posted Jan 7th, 2009 - The NSL website has not officially transitioned yet into the new year. However, there is too much fresh information that needs to be delivered, so the NSL News will continue to report to the 2008 database and move the content to the correct location later. The already growing 2009 schedule will be posted as soon as the transition is complete.

There are a few exceptions though. The dates of three major events in 2009 have already been added at the bottom of the 2008 calendar of events: the Valentine's Meet, the FSL Shamrock Showdown and the World Challenge. These events are coming up so soon that the dates had to be posted as early as possible.

Shamrock Showdown and World Challenge have once again several teams on the list, which will attend both events, including Airspeed Odyssey and France Maubeuge. This year, the Shamrock Showdown will be the first one of these two events, as the World Challenge 2009 is scheduled for the first weekend in April. The World Challenge at Bodyflight Bedford was the lead event in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The NSL News will once again provide live coverage from Bedford this year, and Bodyflight owner Paul Mayer promised even more exciting features for the 2009 event. He said that he plans to have some live streaming on the internet this year, and videos of the teams in action may be available much sooner or even simultaneously.

The field of already registered teams for the World Challenge 2009 promises even more exciting competition than the skydiving community could already follow at the NSL website in 2007 and 2008.

Defending champion Airspeed Odyssey and runner-up of 2008, XL, will probably both repeat the thrilling showdowns of 2007 and 2008. Perris Fury was in 3rd place last year and will surely try to get much closer to the top position in April this year. Hayabusa Defence has the team's new lineup ready to improve the 5th place finish of 2008.

Additional quality of the AAA Class field and world class performance will be guaranteed by the two French national lineups that will join the competition this year. French national coach Jerome David announced that France Maubeuge (AAA/Open Class) and Deep Blue (AAA/Female Class) will both attend the World Challenge 2009 and the Shamrock Showdown 2009, as the NSL News reported on 29 December 2008. Aerokart Mamba Pamiers, with the two new members of the French 8-way lineup, will also compete again in Bedford.

The field on the top of the AAA Class competition (Airspeed, France, Hayabusa) is identical with the first three positions of the World Meet 2008. How much more exciting can it get? Then, XL and Perris Fury will try to show that they could win medals at a world meet, too - if they had the chance. XL has been an international lineup and not eligible for an IPC sanctioned event, Perris Fury has had Airspeed Odyssey in the way to become the national team for the USA.

Russia (Sky Panthers), Norway (Arcteryx) and Canada (Evolution) had the next positions at the World Meet 2008 in France. None of these teams has been registered for the World Challenge 2009 so far. However, Russia will already be represented by Kaktus Hunter and Ocean 5. Both teams competed together at the Russian Cup 2008, Ocean 5 also attended the Russian Nationals 2009. Kaktus Hunter posted a 22.2 average at the World Challenge 2008.

Austria's team Alpen Glow comes back after attending last year's tunnel competition in Bedford. Austria's national 4-way team Monkey Circus will compete in Bedford for the first time. The Pro Team from Finland opens the 2009 season with the World Challenge. Sweden's national team of 2008, Evolution, continues in 2009 and has already signed up for the tunnel meet, as the NSL News reported on 27 December 2008. Sequence from Denmark makes a return trip to Bedford, as well.

The delegation of the United Kingdom will be headed by Satori. Several other UK teams have signed up for the competition in the AAA Class, including teams that had planned to step up into the AAA Class this year (Phobia, Kaizen, Escondido). Additional new team names and lineups complete the AAA Class field from the UK this year (Altius, Voluntas, Vertigo the Zoo, Atmosfera), while "Sonicnutz" sounds somehow like a combination of two teams from 2008...

The NSL News will follow up with more previews and new team names.