posted Jun 29th, 2012 - Germany's national coach for Formation Skydiving, Mathias "Mausi" Maushake, organised once again the annual nationwide 2way competition, which is open for all German skydivers. It took place last weekend at each skydiving center that wanted to participate.

He is also the General Manager at Aero Fallschirmsport, the skydiving center in Kassel-Calden that recently hosted the Northern German Championship 2012, and he posted information and results at the DZ's website.

Last year's winners, Thomas Mack and Christian Schäfer, defended the 2way title successfully with a 26.0 average. Both were Final Four team mates until the 2nd place at last year's German Nationals. Thomas Mack then accepeted a slot in the German national 8way team for the 2012 season, and Final Four has not continued the team project.

Marius and Jürgen Weber took the 2nd place after three rounds. Their names are only familiar to the 4way teams and competitors who also pay attention to the military 4way events, especially the CISM World Championship.

The NSL News reported last year that NMP-PCH Hayabusa won the military gold medals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Golden Knights and Germany's military 4way lineup were tied in 2nd place. Marius Weber was a member of this lineup and won his silver medal after a 40-pointer in Round 1 that was eventually the tie breaker.

The CISM teams have a much faster dive pool and are familiar with speed. It was not a big surprise for 4way insiders that the Weber 2way finished so close to the very top after their three rounds in Saarlouis, host of the World Cup 2011 and home of the German national 4way team Paratec-Saar.

CISM 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Men	M,F,H,19	M,B,G,22	M,P,E,13	M,K,O,4	M,Cat,C,11	M,L,J,10	M,Q,N,21	M,A,D,7	Total	Avg
1	Belgium NMP-PCH Hayabusa	43	29	35	35	34	34	34	44	288	36.0
2	Germany	40	30	32	32	29	29	29	35	256	32.0
3	USA Golden Knights	34	28	35	28	28	32	33	38	256	32.0

The Paratec-Saar members did not compete in 2way last weekend, at least not in lineups with their team mates. However, two of the 98 teams still included Paratec-Saar members. Markus Bastuck jumped together with his wife Snezi and placed 11th with a 16.3 average. His father Helmut Bastuck, General Manager of the German Skydiving Federation (DFV), was in the competition, as well.

There was also a real father/son lineup with a Paratec-Saar member. Jörn and Max Thiele's father Helmut is still a very active skydiver. He is an original member of the legendary German team Walter's Vögel who won bronze medals at the World Meet 1975 in Germany. He jumped in a team with his sons until 2000 when Markus Bastuck eventually took his slot.

Only one of his two sons in the current national 4way team could be in the 2way lineup, and it turned out that Jörn Thiele scored a 14.0 average with his father for "Helmuts Vögel" and took the 14th place.

The teams on the very top of the leaderboard, the former Final Four team mates and the CISM experts, were very fortunate that two of the female 4way challengers in Germany, ISB Air Remscheid, had bad luck with the weather in Magdeburg, host of SkyQuest Germany 2012.

Annekathrin Heinrich and Petra van Overveld, filmed by Magdeburg videographer Jörg Busch, could complete only two rounds and still finished in 5th place with the total points after only those two rounds. They were in 2nd place after Round 1 (31 - 29 - 27) and finished Round 2 only one single point behind the winner (28 - 27 - 27). At least the 2nd place would most likely have been the final position with the scores of a third round in Magedburg.

ISB Air Remscheid is now very close to the outdoor comeback with Center Outside Sarah Hajooze. Then the team will continue with the pursuit of different sets of gold medals this year, including the German Nationals 2012, where Paratec-Saar will have to defend the national top position - in 4way...