posted Jul 26th, 2006 - Last weekend's international competition also included the 3rd event of the 4-way Grand Prix 2006 in Great Britain and the 3rd event of the 4-way league in the Czech Republic. The scores have already been posted for a while, and two British teams have also provided meet videos.

Wingnutz, last weekend's overall winner of the international A Class competition, features the team's 10-pointer in round six of the meet in Great Britain. The 10-pointer for the A Class sequence (21-Q) was the highest score in this round. Wingnutz finished the 6-round competition with a 10.2 meet average.

The second meet video from Great Britain features the Rookie Class team 100% and the team's incredible 24-pointer in round five (H-E-F). Many teams in the other competition classes would probably be very happy with such a score in any sequence with only random formations. 100% finished the 6-round meet with a very impressive 16.7 average.

The British Grand Prix manager Andy Scott has been observing the great participation at the events and the progression of many teams with interest and pleasure. He sent a summary of his observations to his staff and supporters of the Grand Prix event series in the United Kingdom:

"So far, we have seen 35 different teams entering our 4-way events - the Hibaldstow Grand Prix meet last weekend saw 23 teams again - another cracking turn out. Judging by Karla Cole was exceptional - she managed on her own to deliver all scores within half an hour or less of each team landing - great job."

Andy Scott provided his staff and supporters with the latest standings in the run for the overall championship and used the data for a brief evaluation of the 2006 season:

"The latest league table shows a real race in certain categories, with the national championship as our next leg. We are starting to see a major increase in the standards over the last couple of years. The synchronization of the competition classes and event dates across the northern hemisphere has had a positive impact to UK's Formation Skydiving competition, which is great to see.

The results at the ESL finals bear out the high standing of UK teams within Europe - more so at the grass root level. The hole left by XL is starting to be filled with many promising teams and individuals coming through - exciting times! The Nationals starts, as we know, two weeks after the World Meet 2006 and will see an interesting challenge for first places in several classes - including Airkix vs Bodyflight Rage in the AAA Class."

XL was the former British national team that discontinued after the World Meet 2003 in France. XL was one of the best 4-way teams in the world over several years and still never won a medal after the exciting battles with the Norwegian team, the DeLand Norgies.

Andy Scott can see the growing potential in the United Kingdom, which might eventually create a new world class team in the Open AAA Class competition. He gives credit to the new wind tunnels in Great Britain: "The advantage of tunnel availability in the UK looks like its helping to strengthen our skill base."

Great Britain already has a serious medal contender in the female category this year. Airkix is supported by UK's SkyVenture wind tunnel and currently prepares for the competition with France, Russia and USA at the World Meet 2006. The British team V-Max won the gold medals in the same category in 2003.