posted Jun 25th, 2007 - The weather conditions in the Netherlands and the Midwest turned out with very different results. MWSL Director Alan Butt had to cancel the event when the Sunday weather did not bring any improvements. The seven teams that waited for jumping conditions at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center will have to wait until the next MWSL meet on July 21.

The teams in the Netherlands had much better luck. The weather hold on Saturday could be lifted early enough, and there was still enough time on the weekend to complete nine rounds for all 22 Dutch teams. Marloes Swarthoff, member of the Dutch League management, provided the information for a meet story.

Record participation in the Netherlands

I can proudly present the scores from the Tomscat Trophy in Holland. The forecasts were very very bad, but in reality we had enough good weather to complete nine rounds for all 22 teams! Needless to say that I am a happy girl. It is such a shame if all your hard work goes down the drain due to clouds/rain/winds etc.

There was some serious competition going on in Hoogeveen. It was obvious pretty soon in the Rookie Class that Zwabber was going for the gold medals. However, the other two sets of medals were on stake for a big battle. A closer look at the scores shows that either one of the three other teams could have won. In the end, Cool Runnings and 4igami kept their cool and won the silver and bronze medals. 4igami was only one point ahead of Sergé Angels who finished in 4th place.

The winners of gold and silver medals in the A Class were determined pretty soon. Whoops' hard training efforts paid off. Last year's Rookie Class team won big time in the A Class and posted two Dutch records on the way.

The first Whoops record is the highscore for a single round. Whoops raised the bar with an impressive 23-pointer in Round 8 (N-A-F). The team's 14.2 average was also a new Dutch record. The previous record wasn't that old. Mind Your Step, now competing in the AA Class, set it at our Nationals last year.

Team Yottsu! did some solid jumping as well and took the silver medals in the A Class. The real A Class battle took place for the bronze medals. Never the Same, Habanero and A.I.R. were chaising each other back and fourth during the meet. It was exciting to watch this race. In the end, Never the Same won the bronze medals, as the team did last year.

The 2007 season is the first year for the AA Class in Holland. Only one team was competing in the new category, Mind your Step. After a nervous start, the team recovered and showed us some nice flying. We are all curious to see how their 9.4 average will stand in comparison to the rest of the world.

The AAA Class competition did not bring big surprises for me. Dynamic Force did some really impressive flying considering that they have not been together very long. They won with a 17.2 average, which stands for a new Dutch record, as well, and it was the first meet for this lineup. Dynamic Force left the rest of the field in the dust and is surely a great promise for the future!

The experienced 50/50 lineup performed well and did not give away any points. Pulse was surprisingly close to 50/50. Pulse had posted an 11.4 average at the Tomscat Trophy in 2006. This year, the team was hoping to finish with a 14-point average and raised the team's bar to a 14.9 average after the nine rounds. The Pulse members were very pleased with the results.

We are looking back at a wonderful meet. The circumstances for the teams were far from perfect. Lots of wind, cold temperatures, rain, landings far from the DZ - you name it. The teams dealt with it in an excellent way. There were no injuries at all since everybody kept it safe and was focused. The result of this is the highest scoring level in all categories that we have ever seen here.