posted Dec 10th, 2013 - The Sun Path Products NSL News has modified and combined the two different leaderboards of 4way Open and 4way Women several times at events of the past years. It happened again a few times for a good reason at the 4th Dubai International Parachuting Championship 2013, as the Aerodyne French Girls oriented themselves and their performance primarily according to the numbers on the Open Class leaderboard.

This special modification/combination of the leaderboards has always been going only one and always the same direction. The 4way Women teams end up embedded in the Open Class leaderboard. It makes no sense the other way around, as male competitors are not eligible for the female 4way category.

However, this doesn't apply for female 4way teams and competitors who may sign up for the Open Class competition if they feel like doing so. It still does not happen very often that a female lineup signs up for the Open Class at an event that offers competition in the female category at the same time.

4th DIPC 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	11,H,12	F,15,10	A,N,E,Q,8	K,4,L,6	M,C,20,5	13,O,16	3,17,18	21,7,1	G,22,14	P,19,9	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	17	20	24	22	26	19	18	19	18	26	209	20.9
2	Polaris (NO)	15	17	22	18	19	16	13	17	15	21	173	17.3
3	Dubai Asaar Ladies (AE)	13	14	18	17	17	10	12	14	12	17	144	14.4
4	Fuzion (CA)	10	11	17	17	16	13	11	12	13	17	137	13.7
-	Torque (CA)	10	13	17	14	13	9	11	12	12	-	111	12.3

It has happened only once in the past years, according to the Sun Path Products NSL News records. The French national team of 2012, Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders, represented France in the Open Class competition of the World Cup 2012 in Prostejov, while the Golden Knights and Polaris competed in the female 4way category.

France had no other team in the Open Class, and national coach Jeremie Rollett sent the Deep Blue Defenders to the other leaderboard. Of course, all three female teams compared their scores indirectly across the two leaderboards, as the Sun Path Products NSL News did, as well.

The 4th DIPC 2013 offered a new option in the combination experience of the two leaderboards. It is the second time after the World Cup 2012 that an Open Class team ends up on the leaderboard of the 4way Women competition. However, there is a different and new reason for this modification.

Canada's national 4way team in the female 4way category, Parachute Montreal team Fuzion, made the trip to Dubai and entered the 4way Women competition. There was a second Canadian team with plans for the 4th DIPC 2013, this year's Canadian bronze medalist Torque, whose lineup consists of only female competitors, as well.

The host allowed only one team per nation for any Formation Skydiving category, and Torque eventually ended up as Canada's national team in the Open Class, as the slot on the 4way Women leaderboard was taken by Fuzion. Canada's 2013 silver medalist at the national championships is actually the stronger team. It still made more sense for Fuzion to compete in the same category where the opponents of the World Meet 2014 in Prostejov would post their scores.

It was another good competition between the two Canadian teams, indirectly this time, and Fuzion came out on top once again. The Sun Path Products NSL News met with both teams after the award ceremony for a new NSL Talk.