posted May 17th, 2007 - The NSL News goes back to the incredible competition at the World Challenge 2007 on April 7/8 at Bodyflight Bedford. First of all, there are good news for the hard-core 4-way and tunnel fans. Bodyflight Bedford is in the process of finishing a DVD of the event, and NSL-TV will soon be able to show some of the breath-taking tunnel performances.

The NSL-TV camera captured a live interview with Airspeed Odyssey's team captain Craig Girard, which took place in the viewing area at Bodyflight Bedford right after the last videos of Team Fastrax and Airspeed Odyssey were shown on the large CamScore screens.

Airspeed Odyssey had just won the World Challenge 2007 and £5,000 by one single point (280 - 279) over Team Fastrax in the competition with the highest scoring level in history of 4-way Formation Skydiving competition. It is hard to imagine that two teams could be so close after the completion of ten rounds.

Craig Girard himself was still impressed at the time of the interview how tough the race with Team Fastrax had been. Fastrax was even one point ahead going into the final round, and Odyssey had to deliver a flawless performance to win the meet. And so they did.

He gave Team Fastrax a lot of credit for the incredible race in Bedford and was grateful that both teams have been pushing each other to new performance levels between the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007 and the World Challenge 2007.

Airspeed Odyssey traveled to Skydive DeLand and to Bodyflight Bedford to look for the toughest challenge they could find, and Team Fastrax offered the competition that the Arizona team was looking for. Craig Girard was so grateful for the tough opposition that he was ready to return the £5,000 back into the jackpot and do it all again.

However, he gave the biggest credit to his own teammates that he called the "fastest and calmest killers" that he could imagine. He is very excited to have a line-up that functions perfectly all around.

Craig Girard believes that the results of the tunnel competition in Bedford will push the limits. He thinks that the extremely high performance and scoring level will open the minds and allow the top competitors to see that it is possible to skydive much harder right from the beginning:

"I think there is no slow air after the exit from the plane - there are only slow minds. We have been too careful out the door, and the results from Bedford will push the confidence level."

He said in the interview that he felt like driving a car around the race track with the gas pedal always in full acceleration. He sees no reason why teams would not be able to go at full speed right after the exit. He expects much higher scores than known by now very soon:

"Once the 4-minute benchmark for the mile was broken there were no limits any longer. Nobody thought it could be done, and look where the runners are now."

Airspeed Odyssey will compete at the Malevsky Cup 2007, and Team Fastrax will be there to offer the same competition. The NSL News will be in Russia to bring the next race to the NSL audience. The video of the interview can be viewed by clicking here.