posted Dec 22nd, 2010 - The top 4-way competition in the United Kingdom has been under the control of the female lineups and Satori in the past years. This may change in the near future, as a not so new team now comes into the UK picture. SonicNutz plans to be in serious contention in 2011.

Helen Arnold (Point), Darren Atter (Center Outside), Simon Cathrine (Center Inside), Dave Honeybone (Tail) and Rob Frost (Camera) came together for the 2010 season and continue next year. Simon Cathrine replaced Jason Kierman in 2010, while Helen Arnold, Darren Atter and Dave Honeybone have trained and competed for SonicNutz since 2009.

The same three team mates have known each other for years, as they have competed at the same meets with different teams. Darren Atter teamed up with former SonicNutz member Jason Kierman in 2006 and won the A Class competition with WingNutz at the UK Nationals that year.

Wingnutz, still with Darren Atter and Jason Kierman, moved up into the AA Class in 2007 and won the national championships again. At the same time, SonicV won the A Class competition with Helen Arnold and Dave Honeybone in the lineup.

It would still take another year until the two teams, WingNutz and SonicV, would eventually merge and continue under SonicNutz.

Both teams moved up into the AAA Class competition in 2008, which was a double step for SonicV, and ended up right next to each other on the leaderboard of the UK Nationals 2008. Darren Atter and Jason Kierman placed 4th and posted a 12.6 average for WingNutz. Helen Arnold and Dave Honeybone finished in 5th place with an 11.8 average for SonicV.

That was obviously close enough for a merger, as Helen Arnold, Darren Atter, Dave Honeybone and Jason Kierman joined forces for the 2009 season and finished the first SonicNutz year with a 14.9 average in 5th place at the UK Nationals 2009.

In the meantime, Simon Cathrine, the 4-way veteran of all current SonicNutz members, had been on his own road to the first attendance at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving. He was training and competing with AAA Class team Fusion and qualified as the British national 4-way team for the World Meet 2008 in France with a 4rd place and a 13.9 average at the UK Nationals 2007.

Winner Bodyflight Storm had decided to compete in the female 4-way category for the United Kingdom and Team Elan disbanded after the 2nd place. Aardvark Zulu in 3rd place did not continue as a team, which offered Fusion with Simon Cathrine the opportunity to represent the United Kingdom in the Open Class in France 2008.

World Challenge 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,4,12	J,M,E,D,L	20,17,8	15,18,7	22,A,F,K	21,C,G,6	9,19,16	B,13,14	H,P,O,3	N,2,10	Total	Avg
9	Satori	19	57	19	21	26	25	25	24	28	19	263	26.3
12	Team Bodyflight	18	49	18	21	24	22	23	19	33	19	246	24.6
25	SonicNutz	15	30	14	15	18	20	19	18	25	16	190	19.0

Fusion finished with a 12.7 average in 19th place at the World Meet and later placed 3rd with a 14.2 average at the UK Nationals 2008. Simon Cathrine continued with Fusion for another year until the new SonicNutz lineup beat his former team (14.9 - 12.9) at the UK Nationals 2009 and then offered him Jason Kierman's slot.

Simon Cathrine accepted, and his new team now wants to do what he already did with Fusion in 2008 - compete at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving for the United Kingdom.

The first season had a low key agenda and was still very successful. SonicNutz finished with a 16.5 average in 3rd place at the UK Nationals 2010. The second SonicNutz year will be different and with much more training and bigger goals.

The training for the 2011 season has started. Fine tuning the techniques and picking up the speed is on the agenda for the winter training. The outdoor training will be kicking in intensively beginning in March.

Coach Gary Smith is in charge for the technical update and bringing the team up to British winning speed. He will work with SonicNutz at four training camps. The team will attend several meets to benchmark the progress, as team speaker Dave Honeybone recently reported.

The first meet of the 2011 season is the Shamrock Showdown 2011 where the results of the SonicNutz winter training will be shown. The first meet of the United Kingdom Skydiving League 2011 follows at the end of March in Hibaldstow.

UK Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	9,20,K	12,10,1	3,14,21	B,18,H,22	A,17,F,16	P,O,N,D,E	7,6,J	15,G,11	13,5,M	4,C,8	Total	Avg
1	Satori	20	15	17	20	19	37	23	18	20	18	207	20.7
2	Team Bodyflight	18	14	17	17	23	32	21	14	13	19	188	18.8
3	SonicNutz	15	12	13	14	19	27	18	14	17	16	165	16.5

The 4-way winning speed for the UK Nationals 2011 will be challenging. SonicNutz wants to win the gold medals, and Satori won this year with a 20.7 average. Team Bodyflight was in 2nd place with an 18.8 average.

However, the SonicNutz 2010 average of 16.5 at the end of a "low key year" is more than promising. Satori will come back next year, even though the lineup has not been finalized yet. Satori members said that it will be a slow year for the team in any case.

Dave Honeybone has no doubt about the SonicNutz potential: "This is the strongest line up I've ever worked with, and I'm loving every minute. If anyone's going to get SonicNutz to the World Meet - this line up will." Sounds like the top teams in the United Kingdom will move closer together.