posted Mar 12th, 2010 - Once upon a time, the team name XL stood for the British national 4-way team that represented the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2003 at the World Championships of Formation Skydiving. Pete Allum and John McIver were two of the founding members.

The team name still exists, and the two founding members are still active. However, XL now stands for a world class indoor lineup that gets together only to compete for the top spots at the annual World Challenge at Bodyflight Bedford.

At this year's World Challenge 2010, Pete Allum will be the only XL founding member who will join the reunion. John McIver trains and competes with UK's national 4-way team Satori and prepares for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010. He will try to give this year's XL lineup as much competition as possible.

The NSL News found a video that shows the last Sebastian XL lineup of 2003 (Pete Allum, John McIver, Thomas Hughes, Steve Hamilton, Rob Stevenson on camera) at the April meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2003. XL finished the 5-round meet with a 23.2 average and tied the future 2004 world champion DeLand Majik's scores in three rounds.

XL competed at the World Meet 2003 in France for the last time at an outdoor meet and missed the race with the DeLand Norgies for the bronze medals for the third time. Pete Allum and Steve Hamilton are now team mates in Italy's 4-way national team Sinapsi. Pete Allum won his first 4-way bronze medal already with Sinapsi at the World Meet 2006 in Germany.

Thomas Hughes won an 8-way silver medal with the US 8-way team at the World Meet 2008 in France and is currently holding the 4-way world record for a single round with Spaceland Force XP. John McIver and Rob Stevenson will both compete with Satori at this year's World Meet in Russia.

The original XL 2003 lineup had a real reunion at the World Challenge 2009. Even videographer Rob Stevenson was at Bodyflight Bedford last year. The team did not really need him at the indoor competition, however, it was a unique social opportunity.

It was already the third XL reunion at the World Challenge 2009. Pete Allum, John McIver and Steve Hamilton competed for the first time for the new XL indoor team at the World Challenge 2007. Brian Johnson filled the slot for Thomas Hughes who was competing with Team Fastrax in Bedford.

The first XL indoor lineup of 2007 won the 3rd place with a 26.1 average. Thomas Hughes with Fastrax placed 2nd with a 27.9 average and one single point behind the winner, Arizona Airspeed.

XL came back to the World Challenge 2008. This time, John McIver was not available, while Thomas Hughes had no other commitments. Brian Johnson was called back into action and filled the slot for John McIver.

The XL 2008 lineup had a sensational meet and finished in 2nd place with a 28.1 average, only two single points behind the same winner, Arizona Airspeed. It was a nerve wrecking finish, as both teams went tied into the last round.

Pete Allum explained later to the NSL News that XL had learned from the 2008 experiences and was ready to hold on to the top position throughout the second half of the meet. XL had been on the top of the leaderboard after the first meet day in 2007 and gave it up in the second half of the meet.

The XL 2003 lineup enjoyed the annual meetings at the World Challenge so much that they decided to commit to a complete lineup for the World Challenge 2009. It became true, and Brian Johnson had to look for another job last year. He ended up in Satori's lineup since John McIver had promised to compete with XL.

The orginal 2003 lineup finished in 4th place with a 27.3 average, two points behind Hayabusa Defence and four points behind Perris Fury. Arizona Airspeed won again, this time with a 28.8 average. Satori with Brian Johnson posted a 24.1 average in 8th place.

This year, Satori was not willing to give up John McIver for the next XL reunion. However, Pete Allum, Steve Hamilton and Thomas Hughes already knew who to ask. John McIver and Brian Johnson will just switch team slots, and things will be back to the XL 2008 order.