posted Mar 19th, 2011 - The first day with the first half of the Shamrock Showdown 2011 is over, and Round 5 brought the toughest challenge to most of the teams.

It was not even a 3-block sequence that made 4-way life very difficult at the end of the day. In fact, the only 3-block sequence in the competition in Round 3 (7-17-19) was actually an easy one. Only Arizona Airspeed survived Round 5 with an intact 20-pointer record.

In addition to the difficulty of the sequence, Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge lost two points in the judging room, NMP-PCH Hayabusa one point. The group of other victims in this round included the Deep Blue Defenders after a very strong previous performance and the DeLand Norgies who funneled one of the Block 12 moves. Videos of all other teams will follow with the upcoming review stories.

The Norgies still defended their 4th place successfully once again. The direct competition, Paraclete XP4 and SDC Rhythm XP, had their own difficulties with the sequence of Round 5 and could not get any closer to the Norgies.

Coaches Gary Smith and Solly Williams explained the strong performance of the 4-way veterans from Norway with the vast experience that the individual team members and the team as a group brings into the game. The next session of Coach's Corner provides more expert feedback.

The NSL News was there when Carl-Erik Tuv and judge Eric Heinsheimer talked about the good old days. They were both in the Tail position for their teams when the Norgies won their last bronze medals at the World Meet 2003 in Gap. Eric Heinsheimer won the silver medal for the Golden Knights at the same event. French coach Marin Ferre won the gold medal in 2003.