[JVGazeley]

You'll find that regionals are only in the USA, Canada and Israel. It is not cheap for us to attend regionals as in addition to the cost of building the robot, we also have to pay for a hostel to stay in during the regional and the cost of the team flying across. When the team is over 20 people, that can get quite expensive. Even despite the amount covered by sponsors, I can tell you that each member of our team paid £450 (~$700?) to attend this year. Thus cost is probably an issue for some.

Also, the word hasn't necessarily spread everywhere yet which is something we should be trying to do. From what I can see, it is occuring but gradually.