posted Feb 9th, 2014 - The French national lineups in the female 4way category often have to look at the Open Class leaderboards to set their standards and compare their scores realistically with the 4way top performances in the world. This was standarad procedure for Aerokart Deep Blue who did not have much competition in their own category at all in 2011 and 2012.

Sophie Deremaux, Berangere Duplouy, Francoise Simons-Hamouchi and Amelie Tirman won the gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010 with a 23.6 average, 20 points ahead of Team Bodyflight in 2nd place. The meet average matched the 6th place of Sinapsi in the 4way Open Class.

The French female lineups of the following years have had three different standards. The Golden Knights entering 4way Women with a strong lineup brought direct competition into the female 4way category. The look across the leaderboard and the Open Class scores was still the same, and then there was the Deep Blue standard of 2010.

Aerokart Indoor 2010		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Open	14,18,A	6,F,O,C	7,16,H	Q,5,E,15	4,17,2	J,L,M,11	21,10,12	N,3,B,P	9,20,22	19,K,8	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart PCs	22	40	24	32	23	36	19	36	23	24	279	27.9
2	Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge	23	35	27	29	20	30	19	37	24	24	268	26.8
3	Nice Autrement	20	34	25	26	22	34	19	34	23	17	254	25.4

Wind Games 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	C,20,17	16,A,D,7	J,P,13,L	N,21,22	M,8,15	K,3,6	F,4,1	B,G,H,O,10	5,18,9	Q,2,12	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	29	36	33	27	31	30	29	41	32	26	314	31.4
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	32	35	30	27	32	26	32	38	32	21	305	30.5
3	Thunder (BE)	26	26	27	22	24	23	27	31	25	23	254	25.4
4	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	21	26	27	20	24	21	25	29	24	20	237	23.7

There has always been a time period in France when the 4way baton was handed over from one team to the next one. Amelie Tirman continued with the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders for two years and helped to bring Perrine Sanchez, Laurence Herve and Stephanie Texier up to Deep Blue speed.

Deep Blue world champion Sophie Deremaux came back and helped out in 2012 when Laurence Herve broke her leg before the Mondial Dubai 2012. The Deep Blue Defenders did not get up to the Deep Blue performance level but still won the gold medals in Dubai.

Perrine Sanchez and Laurence Herve have now been in the same position and try to bring up Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis to the Deep Blue speed of 2010. The Aerodyne French Girls had one perfect opportunity to study the Deep Blue performance when both teams competed at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2013. Deep Blue still won without much trouble.

Aerokart Indoor 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	Q,12,L,21	6,D,A,15	P,7,O,10	H,20,2	14,F,M,E	11,16,8	13,B,N,22	C,J,18,5	9,4,19	G,3,K,17	Total	Avg
3	Aerokart Deep Blue (FR)	21	28	26	22	32	18	19	25	26	26	243	24.3
4	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	19	25	24	22	31	16	19	25	23	21	225	22.5

Deep Blue with the original lineup and without much training once again looked across to the Open Class leaderboard at the World Challenge 2013 and finished within the Top 10, while the Aerodyne French Girls prepared themselves for the showdown with the Golden Knights at the World Cup 2013.

The 2013 season came to a great finish for the Aerodyne French Girls at the 4th Dubai Cup 2013 after winning the World Cup 2013 in Banja Luka. The 20.9 average was the team's highest outdoor average so far.

The 2014 season began for the French Girls with a look across to the Open Class leaderboard at the Wind Games 2014. The 23.7 average in Empuriabrava was a new indoor record averge for the French national team and a promising start into the year.

Wind Games 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	C,20,17	16,A,D,7	J,P,13,L	N,21,22	M,8,15	K,3,6	F,4,1	B,G,H,O,10	5,18,9	Q,2,12	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	29(-1)	36(-1)	33	27	31	30(-1)	29	41	32(-1)	26	314	31.4
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	32	35	30(-4)	27	32	26(-2)	32	38(-1)	32(-1)	21(-4)	305	30.5
3	Thunder (BE)	26	26(-1)	27(-1)	22	24	23(-1)	27	31(-3)	25	23	254	25.4
(1)	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	21(-3)	26	27(-1)	20(-1)	24	21(-1)	25	29(-2)	24(-1)	20	237	23.7
4	EXL3Maubeuge (INT)	22	25(-1)	27	18(-1)	22	22	23	28(-1)	23	21(-1)	231	23.1
5	FlyZone Espoirs Saumur (FR)	20(-1)	24	23	19	18(-2)	19	21(-1)	25	21	19	209	20.9
(2)	Kaizen (UK)	18(-2)	24	23	15(-2)	21	21	22	27	18(-2)	19	208	20.8
(3)	EmpuriaGatas BBD (ESP)	17	17	18	17	17	17	19	20(-1)	16	15	173	17.3
6	Monaco Vitalsea (MC)	13	16(-1)	18	14	15(-2)	13(-4)	15(-2)	19(-1)	10(-5)	17	150	15.0

The next meet opportunity will bring the direct indoor competition with the Golden Knights at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2014. Both teams will then travel to DeLand on the following weekend and face off again in freefall.

Aerokart Deep Blue launched the successful 2010 gold medal season with a 20.1 average at the Shamrock Showdown. The Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders did exactly the same (20.1) in 2012 and won the gold medals at the world meet, as well. The starting average at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2014 will surely be on a higher level. Aerodyne French Girls and Golden Knights both will most likely look across to the Open Class leaderboard this year - as Aerokart Deep Blue did in their times.

The Deep Blue performance level is still the top standard in female 4way competition at the moment, but it may change this year...