posted Jun 15th, 2010 - The NSL News was not live on competition site of the Midway Battle at Skydive Chicago last weekend.

Steve Lefkowitz, SDC Rhythm XP's Point, kindly provided a meet report from the view of an eye witness in Ottawa.

Midway Battle at Skydive Chicago

Written by Steve Lefkowitz

Skydive Chicago hosted the PD Battle at Midway this past weekend. It was a very successful event with great competition and a number of exciting stories both directly and indirectly related to the performances. The meet included FS 4-way, VFS 4-way, and an unofficial but still highly anticipated 8-way performance by the Golden Knights.

In all three disciplines, the level of competition was among the top in the world, and the scores showed it. The meet was made even more exciting on the FS side since the French national 8- and 4-way teams were competing in the same draw on their native soil.

The timing, location and attendance of the event made the experience especially valuable and enjoyable. First, with the large gap between the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010 in March and the USPA Nationals in September, it is the only big competition event for US skydivers all summer.

As such, it was a great opportunity for competitors who plan on attending the USPA Nationals to see where they are midway through their training. Second, since it's six weeks away from the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010, it provides an especially interesting preview to that competition.

This is made doubly so since the competition in France was held on the same weekend with the same draw. Finally, since the USPA Nationals 2010 will be held at Skydive Chicago, the meet provided competitors with a true "mini-Nationals" experience, allowing them the best "dry run" possible before the real thing, jumping at the same DZ, with many of the same planes, same crew, and same official judging system as they can expect at the national championship.

Those who participated this weekend will surely have an advantage when they return to SDC in the fall. Also, on Saturday night many of the competitors enjoyed a great dinner at the Tiki Hut by the pond, allowing many of the veterans of the sport to catch up with old friends while newer jumpers got to hang out with some of their heroes in a more relaxed setting.

The Golden Knights 8-way team came to Skydive Chicago two weeks before the meet to hold a 2-week training camp that would culminate in their participation in the Battle at Midway meet. In this case, the drama of watching their scores and comparing them to the French 8-way team, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, was surpassed by the earlier than expected birth of a baby for team captain Brian "BK" Krause. While the team cut the meet short to allow BK to return home to his family, their performance in the first two rounds (19.5) suggests that the upcoming 8-way competition at the world meet will be one to watch.

In FS 4-way, some of the top teams in the world were present at Skydive Chicago to compete, including Arizona Airspeed, Perris Fury and Canada's national team, Evolution. The competition was also augmented by the French national 4-way team's performance at the Coupe de France meet of 2010. Skydive Chicago's local teams, SDC Rhythm XP and 2009 USPA Advanced Class champion SDC Furies also competed.

Jun12th, 2010			Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass		B,9,21	J,P,E,10	G,M,7,L	4,Q,14	22,6,19	Total	Avg
1	USA Arizona Airspeed	News	29	28	33	23	19	132	26.4
2	Perris Fury	News	27	23	29	21	19	119	23.8
3	Canada Evolution	News	24	26	30	20	17	117	23.4
4	SDC Rhythm XP	News	23	23	27	18	17	108	21.6
5	Skydive Chicago Furies	News	12	12	14	10	9	57	11.4

The competition at the top of the field was at a level comparable to any recent national championship, while the camaraderie and friendly atmosphere kept the event a lot of fun for everyone. In the end, Airspeed won with a 26.4 average over five rounds, with Fury (23.8) and Evolution (23.4) close behind in third. SDC Rhythm XP (21.6) and SDC Furies (11.4) also posted impressive scores. Airspeed took home $5,000 courtesy of event sponsor Performance Designs for their first place finish.

In VFS, four teams competed for the $5,000 cash prize for first place. While the top two teams from the USPA Nationals 2009 did not compete as themselves, members from both SDC Standard and Arizona Arsenal joined up with several of the top VFS competitors in the world to put together four very successful teams. It was an especially exciting race between first and second. With 4 to 5 rounds completed, Same Same But Different (16.8) beat out XP (16.0) for the prize money, with Mandrin (13.0) and Alcaponies 2.0 (11.25) in third and fourth. Once again, the level of competition was comparable to that of recent national championships.

The weather itself could perhaps be its own story. Chicago enjoyed a long streak of very jumpable weather this summer, allowing teams like the Knights and Rhythm, which were training at the DZ during the past couple of weeks, to get in very successful training leading up to the meet.

However, on this weekend, rain, clouds and hurricane-level winds made jumping impossible for much of the day Saturday and all Sunday. The veteran crew at Skydive Chicago, who hosted the USPA Nationals 2007 and will also host the USPA Nationals 2010, and who also have experience in other large events like Summerfest, pulled all it's operations together to perform when needed and squeeze out five competition rounds as soon as the skies permitted Saturday afternoon.

It still almost happened another way. When the weather was not cooperating on Saturday morning, owner Rook Nelson and his crew, committed to getting the competitors their jumps, began implementing a plan to transport the entire meet half way across the state to Archway Skydiving Center in Vandalia, IL.

All of the arrangements and logistics were quickly worked out. A King Air took off on its way to Archway with the Cametrix CamScore judging equipment necessary to allow the jumps to happen in Vandalia with remote judging transmitted from SDC. Plans were made to fly the competitors to the distant drop zone along with sufficient packers and all other details worked out.

Fortunately for everyone, the sun began to shine through the clouds mid afternoon, making the trip unnecessary. Still, the whole incident demonstrated Skydive Chicago's commitment to making the event a success for all participants. "Whatever it takes" was clearly the attitude for the weekend.

Thanks to Skydive Chicago for running a highly efficient, well organized and fun event for all competitors. Thanks to PD for supporting the event and providing half of the prize money. Thanks to all the competitors who came this year, and we look forward to an even more successful event in 2011. All competitors should mark their calendars already for next year, June 10-12, 2011.