posted Jul 3rd, 2004 - The celebration of the successful conclusion of the IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial World Cup 2004 began already on Thursday in Stupino. The organizers of the event arranged food, entertainment, music and more skydiving for the rest of the day, shortly after the last round was completed and the scores were posted.

It was not very difficult to get all the teams and competitors in the right mood for celebration. The visit to Stupino has been a great pleasure for everybody. The world class competition was perfectly organised for the participants who also received a first-class treatment for their registration fees. The drop zone offered great facilities and made it easy to spend the time there, even during weather holds. Participants and spectators were both equally entertained throughout the whole event.

A band began playing early in the afternoon, and the dance floor was soon filled with skydivers. Thursday's award ceremony included team events of the Accuracy event and the extra medals for the Women's 4-way teams. V-Max (UK - 14.7), Kewara (Italy - 14.0) and the Ladybirds (Russia - 12.1) took the first three places of the inofficial competition within the Malevsky Cup.

More entertainment followed, including magicians, acrobats, dancers and other artists using the improvised stage in the middle of the crowd. The party never ended for many of the competitors until late at night. The official entertainment with live music and live artists continued until the buses finally shuttled the participants back to the hotel.

Many of last year's participants still mentioned to the NSL News that "you ain't see nothin' yet" when the impressions of Thursday's ceremony and party were discussed. The official closing ceremony was scheduled for Saturday, and it would still be very different compared to the inofficial party on Thursday. The story of Saturday's events will follow soon. Honestly, it was the most impressive celebration of skydiving. Come back later for this story.

However, there was still one day in between. A visit to Moscow was scheduled for Friday. It was also the day after the first party. There are some interesting new pictures in the NSL archives that will be posted soon.