On Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 10:00:16 PM UTC-5, wrote:
One thing I have not seen posted yet. It used to be required to have evidence of a silver distance xc flight and five hour endurance or a voucher from another contest pilot of the same. I think the five hour is the most important in all of that. Being able to think clearly and have good judgment after a stressful 3-4-5 hour flight canout be emphasized enough. So if your thinking about contest get a few consecutive 5 hour flights in then go have some fun.

The requirement now is Silver Distance or a documented 100 km OLC flight. This is a pretty low barrier. It is obviously advisable to have more cross country experience and longer flights to make the contest experience better.
That said, I don't think the 5 hr leg means much in this context.
One reason the entry bar is so low is that we have a pretty high level of support and oversight for new pilots.
UH