posted Aug 1st, 2005 - CanAm Skydiving League Director Scott Anderson surprised the NSL News last week, exactly on July 27, with a message that was related to the Canadian Championship 2005. He forwarded a note that he received through the CSPA (Canadian Sport Parachuting Association) chat list:

"This morning at 08:39 a Twin Otter took off from the Canadian Nationals in Farnham. Team Stratosphere exited and set a new Canadian Record for 4-way Formation Skydiving with 26 points. At 09:15 am, the Twin Otter took off again, and team Evolution broke that record by scoring 32 points. Both these jumps were round two of the 2005 Nationals. The draw was P-H-M-J-D."

The NSL News was already waiting for information from Canada and became even more interested since the two top contenders and record breakers have been well known for the NSL News audience. In fact, the NSL News story on July 11 had just covered a new Canadian record possibly set by Stratosfear in round ten of the Malevsky Cup 2005. Evolution had attended the one and only CanAm competition so far this year in June, which was reported with the NSL News story on June 21.

Evolution already impressed the unexpecting audience with the scores of the first three rounds of the fast June 18 meet weekend. The 17.3 average was much higher than usually heard of from the northest NSL area. Stratosfear was aware of the upcoming challenge at the national championship, as team members explained in Russia.

However, the outcome of the championship on Evolution's home turf at NouvelAir Parachutism was still surprising. Evolution walked away with the gold medals and a 16.8 average after ten rounds, while the Stratosfear aera in Canada came to an end with a 14.2 average. The NSL News will follow up with more information of the new Canadian champion.

It was only coincidence that the fast sequence of the Canadian championship was drawn for round two. The Canadian draw was not synchronized with the NSL events. Last weekend's competition draw offered a record opportunity in round two, as well, this time as a part of the national and international NSL/ESL meets.

The United Kingdom used the NSL draw for the UK Championship 2005, and UK manager Andy Scott reported that the all-female team AirKix took the most advantage of the opportunity with a score of 30 points for the fast sequence of only Random Formations in round two (K-B-H-A-M). The NSL News had just covered this UK top contender with the story on July 30.

Airkix did not only score the highest score in this round. The AirKix line-up with Claire Scott, Emma Hammersley, Julia Foxwell, Amanda Kemp and Andy Wright on video is the leader after three judged rounds in the United Kingdom. Andy Scott further explained that five rounds have been completed by the 53 participating teams. Unfortunately, the judges were overwhelmed with the unexpected number of teams and fell far behind. The NSL audience will have to wait until the scores can be provided.

Andy Scott sees even more trouble coming: "We are on another weather hold - it looks like we will be coming back for the second weekend with a re-draw for the incomplete rounds based on all unused formations from incomplete rounds in the mix. The judges are really far behind with round five nearly complete but meet jumps only judged up to round three. The 53-team turnout is biting..."

However, best of all, AirKix team videographer Andy Wright already e-mailed the 30-pointer to the NSL headquarters, and the video file has been uploaded. The jump will most likely become the new British record in the Women's class, as Andy Scott reported, and the UK will also file for FAI/IPC recognition as the new world record for the 4-way Women's event. Other than that, AirKix has an 8-point lead over XLW after three rounds. The NSL News will follow up with the exact scores as soon as they become available.