Hmm is that true? If so we need to get that fixed.
We also have a facebook page for these, and I can add you to the app competition fb group chat for support, ideas etc if you want?
edit: I misunderstood, sorry @nicklambert, I thought he meant he couldn’t make an account to discuss here on the forums. Yes, spam protection is important, and anyone is free to use mock routing like I gave on the flash drives, account or not
Having the test network open to trust level 1 users and above is about protecting the test network from spam attacks so not something to be fixed, more something to preserve networks while they are still small and not fully featured. Hopefully this isn’t too laborious for you @anthonylancer and welcome to the forum!
I think you will find that one hour is nothing when you have a month long competition. Just reading some topics and getting a handle on SAFE will take a lot more than that.
As @nicklambert says its for the protection of the testnets, and not as impediment to any competition. If its a problem for you then maybe you need to factor that into any competition or other event you have. Maybe as a note to any upcoming event that to participate in any competition what its needed, this gives people a chance prior to the meetup to get to level 1 by doing some reading.