posted Mar 4th, 2011 - A very special treat is waiting for teams, competitors and audience at the Shamrock Showdown 2011.

The team name DeLand Norgies has been posted at the event page since Lise Nansen, formerly Lise Aune, shared an announcement in January that the original lineup (Lise Nansen, Pal Kolbenstvedt, Torstein Valen, Carl-Erik Tuv) will have a reunion at the Shamrock Showdown this year:

"The Norgies have finally made it! We have co-ordinated our schedules which isn't the easiest thing to do when you have a pilot, a doctor and a fireman on the team and two of them have kids with ex-wives that also need juggling...

BUT! We will be coming to DeLand for a training camp and do the Shamrock!"

World Meet 2003		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	1-11-12	M-J-E-10	K-16-6	13-14-5	D-22-4	9-C-Q-N	F-19-21	2-20-L	18-B-3	8-P-7	Total	Avg
1	France Maubeuge	16	26	23	19	21	37	24	21	19	23	229	22.9
2	Golden Knights	17	24	22	19	18	35	22	18	19	20	214	21.4
3	DeLand Norgies	13	24	21	19	18	36	19	16	19	21	206	20.6
4	Sebastian XL	14	22	21	19	17	34	21	18	19	20	205	20.5

The Norgies will arrive on March 7 and train 4-way for a week. The second week, Lise's husband Nicolai Nansen, Polaris member Sissel Maria Finnseth, Esben and former Arcteryx member Ole Petter Hjelle will join the Norgies for some 8-way jumps before the Shamrock Showdown begins.

The DeLand Norgies won three sets of bronze medals at the World Championships of Formation Skydiving in 1999, 2001 and 2003 with this lineup. Two Arizona Airspeed competitors of the new lineup will remember the days when the Norgies stole the bronze medals three times from UK's XL lineups and just could not get to the silver medal position.

Mark Kirkby beat the Norgies with Airspeed in 1999 and 2001, while Thomas Hughes lost the battle for the bronze medals in Gap with the XL lineup of 2003. Mark Kirkby will probably outscore the Norgies again at the Shamrock Showdown, while Thomas Hughes has the chance to beat them for the first time.

Florida Skydiving League 2001 - January Meet
Rank	Team	H.cap	21-17-4	1-6-O	13-G-D-N	3-E-F-2	11-7-C	J-K-A-10	Total	Av.	Score	FSL
1	Brazil FX 2	1.20	16	20	20	19	20	23	118	19.7	141.60	n/a
2	Optic Nerve	1.49	14	17	16	14 (-1)	16	17	94	15.7	140.06	4
3	Teiwaz	1.55	13	15 (-2)	15	14	15	15	87	14.5	134.85	3
4	DeLand Norgies	1.00	19	26	21	22	21	24	133	22.2	133.00	2
5	Sebastian XL	1.15	14	20 (-2)	21	20	19	19	113	18.8	129.95	1
6	Brazil FX 1	1.23	15	18	17	17	18	18	103	17.2	126.69	n/a
7	DeLand PD Blue	1.00	16	21	21	19	18	19	114	19.0	114.00	n/a
8	Chicago Blue	1.41	11	12	13	11	13	13	73	12.2	102.93	n/a

The NSL News found the leaderboard of the FSL January meet in 2001 and the DeLand Norgies videos of the same meet. The audience will probably be impressed how well the team performed in 2001. The 22.2 average after six rounds would still be competitive a decade later.

In fact, it would be no surprise if the Norgies show up with a more than respectable performance at the Shamrock Showdown after a week of training. It will be difficult to keep up with the current Top 3 teams in the world (France Cypres Maubeuge, Arizona Airspeed, NMP-PCH Hayabusa). However, all other top teams better watch out for the Norgies.

The video also shows three of the DeLand Norgies at the World Challenge 2010 where they competed with Nicolai Nansen in the lineup (Norgies 40).

The DeLand Norgies never really withdrew from 4-way competition. They took a longer break after the World Meet 2003 in Gap, and other national lineups tried to fill the gap in Norway. It took a while until Arcteryx made it to the same performance level and eventually posted even higher scores than the Norgies.

Arcteryx retired after posting a 22.5 average at the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge and left a similar gap as the Norgies did in 2003. It did not take too long though until the Norgies had their first reunion and then challenged Arcteryx a few times at the national championships in Norway.

The reunion at the Shamrock Showdown 2011 is an even more competitive affair, as the project includes probably the most outdoor training for the Norgies since 2003. Norway does not have an Open Class national team at the moment. Who knows what might happen if the Norgies score higher than anybody expects...?