posted Jul 26th, 2011 - The NSL News reported on 20 May 2011 that the Danish Nationals 2011 would feature an interesting challenge of the national 4-way team Bodyflight Voluntas by former national competitors in the VolDaneZ lineup.

It turned out that there was actually a second even more exciting battle at the same event. It took place between the other two national teams, Bodyflight Atlas and Bodyflight Factum. Voluntas mastered the challenge by VolDaneZ very well and won by six points. Atlas and Factum had to go into overtime to decide which of the two farm teams of the Danish 4-way project is the stronger one.

The Danish Nationals were held in Stauning, a small airfield in the most western part of Denmark. Voluntas engine, Center Inside Martin Søeby Mikkelsen, reported that his team was training the two days before the competition. The weather was not promising, neither for training nor for the competition, as rain and windy conditions were in the forecast:

"Even before we arrived at the competition grounds, we were all a bit anxious about the weather situation. Our premonitions were met on the two days of training. It was a lot of stop-and-go. With more weather hold than anyone deserves. But we did manage to get in some training jumps."

The competition draw showed very quickly clearly that Round 10 would make or break any serious competition between any of the teams. Martin Søeby Mikkelsen said that the sequence of random formations was actually one that was flowing nicely. However, it was wide open when Round 10 would actually come to the teams, as he remembered the evening before the start of the meet:

"Before we went to bed, we had a look at the weather forecast again, and we knew that we had a couple of long days ahead of us..."

There was no jumping at all on the first day of the competition, and the teams and competitors thought that they would never see the random sequence of Round 10. Then the weather improved, and it was time to pick up the pace. Round 6 was almost in the bag, and the forecast for the next days was much better.

Denmark 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	JO	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	15,9,K	10,22,21	G,12,8	C,6,11	4,F,A,17	20,M,P,16	N,13,J,5	Q,3,O,18	1,7,14	D,B,L,H,E		Total	Avg
1	Bodyflight Voluntas	18	13	14	10	18	18	16	14	16	33	-	170	17.0
2	VolDaneZ	17	13	11	15	18	16	15	13	16	30	-	164	16.4
3	Bodyflight Atlas	15	10	9	12	14	13	10	11	13	22	13	142	12.9
4	Bodyflight Factum	12	9	12	12	12	13	12	13	11	23	12	141	12.8

The first five rounds had already featured the two interesting battles. Bodyflight Voluntas had expected a tough competition, and the challenging Vol:DaneZ lineup was one point ahead when the scores of Round 5 were posted. Bodyflight Atlas and Bodyflight Factum were separated by only three points.

Martin Søeby Mikkelsen said that it was also nice to see some of the teams outside of the official Danish 4-way project in great competition. Chute Me and Contrails were in a good battle, and Vulcans and Joyride turned out to be pretty close, as well. Only the teams in the A Class competition were more separated from each other.

Then he remembered the exciting second day of the competition: "Round 6 was scored as we were getting ready for our first round of the day, and we were now one point ahead of Vol:DaneZ. As the day progressed, we made our lead bigger, but Round 10 was still to come. Looking down the scoreboard, all the battles were getting more interesting. We were three points ahead of Vol:DaneZ going into Round 10, and Atlas was one point ahead of Factum for the bronze medals."

Eventually it was time for Round 10, and Voluntas confirmed the national team status by winning the national championships. However, the competition was not over for the other two teams. Martin Søeby Mikkelsen said that Factum had a good Round 10, while Atlas suffered two busts. The two teams were now tied in 3rd place, and a jump-off round was called.

He said that nobody at the meet could even remember the last time that there was a jump-off in Denmark, at least not for at least ten years. It was also a close race in Round 11, and Atlas finally won the bronze medals by one single point. Martin Søeby Mikkelsen said that it was almost a copy of last year, when the silver/bronze medals were also decided by one point in Round 10. It was a great meet, and the teams enjoyed the following awards ceremony, then the annual barbeque and nationals party.

Martin Søeby Mikkelsen said that it was a good year for his team: "Looking back, we are very happy with our competition. We did a 17-point average after a very turbulent year. Now we are looking forward to the next season. We hope that we can keep performing better and better and deliver a good result next year at the World Meet in Dubai."