posted Jan 6th, 2024 - The NSL News has covered the very special indoor competition of the New Hampshire Tunnel Fest for many years. The preview of the last event at SkyVenture New Hampshire on 10 December 2022 explained the history of the event, which almost came to an end with the corona virus crisis.

As many other events, the New Hampshire Tunnel Fest was canceled after record participation in 2019 (41 teams) and just slipping by the pandemic in January 2020 (36 teams). There was no event a year later, and chances were little that recovery would come quickly and easily. However, owners Laurie and Rob Greer decided to at least try a comeback, and 13 teams followed the call for resumption.

Event founder and organizer Ben Liston had his own comeback a year later, and the participation at the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest 2023, with 26 teams in all four categories, was promising enough for Laurie and Rob Greer to make new plans for the next event later this month. The SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest 2024 is the 11th edition with the current format. The first one was held in January 2013, and only the impact of the pandemic did not allow the 2021 event and caused the rebuilding efforts in the past two years.

USPA Nationals 2005		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	2,A,19	F,20,D,9	C,21,N,11	15,M,8	4,6,P	5,1,H	22,7,12	3,K,16	E,17,14	13,18,J	Total	Avg
1	Mass Defiance	19	19	16	15	15	15	12	14	15	14	154	15.4
2	Elsinore Gravity	16	20	11	13	15	15	12	13	14	13	142	14.2
3	Perris Katalyst	14	16	14	14	12	13	9	13	11	12	128	12.8
4	Elsinore GT	13	16	11	13	13	13	9	12	13	10	123	12.3
5	Inviscid	14	15	12	13	10	14	10	9	12	13	122	12.2
6	Y-Train	10	16	8	11	12	12	12	13	13	12	119	11.9
6	Perris Storm	15	15	11	11	10	13	10	12	11	11	119	11.9
8	Cross Keys Vision	13	15	11	11	13	8	10	11	10	10	112	11.2
9	Golden Knights SA	13	14	9	10	10	10	10	10	7	9	102	10.2
10	Perris CNC	13	14	10	10	10	7	8	9	12	7	100	10.0
10	AZ Seals TNT	12	12	9	11	10	8	8	10	11	9	100	10.0
12	Weekend of Fun	11	10	10	9	10	11	8	10	11	8	98	9.8
13	PERris HELION	11	13	10	11	10	10	7	6	10	9	97	9.7
14	Perris Ice	11	8	10	11	9	9	9	9	11	8	95	9.5
15	LMP	11	14	8	11	11	11	11	11	0	0	88	8.8
16	Perris Censored	9	11	7	9	8	8	8	8	7	8	83	8.3
17	Spaceland's Method	10	12	8	7	8	7	6	7	9	5	79	7.9
17	Perris K II	10	7	9	8	8	6	6	9	9	7	79	7.9
19	Mass Confusion	6	6	6	0	5	0	5	4	5	6	43	4.3

The SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest 2024 is also a special event for organizer and meet director Ben Liston. The event coincides with the 20-year anniversary of his well know 4-way team from New England, Mass Defiance. Ben Liston is one of the four original members (Ben Liston, Jim Rees, John Silva, Brian Stephens), and team videographer Steve "Scuba" Feldman was filming Mass Defiance to the USPA Advanced Class championship title in 2005.

20 years later, the original team members are all still very active in the sport, even though the original lineup has not attended a 4-way competition in a while. According to the NSL News records, it was in October 2016 when the original Mass Defiance lineup competed at the USPA Nationals, even though Steve Feldman was not on camera any longer.

The 5th place with an impressive 19.2 average on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard of the USPA Nationals 2016, with Patrick Walker on camera, was the last reunion of the original lineup, 13 years after launching the team in 2004. Different lineups with new team members have continued to keep the team name alive until 2019, when Nick Grillet and James Klinge joined forces with original members Ben Liston and Brian Stephens, with David Wybenga on camera, at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019. The USPA Open Class bronze medals for original members Ben Liston and Brian Stephens a month earlier at the USPA Nationals 2019 went almost unnoticed, as the dramatic battle between SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed, and the visit of NMP PCH HayaBusa, caught most of the attention.

USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		17,16,22		Total	Avg
G	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	-		289	28.9
1	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		21	-1	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	20	-2	262	26.2
3	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	-		208	20.8
4	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		-		201	20.1
G	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		-		182	18.2
5	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		-		179	17.9
6	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		-		156	15.6
7	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		-		150	15.0
8	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	-		142	14.2

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Defiance at the USPA Nationals 2019, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/OmniSkore!HD

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The last reunion of the original lineup in competition happened in 2016, while the team members of 2004 are still present at many 4-way and 8-way events. They have also visited the New Hampshire Tunnel Fest regularly, some of them with other teams and modified Defiance lineups.

Original member and New England's Regional USPA Director Jim Rees is USPA's Chair of the Competition Committee. He is also U.S. Delegate to the FAI/ISC and Vice-President of the ISC Bureau. He is one of the most experienced FAI judges in the world and regularly invited as the Chief Judge at the most relevant events.

Despite the national and international obligations in his functions, Jim Rees still goes back to his New England roots whenever it's time for the next New Hampshire Tunnel Fest. There he manages the judging and scoring features almost single-handedly, recently supported by Randy Connell. Original Mass Defiance members Jim Rees and Ben Liston together have been the heart and soul of the event, and Ben Liston usually still manages to compete himself, as well. Their original team mates John Silva and Brian Stephens rarely miss New England's signature event. They compete with any Mass Defiance modifications or as player-coaches with other teams. MD videographer Steve "Scuba" Feldman often shows up, as well, even if it is just for entertaining commentary or a beer at the Tiki Bar. This year's even is scheduled for January 20th.