posted Mar 16th, 2017 - The Shamrock Showdown 2017 has the smallest field in the history of the event. However, the first outdoor showdown of the 2017 season between Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP is happening, which has been anticipated for a while.

This special feature is still not the only exciting part of this year's Shamrock Showdown. The event also features Canada's national team in 4-way Women, Parachute Montreal Fuzion, who are back with the same lineup that placed 4th at the FAI Mondial 2016.

Fuzion had a small break after the world meet, as it was the end of the skydiving season in Canada. Some tunnel training followed during the fall, and the team resumed with full tunnel action in December and February. Canada had the qualifier for the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 in Montreal on February 18th, and Fuzion finished with a 22.6 average. The Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up soon with more meet information.

Fuzion went to Arizona next, for a week of training with Niklas Hemlin, and completed 47 jumps in five days. Niklas Hemlin will be able to help the Canadian team once again at the Shamrock Showdown before Fuzion will go back to Arizona in April.

Mar 17th, 2017 FS4			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Parachute Montreal Fuzion	CA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Elixir	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Adventure Flyers	PY	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	AA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	Simba	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Canadian skydiving season will start at the beginning of May, and the Canadian Nationals are scheduled for the beginning of July. The rest of the summer is dedicated to early training for the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia for next year, and also for the FAI Indoor World Meet on home turf in Montreal in October.

There is also a surprise team waiting for the audience of the Shamrock Showdown. The Dubai team project came to an end for coaches Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard when the project management decided to discontinue the participation in the international Formation Skydiving community.

Both Arizona Airspeed world champions have been back in the United States for a year and resumed their coaching activities. This weekend they join forces with Shannon Pilcher and Nick Grillet and challenge the current Airspeed lineup of 2017.

Elixir spent 15 minutes of tunnel time in Tampa to get ready for the Shamrock Showdown, plus a few jumps in DeLand.

The team name Elixir is actually not related to Eliana Rodriguez' first name. According to the Google definition, Elixir is a magical potion that induces love and is able to change metals into gold, while it is also able to prolong life indefinitely.

The Shamrock Showdown does not have gold medals for the winner, and the Sun Path Products NSL News has no information whether Elixir is planning to turn any other medals into gold this year at the national championships.

However, Elixir may have a chance to use the magical potion and win some cash in DeLand. Skydive DeLand is sponsoring the Shamrock Showdown with a cash purse of $2,000 and $1,000 go to the winner of the AAA Class competition.

The other $1,000 are dedicated once again to the annual Skins Game, where each team can win $200 for a round after handicap beginning in Round 6. The game begins on Friday morning...