scotland in 1986. That same year, Greg was invited to join Alex Duthart’s drum corps with the Grade 1 British Caledonia Airways Pipe Band (now Power of Scotland). He continued to play in the corps under Eric Ward after Alex’s untimely death. This corps achieved significant success including a first-place finish in the Grade 1 Set Competition at the 1987 World Championships.
Prior to retiring from active competition in 2005, Greg was lead drummer of the Grade 2 Windsor Police Pipe Band which placed in the top five at three consecutive World Pipe Band Championships. In solo drumming, Greg was awarded the PPBSO Champion Supreme designation for Professional Solo Drumming and advanced to the Semi-Finals of the World Solo Drumming Championships on several occasions.
He is a qualified adjudicator with the Piper’s and Pipe Band Society of Ontario (PPBSO) and the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA). His judging experience includes adjudicating at all Major RSPBA Championships including the Grade 1 Final at the Worlds on numerous occasions, the North American Championships, the New Zealand National Championships, and the World Solo Drumming Championships. He resides in London, Canada where he is President and CEO of the software firm, LBMX Inc.
Mark Wilson – Drummer & Percussionist
Mark Wilson, from Northern Ireland, began drumming aged 4, and received most of his tuition from multiple times All Ireland Senior Champion, the Reverend Frank Gibson. Since then, he has a highly successful career in World Championship winning pipe bands and drum corps, and an enviable record as a top solo player.
Competing in the top echelons of grade 1 with both The Pipes & Drums Of The Royal Ulster Constabulary GC and Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, he has won over 30 Championship titles in both band and corps playing including 15 Ulster, 4 All Ireland, 4 Scottish, 4 British, 2 European, 3 Cowal Championships and 6 World Championship titles.
Mark is a former Director of the Northern Ireland Piping & Drumming School, a former Northern Ireland representative on the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Music Board and Board of Examiners, and a qualified international examiner for the Piping & Drumming Qualifications Board and the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
Having retired from competitive playing in 2004, due to serious illness, , he turned his attention to adjudication and educating, and since 2004 has been fully qualified member of the R.S.P.B.A. Adjudicators Panel and is in demand for adjudication duties throughout the Pipe Band world each year.
Mark is highly trained in music outside of the pipe band world and works as a full time Percussionist working with a range of Classical, Choral, folk and popular composers and recording artists. More recently one of his projects has been “Titanic Drums” and their performances at major national and international events, such as the opening ceremony of The World Police & Fire Games, “Titanic, A Commemoration in Music and Song” for BBC network television, the re-opening on Belfast’s Waterfront Concert Hall, and a conference of former international leaders in Beijing China, amongst others.
He now also works as a Presenter, Musical Director and Assistant Producer on a number of different music series for BBC Television, focusing on Ulster-Scots music. These include, “The Santer Session”, “Burns Night with The Ulster Orchestra”, “The Castle Session”, “Burn’s Night From The Waterfront”, “Music Night at Brownlow”, and, “Burns An’ Mair”.
For the BBC TV series, “Santer”, Mark also organised the music and presented four different 6 week long musical journeys through the USA, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand respectively, looking at the cultural and musical influences the Scots-Irish on the music and lifestyles of certain regions in those countries.
Mark is also the writer and presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s piping programme “Pipes & Drums”.
Mark has played in several Royal Palaces for the late HM Queen Elizabeth II, The Princess Royal, The Prince of Wales and The Duke of York. He has also played in Dublin at Aras An Uachtaràin for President Mary McAleese, and for members of the UAE Royal Family in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Um Al-Quwain.
Most recently he was honored to be entrusted as Producer and Musical Director of a Multi-Cultural Music and Dance Concert to welcome King Charles III on his first visit to Northern Ireland as King, and especially to be asked to greet the King and Queen and introduce them to many more multi time World Champion Pipers, Drummers, and Drum Majors from Northern Ireland.
Local Judges : Kyla MacNeil, Duncan Millar, John Fisher
