posted Jun 10th, 2014 - One of the senior events in Formation Skydiving competition is coming up this weekend, the annual Tomscat Trophy in the Netherlands.

The 4way competition is related to the plane crash in Perris in 1992 that caused the death of several skydivers. The Tomscat Trophy was created to commemorate two members of the Dutch 4way team Tomscat, Remie Herder and Sjaak Strating, who lost their lives in the same plane chrash that Dan BC survived. The two surviving Tomscat members, Jos Arkes and Gerard Fidom, are still competing and attending the Tomscat Trophy.

This year's event is also a 20-year anniversary, as the Tomscat Trophy was inaugurated the same year when Dan BC joined forces with Jack Jefferies, Mark Kirkby and Kirk Verner for the original Arizona Airspeed lineup.

18 teams competed in 2012 and 2013, and event organizer Marc van Aperen told the Sun Path Products NSL News that it might be the same number of teams again this weekend.

However, the leaderboard will look different, as most of the Dutch teams use the event to test the dive pool of the next competition class when they decide to move up into a higher category.

Defending AAA Class champion Thunder ISR, national 4way team Cool Runnings and Creeps are back in the AAA Class competition, where Whooops will miss the meet for the first time in many years after retiring as the 4way national team. Murphy Mania has competed in the AA Class for two years and now fills the Whooops slot in the AAA Class. The Tomscat Trophy will be a good test for new national team Cool Runnings in the runup to this year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

Tomscat Trophy 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	A,N,B,J,10	L,K,7,12	1,19,17	8,H,Q,20	P,6,16	21,13,18	9,14,3	11,G,M,15	2,4,5	E,F,22,O	Total	Avg
1	Thunder (BE)	19	18	18	21	21	17	20	20	18	25	197	19.7
2	Whooops (NL)	12	15	11	16	13	12	9	13	12	20	133	13.3
3	Creeps (NL)	17	11	11	14	13	10	13	11	13	18	131	13.1
4	Cool Runnings (NL)	11	10	9	11	12	9	10	11	8	15	106	10.6
Rank	AA Class	A,N,B,J	L,K,7	1,19	8,H,Q	P,6,20	21,13	9,14	11,G,M	2,4	E,F,22	Total	Avg
1	Half Ginger (NL)	15	10	7	9	9	7	10	7	7	11	92	9.2
2	Pari-Passu (NL)	14	8	7	9	9	6	6	7	9	11	86	8.6
3	MACH4 (NL)	9	10	7	9	7	6	7	8	9	9	81	8.1
4	Murphy Mania (NL)	12	8	7	9	9	6	3	9	6	9	78	7.8
Rank	A Class	A,N,B	L,K,7	19,J	8,H	P,6	21,Q	9,C	G,M,D	2,4	E,F,O	Total	Avg
1	Paradocks (NL)	11	8	7	6	7	7	9	11	6	16	88	8.8
2	Bad Habits (NL)	9	7	8	6	5	7	2	12	8	19	83	8.3
3	Angry Birds (NL)	3	9	8	3	8	9	9	11	7	15	82	8.2
4	Gravity Abuse (NL)	10	6	6	3	6	7	7	6	7	15	73	7.3
5	Dimension (NL)	9	7	6	6	4	4	7	7	5	13	68	6.8
6	TNT (NL)	10	6	4	5	3	5	7	3	7	15	65	6.5
7	Shinobi (NL)	4	3	4	1	3	4	4	7	1	11	42	4.2
Rank	Rookie	K,N,L	E,A,B	J,G,H	M,O,P	C,Q,F	D,K,E	L,N,J	A,G,L	B,M,C	H,O,Q	Total	Avg
1	Novastar (NL)	11	2	9	18	12	9	8	7	11	11	98	9.8
2	Inside-Out (NL)	6	3	0	10	4	4	4	6	7	9	53	5.3
3	SHIT (NL)	6	3	5	8	2	6	0	5	3	11	49	4.9

The AA Class competition will see a new team in this category, Gravity Abuse, taking on MACH 4 who competed in the AA Class in 2012 and 2013. Gravity Abuse was still in the Rookie Class in 2012 and spent only one year in the A Class before moving up once again this year.

The A Class will be the most popular category this weekend with nine registered teams. Two teams (Inside Out, Winging It) are coming from last year's Rookie Class competition, and four teams (Dimension, Paradocks, Bad Habits, Shinobi) are back in the same category. Paradocks is the defending Tomscat AA Class champion, while Dimension won the national championships last year.

Former AA Class team 4igami is coming back in the A Class after a year of hibernation. Maverick and Sonic are new teams in the A Class. The Super Heroes In Training started in the Rookie Class at the ISR Grand Prix 2013 and are now going outdoors with their team.

The soccer/football fans in the Dutch skydiving community are lucky again this year, as they were four years ago when the FIFA World Cup happened at the same time when the Dutch 4way teams were competing at the Tomscat Trophy. The Dutch national football team has its first tough group game against Spain on Friday, the second day of the Tomscat Trophy.

The live show of the World Cup game will be aired at 9 pm in the Netherlands and does not interfere directly with the 4way competition. However, it could become interesting on Saturday if the Dutch football team defeats the reigning FIFA world champions from Spain Friday night. There could be a serious celebration, and the second half of the meet is scheduled for Saturday...

Marc van Aperen said that the Tomscat Trophy participants will celebrate the 20-year anniversary on Sunday with a 20way and "old skool jumps with formations from 20 years ago". The 4way competition and any other celebrations should be over by then...