posted Jun 2nd, 2009 - Denmark hosted its annual DFU Open last weekend, and the current national 4-way team, Voluntas, won the 10-round competition with a 15.6 average.

The national 4-way team until 2006, the DaneZ, tried to steal the top position once again, as Peter Andersen, Jesper Rasmussen, Jess Römer and Mikael Toft did successfully at last year's national championship. Danish Blaze was the national team in 2008 when the DaneZ won by eight points with a 15.6 average. It was a copy of the outcome at the Danish Nationals 2007.

The DaneZ had not allowed any other team from Denmark to get close when they ruled the 4-way competition as the national team between 2004 and 2006. They retired as the national team after the World Meet 2006 in Germany, and the new national lineups (Blaze and Voluntas) have been trying to leave the DaneZ behind ever since.

The DaneZ made it difficult for the new generation of national competitors at their annual reunions, and Blaze never beat the Danish veterans at the national championships. Voluntas, with Flemming Andersen, Kasper Brandt-Svanekier, Kenneth Gajda, Brian Gregersen and John Petersen on camera, now made the first step by winning the DFU Open last weekend.

It was not the national championship yet, and the DaneZ will do their best to give Voluntas once again a good competition in July. However, Voluntas seems to be not only strong enough to even increase the distance from here on. The new national 4-way team may have the potential to score higher than the DaneZ at their best.

The DaneZ don't train much at all and only prepare for the annual showdowns with the current national teams with a few hours in the windtunnel. Voluntas has a well defined training plan with coach Solly Williams and has followed through so far.

The competition in Denmark last weekend was already the third meet for Voluntas this year, which started with a 14.8 average at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2009. Voluntas followed up with an 18.8 average at the World Challenge 2009. Last weekend's 15.6 average came with a relatively slow competition draw and shows that the team is on track.

The NSL News had introduced the new Danish national 4-way team already with the story on 30 March 2009, shortly after the team's first competition at the Shamrock Showdown. Danish Nationals 2009 and USPA Nationals 2009 were also on the team's meet agenda for the 2009 season.

The situation in Denmark brings back memories of the annual showdown at the national championships between the DeLand Norgies and Arcteryx. The Norgies retired as the national team after the World Meet 2003 in France and continued only with their annual reunions at the national championships.

The NSL News story on 27 August 2009 (Archives > 2007 > News: Search for "Norgies") explained how Arcteryx tried to beat the DeLand Norgies veterans with different lineups. The new national team between 2004 - 2008 succeeded for the first time in 2007 and left the Norgies clearly behind in 2008.

It seems to take about the same time period for a new team in Denmark to get past the former national world class team. However, Voluntas might achieve this goal already in its first year after Blaze had tried for two years.

Sequence, the B-Team of the national 4-way project, with Vibeke Birk, Ulrik Hogsberg, Jesper Ruby and Torben Tiedemann in the lineup, still follows the Voluntas example and completed the team's third meet this year, as well. Sequence increased the meet average from 12.3 at the Shamrock Showdown to 13.0 last weekend, after a 15.2 average at the World Challenge 2009 in Bedford.

The 2009 season is already the third year for Sequence. However, the lineup has changed every year, and former Blaze member Torben Tiedemann has joined Sequence for the 2009 season. It was a good start of the new year for Sequence, and the 13.0 average last weekend is the team's highest meet average so far.

The C-Team of the Danish 4-way project is Altius, with Karsten Ettrup (Outside Center), John Petersen (Tail), Kathrine Pontoppidan (Point), Thomas See (Inside Center) and Morten Nørlund on camera in the lineup.

Altius' new 2009 lineup has traveled to the same meets and locations as Voluntas and Sequence this year and already performs on a higher scoring level compeared to 2008, as well.