posted Jan 9th, 2012 - The NSL Calendar of Events for the 2012 season is growing, and one of the major events has just been added to the NSL News live coverage. The World Challenge 2012 indoor competition at Bodyflight Bedford has become one of the most popular meets in the world and in the history of Formation Skydiving competition since Bodyflight owner Paul Mayer launched it for the first time in 2006.

The NSL News missed the inaugural event in 2006 but was invited to provide the live coverage for the first time in 2007 and has been in Bedford each year ever since. There are only three participants who have been at the World Challenge more often than the NSL News, disregarding host Paul Mayer and his staff.

Those three participants are active competitors, and they are all from Belgium, while the NSL News has naturally been just in the observer position. NMP-PCH Hayabusa's Roy Janssen, David and Andy Grauwels competed in 2006 and are the title defenders for the first time in the history of the event after winning the World Challenge 2011.

World Challenge 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	27	25	65	29	33	23	28	28	22	25	305	30.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	26	24	60	27	34	24	27	28	23	25	298	29.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	26	25	52	27	31	25	29	27	24	24	290	29.0
4	XL	25	24	58	24	32	24	26	25	21	23	282	28.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	22	23	56	23	27	20	24	21	19	22	257	25.7
6	SportsLotto	21(-2)	23	49	23	29	20	25	23	21	21	255	25.5
7	NPC Aerokart	24	20	41	22	26	21	26	22	21	20	243	24.3
8	Satori	19	19	57	21	25	19	24	21	17	20	242	24.2
9	Aerodyne DB Defenders	21(-1)	21	44	20	27	19	25	21	19	19	236	23.6
10	Thunder	13(-4)	20	41	23	27	20	23	21	19	17	224	22.4

Arizona Airspeed has also attended each World Challenge since 2006 and won the first four meets (2006 - 2009) consecutively. However, Airspeed came with different lineups, and Mark Kirkby is the only original Airspeed member. He is still one World Challenge behind the three Hayabusa members since he missed the 2006 event when he spent a season with Team Fastrax.

Airspeed's winning streak ended in 2010 when the French national lineup (Mathieu Bernier, Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett) won first the Shamrock Showdown, then the World Challenge and finally the gold medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Menzelinsk, Russia.

NMP-PCH Hayabusa challenged the new Airspeed lineup at the World Challenge 2011 and again took away the 1st place from Airspeed at the indoor competition. Airspeed had left France and Belgium both in the dust a few weeks earlier at the Shamrock Showdown 2011.

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The Formation Skydiving competition fans can now look forward once again to the same meet combination at the beginning of the 2012 season. The best teams in the world will first test each other at the Shamrock Showdown 2012 before traveling to Bodyflight Bedford at the beginning of April.

It's a World Meet year, and the results of the Shamrock/World Challenge meet combination have correctly predicted the gold medalists in 2008 and 2010. Arizona Airspeed won both events in 2008 and then the gold medals in Maubeuge, France. Aerodyne Aerokart won the Shamrock and then the World Challenge in 2010 and took the gold medals in Menzelinsk, Russia.

The World Challenge itself may also produce another new record. Paul Mayer started with 12 teams in 2006, and the NSL News witnessed his energetic efforts to attract more teams year by year (12 - 19 - 39 - 47 - 52 - 63). He has added new features all the time to make his facilities and the event more entertaining and exciting, and it would be no surprise any longer if the participation was still growing. The registration has begun and offers a special rate until the end of January.