# Speed Demon

> A 72-hour performance-engineering championship run by Hackathon Raptors.
> Four tracks, one reference implementation, one machine. We run every
> submission ourselves and rank it on a published efficiency coefficient.
> October 30 – November 2, 2026. Online. Free.

The scoring is the point: same task, same data, same machine, and a number
that does not move when somebody else submits. Specifications, reference
implementations and the complete scoring harness are published two days
before kickoff, and the full scoring dataset is published afterwards so
anyone can reproduce the board.

## Everything in one file

- [Full context](https://speeddemon.dev/speed-demon-context.md): every page, the FAQ, clarifications, all four track specs, the starter and harness READMEs, the image allowlist and the kickoff video transcript, as one Markdown file

## The event

- [Tracks](https://speeddemon.dev/#tracks): the four workloads, each with a deliberately naive reference implementation to beat
- [Scoring](https://speeddemon.dev/#coefficient): how the efficiency coefficient K is computed, axis by axis
- [Gates](https://speeddemon.dev/#gates): the correctness checks a submission must clear before it is ranked at all
- [Harness](https://speeddemon.dev/#harness): the machine, the container limits, and how the five runs are taken
- [Timeline](https://speeddemon.dev/#timeline): registration, kickoff, code freeze, scoring, judging, results
- [Prizes](https://speeddemon.dev/#prizes): the $1,800 pool and the side quests
- [Rules](https://speeddemon.dev/#rules): team size, allowed languages, what counts as your own code
- [FAQ](https://speeddemon.dev/#faq)

## The organiser

- [Hackathon Raptors](https://raptors.dev): a UK Community Interest Company (15557917) running online hackathons for working engineers
- [Past events](https://www.raptors.dev/conference): the full archive, every one with a page
- [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/xfYPDZYqeh): where teams form and the leaderboard is argued about

## Judging at Hackathon Raptors

Every Hackathon Raptors event is judged by a panel formed for that event and matched to its subject.
To judge an upcoming Hackathon Raptors event, or to nominate someone, write to hello@raptors.dev with a short note on your background. A new online hackathon runs most months.
- How judges are selected: https://www.raptors.dev/judges
- Contact: hello@raptors.dev

## Upcoming Hackathon Raptors events

- Agentware (27-30 November 2026): https://agentwarehack.com/
- Code Olympics Winter Championship 2026 (18-21 December 2026): https://codeolympics.com/winter-2026
- Every event, past and upcoming: https://www.raptors.dev/llms.txt