posted Aug 16th, 2010 - The second leaderboard of last weekend's meets has grown with scores from Finland. It was a record weekend. The combination of both leaderboards would cumulate to the total of 93 teams competing on the same weekend. That is a quite amazing number, and the 100 seems to be in reach, probably next year.

The UK Nationals 2010 was the biggest contributor with a total of 54 teams alone. 25 Rookie Class teams joined the competition and provide a solid foundation for the future of the new Formation Skydiving powerhouse on the British islands.

Martin Soulsby, BPA's former manager of the United Kingdom Skydiving League (UKSL), had informed the NSL News earlier that the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 was UK's best world meet ever.

The British delegation brought home three silver and one bronze medals (Female 4-way, Freeflying, Freestlye and VFS). Satori scored a new UK record in Round 3 and Volare tied the Freeflying world record in Round 5. It will probably even get better in the future. The NSL News will go back to the UK Nationals 2010 with more information very soon.

The Rookie Class was the strongest category at the UK Nationals 2010, it was still not the most popular one last weekend.

A total of 28 teams competed in the A Class and outnumbered the total of 26 Rookie Class teams.

This is just as great news as the Rookie Class numbers since these two categories together represent the grassroot level and the potential for new teams and top competitors of the future.

Eleven of the 28 teams in the A Class competed at the UK Nationals 2010, Finland brought in another eight teams at the popular Hanko Open competition. Six more teams joined this category in Norway, and three teams competed at the August meet of the Midwest Skydiving League.

Finland's Hanko Open saw the comeback of the Tigers, the national team until 2008 and before the Pro Team took the top position in the Scandinavian country. The Pro Team did not attend the competition after just returning from Russia.

August 14th, 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	13,4,16	M,19,O,E	B,D,3,L	12,Q,18	5,14,K	G,8,H,22	Total	Avg
1	Finland Tarzanelli	7	12	9	7	-	-	35	8.8
2	Finland Tigers	10	17	-	-	-	-	27	13.5
3	Finland Aerosoli	8	-	-	-	-	-	8	8.0
Rank	AClass	6,8	B,19	4,L	M,7	J,D,21	H,2	Total	Avg
1	Finland Creme Brule	3	5	4	7	7	5	31	5.2
2	Finland Palomies Sami	4	5	4	7	-	-	20	5.0
3	Finland Team Parasale	3	6	2	4	3	-	18	3.6
4	Finland Pokassa Hyppäävät	3	5	3	5	-	-	16	4.0
5	Finland Hanna Ja Lapset	5	6	-	-	-	-	11	5.5
5	Finland Halli&Kuutit	2	2	3	4	-	-	11	2.8
7	Finland 5DQ	6	2	-	-	-	-	8	4.0
8	Finland Little Sheep	4	1	-	-	-	-	5	2.5

The Tigers, with Joonas Karjalainen, Nina Kivilompolo, Nadja Lönnroth, Markus Pitkänen and Erkki Kursukangas (Camera) in the lineup had represented Finland at the World Meet 2008 in France, while the Pro Team was preparing since 2007 to challenge the national team in 2009.

The Tigers still won the national championship over the Pro Team in 2008 (154 - 150).

However, the Pro Team succeeded in turning the table at the Finnish Nationals 2009, despite very strong resistance by the defending champions (159 - 155).

The Tigers then stepped back and did not compete until last weekend.

The Pro Team continued with the powerful 3-year plan and finished with new national records (20.4 average after nine rounds, 43-pointer in Round 3) and the unofficial Scandinavian Championship title at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk.

It was great to see that the Tigers now had a comeback.

Three team members of 2008 and 2009 competed last weekend (Joonas Karjalainen, Nina Kivilompolo, Nadja Lönnroth) and Tero Pärnänen filled Markus Pitkänen's slot. Ahti Kangas was on camera for the Tigers comeback.

Event Judge Jukka Olkkonen reported that it was not easy for Finland's teams, competitors and skydivers to resume the operation at the skydiving center of the Helsinki Parachute Club.

The dropzone was temporarily closed down this summer due to noise issues brought up by local residents.

Jukka Olkkonen also reported three hours of rain and thunder, which did not allow all teams to complete the scheduled four rounds.

Otherwise, weather and meet conditions were great, despite the problems with the local residents and the restriction to only one Cessna Caravan.

In addition to the eleven 4-way teams, there were also two teams competing in 8-way, six Freestyle and two Freeflying teams.

This year's Hanko Open was originally supposed to be the 50-year anniversary event of skydiving in Finland.

The SLK Helsinki Club (Suomen Laskuvarjokerho) was founded in 1960, which is considered as the starting point of sport parachuting in Finland.

The restrictions did not allow the full celebration in the air. However, the Finnish teams, competitors and all skydivers did not complain, as they understood the situation well, as Jukka Olkkonen added:

"The participation was great anyway for a scaled down Hanko Open 2010." And there were no restrictions to celebrate on the ground...