posted Dec 14th, 2006 - The telephone in the NSL office was ringing of the hook this week. There were rumors of interesting changes in the line-ups of some top teams in the USA. The NSL News waited for confirmations directly from the teams before posting any stories. The rumors have turned into facts now, and the first update covers the Airspeed situation.

Team speaker Craig Girard told the NSL News that Airspeed has decided to focus on the 4-way event in the near future: "We want to go back where we used to be in 4-way with Airspeed Vertical years ago."

He also mentioned that Airspeed will still compete in 8-way at the major events. However, all training efforts will be invested into the 4-way event.

It has been very challenging and work-intensive for Craig Girard to maintain the Airspeed 8-way line-up over the years: "The logistics of an 8-way team are much more difficult, and I went through so many different team members all the time. It will probably be almost relaxing to do only 4-way for a while."

Airspeed Odyssey will continue with only three of the four members in 2005 and 2006, Craig Girard (Center Outside), Andy Delk (Center Inside) and Eliana Rodriguez (Point). Brian Johnson is leaving the team and plans to go back into the corporate business world where he used to work as a software engineer.

His slot will be filled by a well known Airspeed veteran. Mark Kirkby moves back from the Fastrax headquarters in Indiana to the Arizona desert in Eloy. The multiple Airpeed world champion in 4-way and 8-way had an agreement with Team Fastrax throughout the 2008 season and decided to leave earlier.

His move obviously required an adjustment in the Fastrax line-up, as well. The NSL News received an update directly from John Hart who was thrilled to announce that Thomas Hughes has accepted the open Fastrax slot. The NSL News will provide more details of the new Fastrax situation with the next story.

Craig Girard explained that Mark Kirkby had shown interest in the Airspeed plans already earlier this year. However, he did not take it as a serious inquiry, as he knew that Mark Kirkby had a serious commitment to Team Fastrax. The progression of Fastrax in 2006 was also better than expected, and the team's perspectives were matching the goals.

However, Caig Girard with Mark Kirkby as the new team member was just as thrilled as John Hart with Thomas Hughes. The two old and new Airspeed Odyssey teammates have spent a lot of freefall time together in the past.

Mark Kirkby moved to Arizona a year earlier (1994) than Craig Girard and aimed at the 4-way gold medals that France has had its hands on for years. Jack Jefferies, Dan BC and Kirk Verner were his teammates of the legendary Arizona Airspeed 4-way line-up, and the world title with the 4-way Excalibur sword came back to the USA in 1995.

Craig Girard, a multiple 8-way world champion with the Golden Knights by then, was recruited to Eloy in 1995. Airspeed had decided to go after the 8-way gold medals, as well. However, Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby were only jumping together in the same 8-way line-up at that time. Arizona Airspeed continued with the same 4-way line-up, while Craig Girard competed with the remaining members of the new 8-way team (John Eagle, Gary Beyer, Alan Metni) as Arizona Vortex.

The new 8-way line-up, including Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby, fully succeeded three years later. Airspeed 8 won the gold medals at the World Cup 1996 but lost to the Golden Knights at the USPA Nationals in 1996 and 1997. The change came in 1998 when Airspeed 8 beat the Golden Knights at the USPA Nationals in Eloy.

Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby still did not compete together in 4-way when Airspeed 8 won its first set of 8-way gold medals at the World Meet in Australia 1999. Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Mark Kirkby and Dan BC still tried to capture gold medals in both events before this line-up retired at the end of the 1999 season.

Airspeed continued in 8-way and with two 4-way line-ups in 2000. The new Airspeed Vertical line-up finally included Craig Girard (Center Outside) and Mark Kirkby (Tail) in 4-way, as well. The first season of this new 4-way team with John Eagle (Point) and Neal Houston (Center Inside) in the other two slots already brought the first USPA 4-way gold medals and the 8-way title, as well.

It was Airspeed Vertical's turn in 2001 to complete the double-gold mission at the World Meet in Spain that the previous line-up did not get done in Australia. Alternate Jack Jefferies was observing the second Airspeed attempt and had to accept another miss, this time in 8-way. However, Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby won their first 4-way gold medals together at the World Meet 2001.

