posted Jul 16th, 2015 - The Sun Path Products NSL News previews of Denmark's national championship on May 5th, May 20th and recently on July 4th seemed to promise a battle for the country's 4-way top spot.

The 10-round competition was completed yesterday, and it lived up to the expectations.

The old and new 4-way champion and national team, VAF Warriors, was pushed more than any other Danish top team in the past and needed a peak performance to fend off the two challengers, Pangaea and Prime Pickles.

This week's 16.6 average is the team's new record number, and both teams behind the VAF Warriors scored higher than last year's winning average (15.4) at the national championship.

The three medaling teams finished within nine points of each other.

Danish Nationals 2015			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		11,12,M	8,5,20	2,22,H	J,K,C,19	3,14,A	13,1,18	7,Q,B,L	E,10,6	15,G,F,9	17,P,21	Total	Avg
1	VAF Warriors		15	13	16	19	15	11	22	17	21	17	166	16.6
2	Pangaea		14	14	16	19	14	13	23	15	17	17	162	16.2
3	Prime Pickles		13	13	14	17	15	10	25	15	19	16	157	15.7
4	AirRush		8	8	10	11	7	9	12	8	10	8	91	9.1
5	Wellvita Phoenix		6	6	8	8	7	3	12	5	5	5	65	6.5

In the past, Denmark's national teams never had much trouble to maintain and defend their top positions.

The national team usually gets better support than the other teams after a selection process, and this format has even generated two sets of 4-way bronze medals for Denmark at the World Championships of Formation Skydiving in 1993 and 1995.

The financial support by the Danish government is not the same any longer as it used to be.

However, the national teams have still been on the top at the national championships and were seriosuly challenged only once in a while when former Danish top competitors came together for the event.

It was different this year when Pangaea and Prime Pickles decided to take on the national team with their own efforts and resources.

The two challengers were within striking distance throughout the whole 10-round meet, which was the first time that they met each other directly. All three top teams exchanged highscores round by round and created an exciting horse race.

The VAF Warriors must have been surprised when Round 4 was complete, and they were tied in 1st place with Pangaea.

Both teams were still tied after Round 8, which was probably even more surprising and mentally very challenging for the defending champions.

Team member Anne Mine Møller Petersen recalled the situation for the Sun Path Products NSL News:

"Round 7 was not perfect, and Pangea had taken the lead by two points. We knew the scores when we went up for Round 8. We had a decent round and felt confident that the battle was not over. Then we did not know the scores of Round 8 when we went up for Round 9, so we just went on and gave it all we had, even though Blocks 15 and 9 have not been our strongest ones."

Coach Roy Janssen brought good news to the landing area and told the VAF Warriors that they won two points over Pangaea in Round 8, and both teams were tied again. Mine Petersen then told the story of the grande finale: "We felt good about Round 9 and quickly prepped Round 10. Again we did not know the scores of Round 9 when we went up for Round 10, so we just had to give it all we had, once again."

She said that the judges finally came to the evaluation of the last two rounds after a long break, and the final results speak for themselves.

The Prime Pickles were six points behind after Round 4 and gained some gound in the middle of the meet, especially in Round 7. It was the third different lineup this year. Kate Cooper-Jensen broke her arm earlier this year, and substitute Christy Frikken helped the team to the 14.4 average in June in Perris. Former Danish national competitor Kenneth Gajda then traveled from Florida to Denmark and filled the open slot for the 15.7 average and the bronze medals after a great battle.