posted Sep 11th, 2019 - The AAA Class field of the UK Nationals also included two more teams who will compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup in Eloy next month. The NSL News mentioned earlier that NFTO, Chimera and Eros will compete for the British delegation in one of the 4-way categories.

The FAI rules for world cups allow a maximum of four teams to represent each country, while all five British teams were on the same leaderboard at the UK Nationals. However, the British delegation has options to chose from, as two of the five teams (NFTO - Alola) could also compete in 4-way Women. Chimera, Eros and Pajama Pumas with mixed-gender lineups can only compete in 4-way Open.

Alola qualified for this year's world cup at last year's national championship, as all British teams do. It was still a different way that brought Alola into the UK delegation. The top-ranked AAA Class teams earn the right to compete for Great Britain at a world cup, and the British Parachute Association (BPA) also offers the AA Class winner the same opportunity.

Alola was last year's AA Class champion and accepted the invitation, as several other previous AA Class winners have done.

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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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The UK Nationals 2019 was the first AAA Class competition for Alola, and the FAI World Cup will be the first meet on the international outdoor stage, either in 4-way Women or on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. NFTO is the British 4-way champion and could compete in both categories.

Alola would have both options, as well, even if NFTO sign up for the 4-way Women competition. The British delegation could have three teams on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard and two teams in 4-way Women.

Alola started with the same lineup at the AA Class competition of the World Challenge 2018 and have attended only outdoor events ever since. The UK Nationals was the team's only competition this year.

Pajama Pumas had a much busier 2019 schedule and attended the June meet of the United Kingdom Skydiving League (UKSL), after competing at the World Challenge and the Weembi Cup.

Last year, Pajama Pumas were done after World Challenge, all three UKSL meets and the UK Nationals. This year, the FAI World Cup will be the highlight and the conclusion of the competition season.

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ESL Championship 2016 FS4				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class			C,E,4	D,Q,L	H,O,7	21,P	B,J,F	K,6	19,9	Total	Avg
1	Pajama Pumas	UK	10	9	12	12	8	18	9	8	76	10.9
2	TBC	UK	8	7	9	10	9	16	9	6	66	9.4
3	4Sprung Durch Technik	UK	6	5	8	10	4	15	9	5	56	8.0
4	4midable	NL	5	10	7	12	5	8	7	6	55	7.9
5	Team Charlie	DE	4	8	7	10	5	9	8	5	52	7.4

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The world cup will not be the first international outdoor competition for Pajama Pumas, at least not for two team members. Matt Cumming and Paul Willcock traveled to Germany for the ESL Championship 2016 with the first Pajama Pumas lineup and won the A Class competition at the team's first meet in this category. Stefan Potter joined Pajama Pumas at the beginning of the 2018 season, Jodie-Leigh Foster in 2019.

Pajama Pumas and Alola both know international competition atmosphere after attending the World Challenge in Bedford, both teams in 2018, Pajama Pumas also this year. However, international outdoor competition at an FAI event brings a very different situation to the teams.

Pajama Pumas started the team career with a 0.2 average in the Rookie Class at the UKSL May meet in 2016. Three years later, they compete with the British Formation Skydiving delegation at the FAI World Cup.

It will not be the same as at the ESL Championship 2016. There is only AAA Class competition at FAI events, and Pajama Pumas will not compete for medals this time. The 14+ average level will still probably be good enough to place in the middle of the leaderboard, as Chimera (15th - 16.0), Antimatter (18th - 14.8) and Eros (22nd - 13.0) did for the British delegation at the previous world cup in Saarlouis 2017...