The 4-way Nationals is unquestionably the most exciting event on the UK calendar, with a buzz like the meeting of the clans. Skydive Hibaldstow’s superb bar/restaurant facility was the perfect venue to add atmosphere to the competition brief and electronic draw.
##The field
70 teams registered, this year all belly flyers as the VFS Nationals took place the weekend before. A massive field of 24 teams in AAA class, a new UK record! It’s brilliant to see lots of AAA teams that have come up though the levels all the way from Rookie or A. (Entropy, Eclipse, Phoenix, Equal Pay and more…) Chatterchicks for example are now in AAA, and the proof that they are a kick-ass team is by ‘Chatterchaps’ entering Rookie (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). There are 11 teams in AA, 16 in A and 19 in Rookie, a good spread across all the categories, making for a fun meet with every team having another closely-matched one to battle.
##The Draw
The system used an automatic draw that fills up rounds across the four categories all at the same time; the random or block drawn is put into each category that it belongs in. What it lacks in oohs and aaahs from the crowd is made up for by the speed of the draw so teams can commence dirt diving and be finished before silly-o-clock. It also means the teams begin with similar dives, especially in AA and AAA, so providing an immediate comparison and inspiration.
In AAA it was a draw that puts up people’s averages, with only two all-block rounds, the rest having enough randoms scattered across the rounds to encourage high scores. There are two burner rounds, which always adds to the excitement (although no all-random round). Round 4 (H, J, 7, Q) is going to be interesting as potentially fast, and round 8 (14, D, C, 9). One of the all-blocks is the first jump, which gives teams a chance to settle those first round nerves. “A nice straight up 3- blocker on round 1 is pretty much a dream come true”, said coach Steve Hamilton.
The Draw
###Rookie
R1 E F H
R2 J Q A
R3 L O D
R4 C P B
R5 N G K
R6 M A B
R7 J H D
R8 E F P
###A Class
R1 2 21
R2 19 E
R3 6 F
R4 8 H
R5 J 7
R6 Q 4
R7 A L O
R8 D C 9
###AA Class
R1 2 11
R2 21 19
R3 E 6 F
R4 8 H J
R5 7 Q 13
R6 4 A L
R7 20 O 1
R8 22 14
###AAA Class
R1 2 11 21
R2 19 E 6
R3 F 8 16
R4 H J 7 Q
R5 13 10 17
R6 4 A L 20
R7 O 1 22
R8 14 D C 9
R9 P 15 B 3
R10 N G 18 K
##The AAA Field
Satori XL, with Julia ‘Foxy’ Foxwell, Milko, John McIver and Pete Allum are everyones’ favourites’s to win with a large margin. There should be a very interesting battle for 2nd to 6th place between a number of high level teams; NFTO, Vision, 4mula, ACM and Eclipse.
NFTO (Not For The Ordinary) have done 250 training jumps, less than they wanted having changed 2 team members since last year. They should win the female category and qualify to be the UK team at the next World Meet, and also have their sights set on a medal. “You guys have been around long enough not to get caught up in the roller coaster of competition” said their coach Steve Hamilton last night.
ACM (Air Combat Moves), who have trained hard this year sadly lost half their team just before Nationals. Debs Lamsley broke her arm and Gareth Hicks was called away by work. Bring on Supersubs Lynne Murray (Kaizen) and Aaron Faith (Satori) to join Hari and James.
Vision have done 270 jumps. They lost Adi to an injury on the second day of the last camp. Decided not to jump on the injury for fear of making matters worse.. and went on the lash instead! They are cocked, locked and ready to rock!
The well established team, 4mula, jumping with player-coach Joey Jones are a force to be reckoned with. Joey commented, “Kate just celebrated her 1000th jump the other day and she’s doing an 18 average. I had to do over 4,000 jumps to achieve that – shows the power of the tunnel!… We’re really happy how the team is doing, with an 18 average. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight tooth and nail like a dog for the prize!”
Eclipse were a mighty force last year and cannot be discounted, even though this year they have only done one training weekend, and team members are not very current.
Further down the field it’s cool to see arch rivals Phoenix and Equal Pay, winners and runners up in AA last year, moving into AAA. They have not trained but are ‘looking forward to doing the fun blocks’. Phoenix wanted to train but lost a team member so have done less than 10 jumps. So the teams start from a level playing field, bring it on!
Tenacity (last year) tried to rebrand as OBNO – Old But Not Obsolete (Arnie catch phrase from the latest Terminator movie) .. but manifest still have them down as Tenacity.
##AA Field
Kintama with Stu Ferguson as player-coach are favourites to win, he has 3,000 jumps and team members lots of experience. They won the Hib 4-way Cup recently. The other medals are most likely between Nobody Expects the Wurst and Almost Petite. At UKSL competitions, ‘Nobody Expects’ have won 2 and Almost Petite 1, so a close battle is expected. Wurst’s goals are, to medal and to beat Almost Petite, as then they will win UKSL overall. They feel Kintama will win but are shopping for a medal as they have beaten everyone in the meet, apart from 2 teams who are unknown quantities. One of the unknown quantities is Chicken Mafia, an amalgam of two of last year’s teams, with very experienced team members. Nobody, Almost and Boots & Shoes are all Langar teams and have great vibes between them.
##The Name of the Game
As usual there are lots of fabulous team names, it amazes me how inventive people still are with the number 4 after all these years. Some of my favourites: Awesome 4some, Questionable 4-Play, Multiple Scoregasms, Tyrano4rus Rex, Goat-o-Phobes, Ice Bank Mice Elf (say it out loud), Future Cynics, Midnight Killer Racoons.
##The Competition
In AAA, the first round showed a taster of the battle to come, with Satori out in front, then Eclipse with a surprise 15, beating the more trained NFTO, 4Mula (who had 2 busts), ACM & Vision. By round 3, Satori have a clear lead (58 points), then 4Mula are looking strong in silver (51) with the fight for bronze between a very level ACM, Vision, NFTO (47), and Eclipse (46). The fast round 4 has been jumped but not judged so let’s see if that throws the cat among the pigeons! Satori said it was their best round of the meet!
in AA, Kintama had a disastrous round 2 with a camera joining the team members and losing a couple of points, painfully! Chicken Mafia had the worst start to a Nationals – a funnelled exit – but recovered well in round 2. They look a good match for Kintama, scoring 17 to Kintama’s 16 on the fast round 3 (E, 6, F).
Four Dornier aircraft are motoring to altitude and the mean machine of the National Championships is under way, with the power of a tsunami, the effiiciency of a swiss watch and the steady pulsing rhythm of the jungle drums! After 3 hours most teams had done 3 jumps, the pace is fast but doable. I can’t write as fast as the judges are powering through the rounds so here is a link to the scores and I’ll report back in more detail later today.
