posted Aug 4th, 2014 - As every year, the Hibaldstow Cup is the last test for the British 4-way teams before the national championships, which will take place at the same location in a month.

This time, the popular event was also the final test for the two 4-way teams who will compete for the United Kingdom at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014, Kaizen and Vision 99. In fact, the world meet in the Czech Republic is coming up sooner than the UK Nationals 2014, which are scheduled for the September 6 weekend.

Kaizen knew for almost a year that the team would compete in Prostejov after qualifying at last year's national championships. The story was very different for Vision 99, who were finally selected as this year's national 4-way Open Class team a week ago.

UK 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	19,4,1	15,J,7	C,Q,17,12	L,13,10	9,G,20	H,11,2	K,8,21	P,6,M,14	N,E,5,16	O,F,A,22	Total	Avg
1	Satori	18	23	21	17	20	19	16	24	22	25	205	20.5
2	Voodoo (ZA)	16	20	20	15	19	17	17	21	20	24	189	18.9
3	Kaizen	15	20	18	12	19	17	17	20	19	22	179	17.9
4	Bodyflight Isis	14	19	14	14	19	17	15	20	17	25	174	17.4
5	Ultrasonic	14	19	17	13	18	16	15	16	16	23	167	16.7
6	Raykipo	15	16	16	14	16	17	14	18	17	20	163	16.3
7	Vision 99	14	16	15	12	19	14	14	18	17	21	160	16.0

It has been a complicated selection situation, as a closer look at last year's UK results at the national championships is showing. Vision 99 actually finished in 7th place, and the team did not think much at all of competing at the world championships when they visited DeLand in March for the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2014.

Fact was only that Voodoo in 2nd place last year would not be eligible to compete for the United Kingdom, and that Kaizen qualified as the national team in the female 4-way category. There were question marks behind the other four teams who placed ahead of Vision 99, and the British Parachute Association had to find a solution for a complicated situation.

It took almost a year until the involved teams and BPA came to a conclusion, and Vision 99 announced happily on July 29th that they will compete for Great Britain in Prostejov.

Hibaldstow Cup 2014		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Jump-Off	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,14,B	15,11,A	G,18,F,4	N,10,Q,7	1,12,M	21,9,O	K,6,8	Total	Avg
1	Kaizen	18	15	17	18	11	20	-	99	16.5
2	Vision 99	18	16	14	14	14	20	-	96	16.0
3	Pineapple Not The Messiah	10	12	14	12	11	16	(12)	75	12.5
4	Anti Matter	13	12	12	11	11	16	(11)	75	12.5
5	DZ Dollies	11	10	11	14	11	16	-	73	12.2
6	Tenacity	7	7	10	9	7	10	-	50	8.3
7	Anti Gravity Ninja Swans	4	7	8	8	8	10	-	45	7.5

Kaizen took the 1st place at the Hibaldstow Cup for the first time last weekend and was almost 20 points ahead of Vision 99 (17.9 - 16.0) at last year's national championships. The situation has changed now, as both British national 4-way teams had a close battle for the 1st place in Hibaldstow.

The whole AAA Class competition was actually divided in three races, and the one for the bronze medals even required a jump-off to break the tie after Round 6. It was almost a 3-team jump-off, as the DZ Dollies were only two points behind after Round 6.

Tenacity and Anti Gravity Ninja Swans also had their own battle for the 6th place and exchanged highscores in several rounds. There were more very close races that the Sun Path Products NSL News will cover soon.