posted Apr 27th, 2016 - Competing for the first time as a team, the all-girl foursome of Shavon Simpson, Kim Myers, Kristen Johnson and Nada Almarr powered to the top in the 4-way Formation Intermediate Category at the second 2016 SandStorm Scrambles event at Inflight Dubai.

The foursome – the only all-girl group in the 16-team competition open to both Intermediate and Rookie skydivers – produced a stunning final jump to snatch the title after a closely-fought battle saw the four-round competition go to the wire.

Combined together by the event judges in order to represent a spread of ability, the girls adopted the team name The Mighty Morphing Flower Arrangers and certainly blossomed as a 4-way Formation team scoring 87 points to win by seven from runners-up the E-Lemon-ators, featuring Gabor Molner, Iurri Railean, Alexander Staschenko and Janina Huschle (80 points).

Sandstorm 2016 IFS4		1	2	3	4	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	F,9,B	14,Q,J	A,M,21	O,E,N,P	Total	Avg
1	Mighty Morphing Flower Arrangers	24	15	18	30	87	21.8
2	E-Lemon-ators	29	14	18	19	80	20.0
2	Break like the Wind	24	14	20	22	80	20.0
4	Soup – A - Stars	23	10	19	23	75	18.8
5	Attack of Retreating Invisible Cows	21	15	15	21	72	18.0
6	Flaming Marshmallows	21	13	16	21	71	17.8
7	Vicious and Delicious	16	11	12	19	58	14.5
8	Amusement Park	16	9	12	14	51	12.8

Also scoring 80 points but given third place due to an inferior top scoring round were Glen Lowerson, Clare Greenwood, Emma Merritt and Cornelia Mihai (Break Like The Wind).

"As we hadn't flown together before and were the only all-girl team in the competition, it certainly went better than we expected," said a delighted Shavon Simpson. "The great thing about competing with people you have never flown with before is you learn, you adapt and you have fun. Obviously there is pressure on you as you're not competing with your usual team-mates and you don't want to let anyone down but it is a great format."

Staged in Inflight Dubai's 5.03m x 20.73m indoor tunnel, the two-category event saw competitors combined into teams by highly experienced judges and SkyDive Dubai instructors Eliana Rodriguez and Alena Chistova. Competition was fierce throughout as the teams performed a number of formations in the tunnel under the watchful eyes of both Rodriguez and Chistova. Going into the final round, the eventual winners were lying in third place but produced a near-flawless final performance to score 30 points – the best of the night – and take the title.

Sandstorm 2016 IFS4		1	2	3	4	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie	F,O,21	E,A,20	J,P,22	7,M,Q	Total	Avg
1	Dutchy's	19	11	10	17	57	14.3
2	Heroes and Zeros	15	11	12	12	50	12.5
3	Chitty Chitty Bust Bust	18	13	8	8	47	11.8
3	10 Years the Wrong Side of Good	14	9	11	13	47	11.8
5	A Good Cowboy Operation	9	9	9	11	38	9.5
6	Wind Monkey Mafia	12	4	8	12	36	9.0
7	6 Miles of Bad Road	10	9	6	10	35	8.8
8	Team Chowder	10	8	6	6	30	7.5

"I don’t think any of us were breathing on that last jump," added a delighted Simpson, who helped her team to the winners' cheque of AED 16,000. "We knew we had to score well if we were going to win so we stayed completely focused on getting a big enough score. Fortunately, it paid off."

In the 4-way Formation Rookie category, victory and the first prize of AED 12,000 went to the Dutchy's team of Ahmad Abdulla Hashim, Pablo Rua, Sioned Taylor and Nawaf Alawadhi on 57 points, seven ahead of the Heroes and Zeros team of

Abdulla Aldosari, Sean Hahessy, Andy Salisbury and Khaled Mahdy (50 points). Third place went to Chitty Chitty Bust Bust comprising Khaled Abduljalil, Ana Fratila, Karim Madour and Margo Weber on 47 points.

"A big thank you to everyone for making it an exciting competition," said Meet Director Ian 'Freddy' Macdonald. "The Scrambles format is one of our most popular events and we look forward to staging even more indoor tunnel flying competitions in the near future."