posted Aug 1st, 2009 - Sweden and Norway are neighbouring countries in Scandinavia. However, the weather situation at their national championships this week was completely different. The Norwegian AAA Class teams completed one round, the A Class teams two, while ten rounds were completed in Sweden.

The Norwegian Nationals 2009 featured once again the annual reunion of the DeLand Norgies. The situation was even more interesting this year, as the Norgies did not only challenge Arcteryx as in the previous championships. This time, the competition included the DeLand Norgies veterans, the last national team Arcteryx and also the new and offcial national team Nexus.

Arcteryx just came back home from the World Games 2009 in Taiwan where this lineup represented Norway for the last time. Neither the DeLand Norgies nor Nexus were able to match Arcteryx in the first round, which eventually turned out to be the matchmaker, due to the critical weather situation.

The scores in both competition classes served only to determine the national champions of 2009, as Nexus has already been sanctioned as the national team. However, the final lineup of Norway's new national team is still not set in stone. The final selection for 2010 will follow later this year.

Norway's IPC Delegate and former national competitor Trude Sviggum provided some details of the only round in the AAA Class and of the 8-way competition. The DeLand Norgies actually completed 18 points within working time and lost one point in the judging room.

Most AAA Class teams joined forces to compete in 8-way, as well. Only one round was completed. This round's sequence was M-10-14. Arcteryx and Nexus combined for the Nexteryx lineup and won with a 10-pointer. The DeLand Norgies invited their husbands or wives, boy or girl friends and other friends to complete the 8-way lineup and placed second with an 8-pointer, after a 1-point deduction. Torstein Valen's girl friend Sissel Finnseth dislocated her shoulder at the closing of Block 14 in the only 8-way jump of the competition.

Trude Sviggum said that the A Class competition was actually the most exciting part of the competition. Norway has special rules for the A Class eligibility. The number of total jumps of each individual counts for the team lineups. One of the team members can have an unlimited number of total jumps. The total number of jumps of the other three team members combined cannot exceed 1000. Deadline is January 1 of each competition season.

All Nexus members were guiding an A Class team this year. Marianne Nordlund could even join forces with Arcteryx member Derek Broughton for the Angry War Lords, as she has only little over 600 jumps.

Norgies members Torstein Valen and Pål Kolbenstvedt and Arcteryx member Ole Petter Hjelle also had their second competition as player coaches for the A Class teams.

Ole Petter Hjelle's Team 100 had the lowest experience level in the A Class competition. The three other members combined for less than 100 jumps at the start of the 2009 season. Trine Hvalstad completed her AFF training only two months ago. Ole Petter Hjelle said that the team is planning to stay together as a team for the 2010 season.

The local team from the town of Skien, Grenland Vikings, was guided by Thomas Solli who has 3000 jumps. The other three team members, Thomas Aakre, Chris White and Anja Pedersen, are 19 years of age or younger.

Trude Sviggum reported that the Grenland Vikings have been training a lot last winter. Their goal was to score a 6-point average at the national championship, and they finished with a 9.5 average after the two rounds.

Three A Class teams were tied with 13 points after Round 1. It became very important for the meet director to complete another round and separate these three teams. Trude Sviggum said that the 4-way AAA Class competition, 8-way and Freeflying were already canceled after a lot of rain when the sun finally came back. The A Class teams were able to complete Round 2.

Some of the teams had already done the fast sequence of Round 2 (N-P-M) on the first competition day and before the rain stopped the meet for two days. The Angry War Lords were in the lead after a 19-pointer for the second round. The team with Nexus member Marianne Nordlund and Arcteryx member Derek Broughton was satisfied with the performance and the score but still afraid that Engleflass or Kentøkki Fraijd Pengvins might go even faster.

Engleflass then funneled the exit and lost too much time to match the 19-pointer highscore. However, Pål Kolbentvedt's Kentøkki Fraijd Pengvins had a very good jump, completed 22 points within working time and got a 21-pointer on the scoreboard. This score won the national A Class championship of 2009 for Kentøkki Fraijd Pengvins, while Pål Kolbentvedt collected his 29th gold medal at a national championship.