posted Dec 1st, 2009 - Paul Mayer, owner of Bodyflight Bedford and host of the annual World Challenge indoor competition, is a competitor himself. He is not on a 4-way team, and he does not compete in Freeflying at his events, however, he has a very competitve attitude in other important events.

The NSL News has always first been surprised and then impressed when he explained his goals for the next World Challenge and then followed up with the action. He had the vision to create the biggest indoor competition in the world when he launched the World Challenge in 2006. Twelve teams attended the inaugural event.

The number of teams went up to 19 a year later. Then Paul Mayer lifted the goal for the next World Challenge up to 40 teams, while he continuously worked on improvements of the facilities. It was still impressive when a total of 39 teams really showed up to compete in March 2008.

One of the reasons for the dramatically increased participation between 2007 and 2008 was the fact that Paul Mayer added the AA Class competition to the event. Nine AA Class teams used the opportunity to compete side by side with the best 4-way competitors in the world.

Paul Mayer was actually one team short of his goal in 2008. He was still not shy to aim even higher for the World Callenge 2009. Fifty was now the magic number, and a total of 47 teams made it to Bodyflight Bedford this year. The logistics were once again well taken care of, and it was a smooth operation to complete the ten rounds for all teams.

The World Challenge 2009 was now by far the biggest indoor competition in the history of the sport. Arizona Airspeed won the event for the 4th consecutive time, this time much further ahead of the rest of the field than in the previous years. Team Future's youngsters made it from the last place in 2008 to the gold medals in the AA Class this year. The video features Round 10 of the Top Ten AAA Class teams at the World Challenge 2009.

It was no surprise when Paul Mayer recently explained to the NSL News that he has a new goal for the upcoming event on April 3 - 4 next year. He is ready to accommodate up to 70 teams at the World Challenge 2010.

Once again, he may get closer to this number than anybody else expects at the moment. He has decided to open up the competition for A Class teams, as well, which will probably attract many beginner teams to the indoor competition.

The United Kingdom alone had a total of 22 teams compete in the Rookie Class and the A Class competition at the national championship this year. Many of the Rookie Class teams and competitors will probably move up into the A Class next year and can begin the 2010 season with wind tunnel training and the first competition at Bodyflight Bedford.

There are many other good reasons why Paul Mayer has raised his goal. He has completed the work on his spa, and the facilities have turned more and more into a training center and recreational paradise at the same time. The NSL News will follow up with more information here later.

Some of the logistics have changed with the anticipation of even more 4-way teams this year. The competition draw will now take place Friday evening, and the training sessions have to be completed by then. Saturday and Sunday will be used only for the actual competition.

Paul Mayer also acknowledged that the overwhelming majority of 4-way teams deserve a proportional increase of the prize money. £20,000 have been on stake for the 4-way teams in the past. This amount will be lifted for the World Challenge 2010. The NSL News will soon post the details of the prize money situation.

It's time to sign up and make travel plans...