posted May 20th, 2010 - There was a team in the Top 10 at the World Challenge 2010 that has not received a lot of attention so far. It is somehow unusual that a 29.4 average would not catch everybody's attention.

In fact, a 29.4 average would have won the first place at any previous World Challenge competition in the history of the event. Only three teams had ever posted a higher average in a 10-round meet before the World Challenge 2010: Perris Fury (29.8) at the Paraclete Indoor Championship 2009 and Arizona Airspeed with the same average in 2008, Perris Fury and the Golden Knights at Paraclete in 2008 with 29.6 averages.

It becomes even more interesting when the team that posted the 29.4 average is actually focusing on 8-way competition. Aerokart PCs, in 6th place at the World Challenge 2010 with this 29.4 average, two points behind Arizona Airspeed, consists of four French 8-way experts, including two 8-way world champions of 2006 and 2008.

Aerokart PCs at the World Challenge 2010

Emmanuel "Manus" Sarrazin was the team captain of the French 8-way lineup that won the gold medals in 2006 and 2008. Clement Martin-Saint-Leon won the same two gold medals and has taken this position since Manus stepped back in 2008 to become the alternate for the 8-way team.

Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek are two of the new members of the current French 8-way lineup. They were recruited after the World Meet 2008 in France when Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen and Jeremie Rollet gave up the 8-way event to focus on 4-way only.

Together with the other French 8-way members, Aerokart PC's 4-way fans Clement Martin-Saint-Leon, Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek will try to defend the French 8-way gold medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia.

It has been a French tradition for many years that the new French top competitors are being brought up to speed in the B-Team 4-way lineups. Those B-Teams usually have an experienced player coach in the lineup, sometimes even two.

The NSL News story on 11 May 2010 had explained how the 2-time 8-way world champions and members of the current French national 4-way team, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, have made their own way through the B-Teams to the 8-way gold medals. It seems as if Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek are exactly on the same track. The French 8-way team is one of the top contenders this year.

Aerokart PCs had aready posted a 27.9 average at the Aerokart Indoor Championship in February this year. The 29.4 average in Bedford in April shows how well skilled the French 8-way competitors are. They will surely have to slow down a bit when they go back to their main event.

The Aerokart PCs lineup has been training and competing together since 2008 when Arnaud Mille replaced Guillaume Bajolet, who is another B-Team member with his own Aerokart Amada lienup. Aerokart PCs competed under Aerokart Mamba Pamiers in 2008 and 2009.

The team could train whenever 8-way team captain Clement Martin-Saint-Leon was not busy with his top priority event. This means that the B-Team members of Aerokart PCs did not get as much training as they would have liked in 2008.

Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek have now been much busier, as they are also in the French 8-way lineup. They do 4-way with Emmanuel Sarrazin whenever there is some extra time. Manus is now the 4-way fan who would like to do more in his new favorite event. The French 8-way team will compete at the Coupe de France event in July before the whole French delegation will travel to Russia.