posted Jul 1st, 2005 - The NSL News office has successfully relocated to Russia, and any updates in the next two weeks will come directly from the competition site of the Malevsky Memorial Cup 2005.

Teams, competitors and officials were picked up at the Moscow airport and then shuttled to either a hotel in downtown Moscow or the resort hotel at the competition site. Several Malevsky Cup participants decided to stay in Moscow for a few days before traveling to the final destination in Stupino.

The transfer from the airport to the Moscow hotel, which is located right next to the Red Square, and then to the dropzone in Stupino took several hours due to heavy downtown traffic. The NSL News met DeLand Fire's videographer Eric Taylor who will film the team only at the Malevsky Cup and the USPA Championship 2005. Thomas Hughes, Fire's team videographer and alternate, is not eligible yet for his team. Taylor used to be PD Blue's videographer years ago.

Several teams have already arrived in Stupino, and most of them have moved into the resort hotel where all teams and competitors will be accommodated during the competition. There is a driving distance of approx. 20 minutes between the hotel and the skydiving center, and a bus shuttle service takes care of the transportation.

The currently present teams had planned to arrive early for training jumps on the competition site. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated much this week so far, and the forecast for the remainder of the week is not very promising. The NSL News registered 10 training jumps for the German 4-way Female team Chicas as the highest jump number.

There was no jumping on the arrival day of the NSL News (Thursday), and no jump plane has been in the air on Friday at noon. Teams and competitors have used the time to get paperwork out of the way and for physical activities and socialising.

Teams on site include the whole Arizona Airspeed line-up, the Italian 8-way and 4-way teams, the Norwegian 4-way team Arcteryx, DeLand Fire, 4Gatos from Spain, Stratosfear from Canada, the 4-way Female teams Chicas (Germany) and Infinity (Netherlands).

Marco Arrigo, former Sinapsi PD member, has joined the Italian 8-way team for the 2005 season and will make his new team even stronger. The Italian 8-way team Extremo placed fifth at last year's world meet in Croatia after a horse race with the German team FSC Remscheid. Both teams will compete in Stupino, and the German team will probably have difficulties to keep up with Extremo and new member Arrigo.

The Dutch team Infinity got tired of the rainy weather in the early afternoon and took off with the first load that tested the weather and the strong winds. It ended up only as a test flight for the jump plane, a LET L 410 with a door on the left side, which flies an exit airspeed of 80 knots (148 km/h). Infinity and a few other jumpers landed with the plane, while a huge rain cloud passed over the dropzone.

Arizona Airspeed overcame the financial difficulties to make the trip to the Makevsky Cup 2005. It was a big financial commitment for the team members, and not all of the costs could be covered by team sponsors and supporters. Eliana Rodriguez explained that the individuals had to use their own credit cards to make the trip happen.

The first place of the 8-way event will be rewarded with $11,000 prize money. However, only the registration fees for the 8-way team total already $7,300. Rodriguez added that the air fare was $1,400 per person, which brings the meet expenses up to a total of over $20,000. Even if Airspeed wins the 4-way ($7,000) and the 8-way event ($11,000) it will not be enough to cover all meet expenses, and the competition for the first places in both events will be very tight.

The first competition jumps are scheduled for July 4, and the NSL News will follow with more updates from Russia and also continue with other news stories in the meantime.