posted Aug 27th, 2019 - The aftermath of the UK Nationals begins with the dramatic battle between Chimera and Eros for the BPA silver medals. The InTime competition videos now allow a review of this 10-round duel.

In fact, it almost became a competition for the gold medals, too. NFTO were safely in 1st place, nine points ahead of Chimera after Round 6. The first two rounds on Sunday changed the situation significantly when Chimera reduced the difference with two sole highscores by six points. Only three points were left of NFTO's 9-point lead, and there were two more rounds to go.

NFTO picked up the pace again and carried the lead over the finish line by six points, while the battle for the 2nd place had its highlight in Round 10.

Chimera had left the first day behind and eliminated the 3-point deficit to Eros just in the first round of the second day, then won Round 8 by one point and had taken the 2nd place away from Eros.

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UK Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		2,H,7	17,M,J,4	F,13,A,P	20,15,Q	10,21,1	12,22,C	9,E,11	D,K,L,8	O,18,B,16	6,5,19	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	21	22	28	17	15	15	18	18	20	19	193	19.3
2	Chimera	UK	20	20	26	15	15	13	22	20	17	19	187	18.7
3	Eros	UK	21	20	25	17	15	14	19	19	18	17	185	18.5
4	4mula	UK	19	18	24	16	14	14	19	18	18	15	175	17.5
5	Pajama Pumas	UK	16	17	19	12	11	11	16	16	14	12	144	14.4
6	H40	IE	13	15	17	13	11	10	14	16	11	11	131	13.1
7	Game of Clowns	UK	15	11	17	9	11	10	13	14	11	12	123	12.3
8	Quadriga	UK	13	14	17	7	10	11	14	14	5	11	116	11.6
9	Draconis	UK	11	12	16	8	10	8	16	11	11	11	114	11.4
10	Alola	UK	12	12	17	8	9	8	14	12	12	9	113	11.3
11	Team	UK	13	11	11	7	10	8	12	11	10	10	103	10.3
12	Barely Grown Ups	UK	12	11	14	8	0	8	9	9	0	0	71	7.1
13	Free Burds	IE	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	9	5	7	30	3.0

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However, Eros were not done yet after the 4-point loss in the first two rounds on Sunday. Player-coach Joey Jones got the team back on track in Round 9 and tied the game before going into the last round. Round 10 became the jump-off for the silver medals.

The audience could watch the dramatic finish, as the judging of the last round was shown live in the viewing area. Both teams went neck to neck through the first page.

Chimera picked up the pace in the second page more than Eros did and were almost two seconds ahead. Eros then missed the completion of Block 5 in the third page, and Chimera won by two points.

This dramatic battle also features the two most improved British teams of the year. Chimera increased their 16.9 average at last year's national championship to the 18.7 last weekend. Eros had finished with 16.3 last year and now have an 18.5 average in the team records.

NFTO on the other hand were not able to copy the Chimera and Eros progression after the 20.6 at the UK Nationals 2018 and allowed both teams to close the gap this year.

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UK Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,C,12,14	7,Q,K,G	B,J,2,A	15,D,4	L,13,M,F	6,8,O	11,18,N	9,10,5	1,17,22	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	19	27	27	16	25	19	16	19	17	185	20.6
2	Satori XL	18	27	25	18	25	18	17	19	17	184	20.4
3	Chimera	14	20	19	13	22	17	15	18	14	152	16.9
4	Eros	16	21	18	15	20	15	14	15	13	147	16.3
5	Antimatter	13	18	18	14	21	16	12	15	13	140	15.6
6	Pajama Pumas	12	17	18	11	17	17	12	13	10	127	14.1
7	Quadriga	12	13	16	11	15	11	10	10	11	109	12.1
8	Tyanno4us Rex	8	10	13	11	13	11	9	11	8	94	10.4
9	DWS	7	14	13	11	12	10	9	8	8	92	10.2

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However, the placing order between the same three teams is exactly the same as last year, despite the significant difference in scoring averages. Chimera had won over Eros by five points after nine rounds in 2018. Eros improved their scoring level slightly better than Chimera and got closer last weekend.

Nevertheless, NFTO defended the 4-way Open Class title successfully with the new lineup, and the British medal winning teams in 4-way Open mixed up their lineups with a total of seven female and five male competitors on the podium.

The same three teams will compete again at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019, and they may even have the re-match on the same leaderboard. NFTO could compete in 4-way Women, while the British Parachute Association (BPA) could also ask the winner of the national championship to represent Great Britain in 4-way Open.

Pajama Pumas are the 4th team in the British 4-way delegation for the world cup. They posted a new team record average, as well, and moved up from 6th to 5th place on the British 4-way Open Class leaderboard. Alola, last year's AA Class champion, is also traveling to Eloy in October, after the team's first AAA Class competition and the 11.3 average in Hibaldstow.