The same Airspeed Vertical line-up could not repeat the national double-gold success in 2002 and won USPA gold medals only in 8-way. Airspeed Vertical lost to the Golden Knights who would compete at the World Meet in France 2003. The 2002 season was also the first Airspeed year for the future 4-way teammate Eliana Rodriguez.

Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby added another Airspeed year together in 2003. It was the last season for the Airspeed Vertical line-up with John Eagle and Neal Houston, and it would also be the last year for Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby in the same team. They won another set of 8-way gold medals at the World Meet in France and at the USPA Nationals 2003, plus 4-way bronze medals behind DeLand Majik and the Golden Knights.

Craig Girard moved on with Airspeed, while Mark Kirkby accepted player-coach positions with various teams. He guided Natasha Montgomery's team, Arizona Blade, to the NSL Championship title in 2004 and competed with team Spark at the USPA Nationals 2005. Finally, he accepted the Tail slot with the new Fastrax line-up in 2006.

Team Fastrax had a very successful 2006 season with the new line-up (John Hart, Niklas Hemlin, Doug Park, Mark Kirkby) and peaked at the USPA Nationals 2006. Fastrax offered serious resistance to the winner, DeLand Groove, and kept up throughout the whole 10-round meet with Russia's Black Cat, currently one of the best 4-way teams in the world. Fastrax also beat Airspeed Odyssey by ten points (216 - 206) and won the USPA silver medals.

Arizona Airspeed, still with Craig Girard's leadership, focused on the 8-way event in 2004 and defended the gold medals successfully with a new line-up, first at the World Meet in Croatia, then at the USPA Nationals in Perris.

Two new Airspeed 4-way line-ups were formed for the 2005 season: Airspeed Odyssey (Craig Girard, Andy Delk, Brian Johnson, Eliana Rodriguez) and Velocity (Dennis Rook, Kirk Verner, Andy Honigbaum, Neal Houston). Veteran Craig Girard gathered the young and hungry talent in his line-up and created a world class 4-way team.

However, Airspeed Odyssey had to deal with DeLand Fire in 2005 and was not able to keep up with the upcoming world champion at the Malevsky Cup 2005 and at the USPA Nationals 2005. Finally, the pieces fell in place for Odyssey at the World Cup 2005 on home turf, but it was too late. DeLand Fire was already the US national team for the World Meet in Germany 2006.

Craig Girard still won the 8-way competition with Airspeed at the USPA Nationals 2005. His team focused once again on 8-way for the 2006 season since France was ready to threaten the Airspeed 8-way dominance in Germany. The Odyssey talent had to take the back-seat in 2006, and the gold medals still went to France.

The 2006 Airspeed season came to an end in a similar way compared to 2005. Airspeed won the USPA gold medals in 8-way without much work, while both 4-way line-ups did not even get close to the very top of the leaderboard. In fact, Craig Girard had to accept that his former teammate Mark Kirkby was far ahead with his new team Fastrax.

It was still the same Odyssey line-up with Craig Girard, Eliana Rodriguez, Andy Delk and Brian Johnson that came to life only on the second day of the USPA Nationals 2006 in Eloy. It was too late since only three rounds were left after a very busy first day with seven jumps. Odyssey ended up with bronze medals behind DeLand Groove and Team Fastrax.

Craig Girard has been through many ups and downs in his skydiving career, and he cannot be discouraged by anything. Obviously, he is once again very motivated to build up the next world class team. The most successful phase of his competition career was the time when he had Mark Kirkby in his 4-way and 8-way line-ups.

Mark Kirkby will go back to his Tail slot that he used to own with Airspeed. He was Center Inside for Arizona Blade and Team Fastrax. Andy Delk will be his new piece partner, and they have never jumped together in a team. The front piece remains unchanged with Craig Girard (Center Outside) and Eliana Rodriguez (Point).

The new line-up has great plans for the 2007 season. The FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007 and additional three meets are on the Airspeed schedule. The NSL News will follow up with additional Airspeed information very soon and examine the new Fastrax situation next.