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Did You Know...

... that the first SkyVenture New Hampshire competition took place in December 2008?

Original Mass Defiance lineup in 2005
image by: Omniskore
posted Jan 5th, 2023 - The recent previews of the upcoming New Hampshire Tunnel Fest included brief insights of the event's history, and the NSL News update on 10 December 2022 explained the comeback situation after the corona virus break in 2021.

The Indoor Cloud League update on 31 December 2022 then included the time when a team from SkyVenture New Hampshire submitted scores and videos for the Indoor Cloud League leaderboards on a regular basis, beginning just a few months before the Czech team at the Hurricane Factory joined the Indoor Cloud League in 2013, as well.

Jan Klapka launched the first national indoor championships the same year, while SkyVenture New Hampshire had already hosted several indoor meets before Jeff Atherton, Colleen and Brian Touhey began organizing the Indoor Cloud League activities at Skyventure New Hampshire.

Original Mass Defiance member Ben Liston launched his first indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire in December 2008, and the success of the event motivated him to follow up a year later. That's when the NSL News covered the SkyVenture New Hampshire Tunnel Fest for the first time.

SkyVenture New Hampshire Tunnel Fest 2009
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Avg
Rank AAA Class H,C,L,5 F,17,22 E,M,16,A K,B,D,O,G N,15,7 J,Q,21,P 6,11,14 9,3,H 14,G,F,L J,16,17 Total Avg
1 Bu Defiance 24 21 24 32 18 22 17 20 21 21 220 22.0
2 Ranch Fallout 18 16 17 25 17 19 14 20 19 14 179 17.9
3 Centerline 16 17 22 21 17 18 13 15 17 17 173 17.3
Rank AA Class O,C,B,P 14,A,L F,H,E,D K,J,G,N M,Q,9 7,N,9 G,L,K,C P,A,B,H 14,Q,F O,E,J,M Total Avg
1 50 50 17 12 23 15 23 17 14 25 15 29 190 19.0
2 West Point Apocalypse 18 10 30 15 13 16 16 23 14 33 188 18.8
3 West Point Vigilantes 17 11 22 15 22 14 14 19 15 24 173 17.3
4 Syncing Feeling 19 13 23 16 20 12 13 17 14 22 169 16.9
5 Snatch Force 15 12 18 12 18 12 11 16 12 23 149 14.9
6 West Point Abroad 12 12 16 12 18 11 12 11 11 21 136 13.6
7 MVS 13 11 20 6 16 12 6 16 10 19 129 12.9
8 Mass Mayhem 11 8 12 9 18 11 12 14 7 17 119 11.9
9 Sky Ninjas 11 9 17 9 13 8 11 15 9 15 117 11.7
10 Brazilian Invasion 10 7 13 11 14 11 10 11 7 17 111 11.1
11 Mercury Falling 9 6 12 5 10 8 10 9 11 17 97 9.7
12 She’s the Boss 7 3 9 9 10 7 8 11 9 18 91 9.1
13 Ranch PRO Shop Whaler Force 4 2 11 9 11 8 4 8 7 13 77 7.7
14 Tunnel Trouble 5 5 4 3 5 7 6 7 7 9 58 5.8

Challenging AAA Class: Cocked Nut - Shmeland at the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest 2016
USPA 4-way Open Class bronze medals in 2019
Ben Liston's team Mass Defiance, USPA Advanced Class champion of 2005 and strongest amateur team in the United States for several years, were in their 3rd year on USPA's 4-way Open Class leaderboards and had used SkyVenture New Hampshire's 12-foot flying chamber for their indoor training.

Mass Defiance practiced as many AAA Class blocks as possible in the windtunnel, and Ben Liston eventually decided to create a special dive pool for a competition in the 12-foot flying chamber. Only two other teams joined Mass Defiance, with James "Bu" Klinge in the lineup for Jim Rees, in the challenging AAA Class competition of 2009.

The AAA Class teams had to master 15 of the 22 blocks in their ten rounds, while the AA Class teams had four different blocks. The Rookie Class teams were performing only the 15 random formations in their five rounds, skipping the Cataccord (G).

Ben Liston applied the same format in 2010 and then offered all four NSL categories beginning in 2011. Mass Defiance member of 2009, James Klinge, eventually recruited his own team and took the top spot on the AAA Class leaderboards of 2011 - 2015 before a new Mass Defiance lineup with Nick Grillet won it back in 2016.

SkyVenture New Hampshire Tunnel Fest 2009
1 2 3 4 5Total Avg
Rank RRR Class O,M,F K,C,J L,B,D H,N,P E,Q,ATotal Avg
1 West Point Haner Dratch 25 12 9 14 1575 15.0
2 Ripstik 16 11 15 14 1874 14.8
3 Killin Time 18 12 10 13 1568 13.6
4 West Point Steve Patrick 13 8 16 12 1261 12.2
4 West Point Luis Jack 18 8 10 11 1461 12.2
6 West Point Snyder Baker 13 11 13 10 1259 11.8
7 Perfect Storm 15 10 11 13 857 11.4
8 West Point Collins Liggett 13 9 11 11 852 10.4
9 West Point Sullivan Love 15 7 9 7 947 9.4
10 The Nics 15 6 5 12 745 9.0
11 Pinball Wizards 13 6 9 7 944 8.8
11 Flying Bricks 17 4 9 8 644 8.8
USPA 8-way Open Class silver medals in 2022
Ben Liston and James Klinge both are still very active in 4-way and 8-way competition. In fact, together they eventually won their first USPA Open Class medals at the national championships, first bronze in 4-way Open with the 2019 lineup of Mass Defiance (Brian Stephens, Nick Grillet, David Wybenga on camera), then silver in 8-way Open with last year's Arizona Airspeed lineup.

Ben Liston will be back as the meet director this year. He competed last time at his own event in 2020 and won the AAA Class with a new Defiance lineup variation. Mass Defiance original member Jim Rees joined him, together with two new team mates, Brian Boyle and Doug Hendrix.

James Klinge has not been back at the SkyVenture New Hampshire Tunnel Fest yet since his 2nd place with Shmeland in 2016. The outdoor team mates had split after the 2009 event and have not joined indoor forces again yet. Ben Liston remembered the early days of the SkyVenture New Hampshire Tunnel Fest: "I ran the first meet in 2008 with a handful of civilian teams and all the 2-way and 4-way teams from West Point when I was doing contract coaching work for them. We originally ran it in December to help with the final preparations before collegiate nationals. I wanted to call it the Defiance Annual Tunnel Meet, but a team mate changed my mind and it turned into the current name."

This year's event date is January 21st, and registration is usually open until the last minute before Round 1...



USPA Open Class medals for team mates Ben Liston and James Klinge in 2019 and 2022
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