posted Oct 28th, 2013 - NMP-PCH Hayabusa recently had a very long trip on the team agenda, which resulted in a total of five jumps in two weeks.

The Belgian team had turned professional years ago by joining the military services and competes at the military CISM world championships every year. The competition was held in China this time, and Hayabusa had to defend the 4way title for Belgium, which has been in Hayabusa possession since 2007.

There has not been any serious competition for Hayabusa in the past years, and any team in 2nd place is falling farther behind year by year, while Hayabusa increases the meet average consistently. This year's 37.8 is another new record average for CISM 4way competition.

CISM 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Men	M,21,C,K	M,7,N,L	M,F,A,4	M,17,Cat,D	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	30	41	41	39	151	37.8
2	Germany (DE)	27	29	33	28	117	29.3
3	Qatar (QA)	27	31	28	25	111	27.8

It is important for NMP-PCH Hayabusa to bring home the CISM gold medals in return for the financial and logistical support by the Belgian military services. However, the lack of serious competition and the different rules for a meet that is stretched out over a 2-week period does not help the team much to prepare for the real 4way challenges in the other 4way world.

Dive pool and sequences are much easier for the CISM 4way competition, which explains the high meet averages (36.0 - 35.0 - 33.0 - 30.5) that Hayabusa has posted in the past years. Each sequence begins with a Star as the exit formation, and the working time begins after five seconds or whenever the team breaks the Star. Two random formations follow, and each sequence includes one block.

This year's draw even included one sequence with a slot switcher in Round 4. The pool of blocks is different, as well, and the first formation of Block 15 (Cat - Cat) is actually a random formation in the CISM dive pool, as the sequence for Round 4 shows.

The CISM championships are also different as of gender separation. There is no open class where male and female competitors can compete in the same lineup. The is one 4way category for men and one for women. China won the gold medals in the female 4way category this year on home turf.

Low clouds and fog did not even allow the teams to complete the eight scheduled rounds in the two weeks. NMP-PCH Hayabusa now looks forward to the upcoming training camp in Empuriabrava. It's a one-week camp where Hayabusa will try to make up for the slow two weeks in China and find back quickly into the FAI/IPC 4way world.

It's the last training camp before the next long trip to Dubai where the 4th Dubai Cup will bring back together many of the best 4way teams in the world.