posted Feb 20th, 2014 - The field of teams for the World Challenge 2014 has grown significantly since the last Sun Path Products NSL News update on 6 February 2014.

25 teams were registered by then, and 55 teams have officially signed up at this point in time, and with six more weeks to go. There are still ten days left to take advantage of the reduced registration fee, which will go up from £300 to £350 on March 1st.

78 teams competed in the traditional 4way categories last year, and the latest record number is once again in jeopardy. France has finally registered the two national teams in 4way Open (VoltR) and 4way Women (Aerodyne French Girls), which adds two of the best 4way teams in the world to the list. Gavroches Maubeuge, with the former French 8way world champions (Julien Olek, Clement Martin Saint Leon, Bruno Perin, Thomas Perrin Gachadoat), who love to compete in 4way, were already on the list before.Registered AAA Open: NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE), VoltR (FR), Gavroches (FR), SportLoto (RU), Thunder (BE), Voodoo (ZA), VAF Warriors (DK), Bad Boyz (CZ), Anti Matter (UK), Eclipse (UK), AorPlay JCM (FR), Tenacity (UK), Lupus (EE), Verve XP (US), Airplay (DK) , Festina Lente (UK), Paratec-Saar (DE), Celtic Air (IE), Cali4nia (US), Prime Pickles (DK), Artemis Saumur Flyzone (FR), Pink Stingers (UK), Lowabusa (UK)
Registered AAA Women: Aerodyne French Girls (FR), Bodyflight Isis (UK), Kaizen (UK), Team XX (UK), Fire (SE), CZ Ladies (CZ), Les Stunts (BE)
Registered AA Class: Equal Pay 4 Women (UK), Fiasco (UK), Bodyflight Aero (UK), TR4CK (UK), Blue Rebels (GR), Team Impossible (UK), Mental BloX (UK), Kesshin (UK), 4Getit (IL)
Registered A Class: AirRush (DK), Equinox (LT), Tail Spin (IE), ChatterChicks (UK), Wind Shear (IE), Satori Red (UK), Man Flew (UK), Team Meteor (UK), Funzies (DK), Fr4gment (UK), Bodyflight Fly Wild (UK), Bodyflight Black Majick (UK), Bahrain (BH), Vortex (UK)
Registered Rookie Class: Trajectory (IE), Hurrican Factory (CZ)

The new additions in the AAA Class field include two US lineups who compensate for the absence of Arizona Airspeed. The new Verve XP lineup consists of US 4way competitors (Christine Freiherr, Jane McGuire, Joseph Wood, Andre van Heerden) who have made themselves a name in other teams.

Andre van Heerden will visit Bodyflight Bedford for the second time after posting a 22.0 average with Rabbit Restraint (Uli Steuwe, Andre Van Heerden, Don Burnette, Mikhail Markin) at the World Challenge 2012. Former Perris Fury member Uli Steuwe is also coming back this year as a player coach for the other US team, Cali4nia.

Christine Freiherr and Jane McGuire know each other from training and competing at the USPA Nationals 2012 with Vibe. NEW SDC Rhythm XP member Mikhail Markine and Don Burnette were the other two Vibe members who took the 1st place in the AAA/Advanced Class with a 16.7 average. Joseph Wood competed with Cerulean Heat at the USPA Nationals last year.

USPA Nationals 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	Advanced Class	3,B,K,H	F,7,22	O,4,D,13	A,M,11,8	N,P,G,19	L,20,1	5,16,J	6,21,12	18,17,10	E,C,Q,15	Total	Avg
1	Vibe (US)	21	17	16	17	18	15	17	14	13	19	167	16.7
2	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)	17	17	16	16	20	14	19	14	11	18	162	16.2
3	Air Force Paradigm (US)	21	14	17	16	17	10	15	11	11	19	151	15.1
3	Air Force Legacy (US)	20	14	13	13	17	14	17	12	13	18	151	15.1

The AAA Class competition at the World Challenge 2014 also features an indoor newcomer team. It is hard to imagine that the German national 4way team of many years, Paratec-Saar, has never attended an indoor competition, at least not to the knowledge of the Sun Path Products NSL News.

Paratec-Saar will once again compete for Germany at this year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving, which will make it the 4th consecutive time that the team represents Germany. Paratec-Saar won last year's national championships by one single point over EADS (20.2 - 20.1) as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 6 September 2013.

A few other German teams have competed at Bodyflight Bedford, such as the Usual Suspects and the German national team in the female 4way category, ISB Air Remscheid. It's the first time for Paratec-Saar.
Click on the score for a round with a link to see the teams' videos

German Nationals 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,7,11	P,C,4,5	J,D,O,21	6,18,15	1,L,2	M,9,K,13	19,N,Q,12	G,22,14	E,H,A,8	F,20,3	Total	Avg
1	Paratec-Saar	21	20(-1)	25	17	17	22(-1)	19	16	26	19	202	20.2
2	EADS	22	21	25	16(-1)	16	23	18	15	26	19	201	20.1

Paratec-Saar Rd. 1	EADS Rd. 1

The registration form shows that the German national team is competing with a new lineup in Bedford. Two original members, Markus Bastuck and Joern Thiele, are coming back with two new members this year, first in Bedford and then possibly for the remainder of the 2014 season and the next showdown with EADS.

Petra van Overveld and Dennis Gottschalk are the new members who will get their first competition experiences with Paratec-Saar in Bedford. Petra van Overveld trained and competed with ISB Air Remscheid and continued with Paratec-Saar when the German top team in the female 4way category retired.

Dennis Gottschalk joins the team with the lowest experience level. His team Zero Gravity finished with a 12.2 average at the German Nationals 2012. Then he took the alternate position for Gamma Ray who won bronze medals (15.2) in 2013 behind the two top teams. Now he has joined one of them, Paratec-Saar, and the other one, EADS, will carefully observe the action at the World Challenge 2014...