posted Apr 17th, 2018 - The whole Chicas story began actually in 2003, 15 years ago. France was still far away from gold medals in 4-way Women, and the British female 4-way competitors dominated the event, while the Norgie Girls were the most popular team in this new FAI/IPC category.

Current Chicas member Marion Thomas had attended the first 4-way Women world meet competition as the alternate for the German national team Parat in Spain 2001 before the Chicas were formed in 2003, only with Petra Baerenfaenger and Sylvia Maier in the lineup.

It was a different team that competed at the World Challenge 2018 and visited World Challenge TV host Brian Cumming and the NSL News on stage for a live interview in Bedford. However, two Chicas Recycled members (Sylvia Maier, Petra Baerenfaenger) were in the very first Chicas lineup that competed for Germany at the FAI World Meet 2003 in Gap, France. Anja Bodtländer and Ruth Nitsche were in the 2003 lineup before Marion Thomas took Anja Bodtländer's slot for the FAI World Meet 2004 in Rijeka, Croatia. Susa Serra joined the Chicas when the team needed a new member in 2006, and the new lineup won the German national championships in their category. That's the point in time when the story of Chicas Recycled at the World Challenge 2018 actually began.

A different German team (Focus Remscheid) had already qualified in 2005 for the FAI World Meet 2006, and the new Chicas instead traveled to Russia for international competition to attend the Malevsky Cup the same year.

FAI World Meet 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	Total	Avg
1	V-Max	UK	11	19	15	15	14	28	17	15	16	15	165	16.5
2	Norgie Girls	NO	11	20	17	15	14	24	19	12	12	18	162	16.2
3	Synchronicity	US	9	19	14	14	12	22	17	14	16	16	153	15.3
4	Kewara	IT	11	15	14	14	14	22	16	14	13	15	148	14.8
5	France	FR	11	17	15	13	12	22	17	13	11	-	131	14.6
6	Chicas	DE	9	12	10	10	11	16	12	10	10	-	100	11.1
7	Belgium	BE	9	14	10	10	12	8	7	7	7	-	84	9.3
8	Finland	FI	7	7	9	8	8	12	7	9	8	-	75	8.3

The competitive part of the team story, with the position as Germany's national team in 4-way Women at three world meets (2003, 2004, 2008) is easily misleading.

The Chicas have obviously enjoyed 4-way competition and the athletic nature of it; however, the team dynamics, the social part of the sport and especially the meets were just as important for all team members.

In fact, from the very beginning in 2003 the Chicas became well know for spreading good vibes and not missing any social evening activities wherever they ended up posting scores on the leaderboards at the same time.

The lineup that traveled to Bedford for the World Challenge competed for Germany in 2006 and 2008 before Susa Serra left the country to travel around the world. Nina Kuebler, Swiss world class competitor, joined the original Chicas 3-way and guided the team to their highest scores, while the team members of 2006 - 2008 still kept in touch with each other.

The three original Chicas also continued with different lineups after Nina Kuebler's time with the team was over, while training and competition were even more casual compared to the times as the German national team in 4-way Women.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	Total	Avg
19	Aladeen	HU	18	16	14	22	36	16	21	15	158	19.8
20	Chicas Recycled	DE	17	15	14	23	28	18	27	14	156	19.5
21	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	16	13	17	25	25	19	25	15	155	19.4
22	Telakka	FI	18	11	13	19	32	17	27	15	152	19.0
23	Le 4 Cretins	FR	17	15	12	21	29	15	25	15	149	18.6
23	Antimatter	UK	18	16	11	21	28	17	23	15	149	18.6
25	Pajama Pumas	UK	16	15	15	20	23	18	24	15	146	18.3
25	Blackjack	FI	17	14	13	20	28	16	24	14	146	18.3
25	Aggrieved Bucaneers	UK	17	14	13	20	29	16	22	15	146	18.3
28	H4O	IE	19	16	15	22	25	15	18	15	145	18.1
29	Skyfool	UK	15	15	12	18	26	17	21	13	137	17.1
30	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	18	15	10	23	21	17	17	15	136	17.0
31	Vantage	UK	13	13	13	21	24	16	22	13	135	16.9
32	Falco	BE	13	12	12	14	25	15	21	12	124	15.5
33	Nova	CH	10	11	10	17	23	11	19	12	113	14.1
34	Salty Jacks	UK	11	12	10	16	22	11	18	11	111	13.9
35	White Squall	FR	11	9	8	14	18	11	12	11	94	11.8

Marion Thomas, Sylvia Maier and Petra Baerenfaenger eventually accepted a few boys in their changing lineups, and current Airbus member Thomas Mack was with the Chicas Unchained when they made the trip to Bedford for the first time in 2013.

Susa Serra had come back to Germany in the meantime, and the 2006 lineup spent more time together again - as friends, and not in freefall or in a wind tunnel. However, a team hike into the German mountains generated the idea of a new 4-way adventure, and plans were made. Result of the team hike was the Chicas Recycled reunion at the World Challenge 2018 - ten years after their last competition together at the FAI World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge, France.

The Chicas even skipped the German Indoor Nationals, which took place on the same first April weekend, to follow through with their own plans. The event in Germany was scheduled after the hike in the mountains, and the World Challenge offers the perfect combination of athletic performance and social gatherings - a perfect environment for the Chicas.

The recycled Chicas of 2008 improved their only previous indoor average of 16.4 in Bedford 2013 to 19.5 this year and were very competitive in the field of teams that did not make the cuts. The judges liked the Chicas too and did not assign a single penalty mark on the score sheet. It was no surprise at all to see the Chicas celebrating at the award party in Bedford - with or without competitive scores. Guess who was first on the dance floor at the FlowRider...