posted Feb 27th, 2019 - The first 8-way competition videos of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019 feature Paraclete XP8 and Qatar Falcons.

The 8-way teams had only two more rounds left on Sunday morning after completing eight rounds on Saturday afternoon. Teams and competitors with double duties in 4-way and 8-way completed a total of 15 competition rounds on Saturday. In fact, this was not even enough for several individual competitors who competed in two 4-way teams and in 8-way. They completed even 22 rounds on the first day of the competition.

All Arizona Airspeed members were done after the seven rounds in 4-way on Saturday, while SDC Rhythm XP members Andrew Happick, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz continued with Paraclete XP8 for the additional eight rounds in 8-way. The 4-way teams then had to be back in the flying chamber on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM for Round 8.

Paraclete XP8 members Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings were two of the competitors who completed 22 rounds on Saturday. Both competed in 4-way with their own team, Ranch 2nd Generation, and they also won the 4-way Women competition with XPG4. Their XPG4 team mate Katrina Shows did the same with Lite XP in 4-way and Spaceland Lite in 8-way.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,4,B,10	17,6,15	19.9.7	L.K.G.18	21.J.12	M.E.P.D.22	3.1.H	Q.A.16.N	11.2.C	13.5.F	Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	28	29	22	30	26	30	43	35	27	26	296	29.6
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	28	27	19	29	22	31	36	35	24	22	273	27.3
3	Veloce QRF 1	FR	23	23	18	24	20	22	32	31	21	19	233	23.3
4	Golden Knights	US	22	21	17	23	19	23	27	24	17	20	213	21.3
5	Veloce QRF 2	FR	18	18	13	19	13	15	23	23	15	16	173	17.3
6	LJ's Angels	US	17	15	14	20	15	18	22	19	13	17	170	17.0
7	Blocksmiths XP	US	17	15	13	19	13	15	21	19	9	14	155	15.5
8	Veloce QRF 3	FR	16	12	13	19	12	16	19	21	11	15	154	15.4
9	Spaceland Lite	US	16	14	11	17	14	15	20	19	11	12	149	14.9

Paraclete XP8 and Qatar Falcons at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019

The three Rhythm and two R2G members joined forces with Kirk Verner, John D'Annunzio and Brian Krause for XP8. It was the first competition for this lineup. Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz were in the XP8 lineup with Kirk Verner, John D'Annunzio and Brian Krause at the same event last year. Rhythm Andrew Happick then replaced R2G's 2018 member Chris Haslam last weekend.

Six XP8 members of the 2018 lineup at the indoor competition (Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz, Kirk Verner, John D’Annunzio) then joined forces with 4-way world champions Josh Hall and Thomas Hughes for the USPA Nationals 2018, where Elliot Byrd was filming the team to the 8-way gold medals in the absence of the Golden Knights.

The XP8 indoor lineup of 2018 had finished one point behind the Qatar Falcons at Paraclete, and the same seven XP8 members came back with Andrew Happick as a well trained team. The average went up from 24.8 to 29.6 which is close to the winning average of the Golden Knights (30.4) a year ago.

The Qatar Falcons had finished behind the Golden Knights with 24.9 and finished significantly higher last weekend, as well. In fact, the 27.3 average is a new team record for the Qatar Falcons.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		17,19,B	J,O,21,N	Q,8,A,22	10,P,2	13,5,6	12,H,18	9,C,G,K	M,D,E,4	1,F,7	3,16,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	26	31	27	24	25	31	31	39	30	40	304	30.4
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	26	22	19	22	27	22	27	29	34	249	24.9
3	XP8	US	20	22	22	21	20	26	23	33	29	32	248	24.8
4	Veloce QRF	IN	18	20	19	17	19	21	22	29	23	29	217	21.7
5	Rhythm8	US	18	18	20	15	14	21	21	24	19	21	191	19.1
6	Veloce Captain Jack	IN	14	18	16	15	16	17	20	25	19	22	182	18.2
7	Blocksmiths XP	US	14	16	16	16	15	15	17	19	17	18	163	16.3
8	Spaceland Lite	US	12	12	12	13	13	14	13	18	17	18	142	14.2

The NSL News had recently visited the Qatar Falcons with new coach Jeremie Rollett at their outdoor training camp in Florida.

The story explained that the French coach had introduced a few new exit formations and techniques to the Qatar Falcons. He was also working intensively on the first page with the new exits.

Exit and sub-terminal training efforts both did not help much for the indoor competition, where the 8-way working time and action begin with full air speed and after entering the flying chamber casually.

However, the Qatar Falcons left Skydive City early to have enough time at Paraclete XP for the transition from outdoor training to indoor competition.

Result was the new team record average for the reigning FAI 8-way outdoor bronze medalists at the FAI World Meet 2018. They will meet a new U.S. national 8-way team at the upcoming FAI Indoor World Meet - if Paraclete XP8 decide to make the trip to France in April...