posted Aug 1st, 2007 - The British A Class team Monkey Magic is the next team in the series of UK Grand Prix team profiles. Monkey Magic is an all-female line-up with Rai Ahmed, Viki Bingham, Jo Hawley and Zuz Tillner. Billy Payne and Yo Lee are filming the team.

The A Class team won the June meet (9.5) by one single point over team Qi and was a contender for silver medals at the July meet (8.3) where Sonic V took the first place.

A Class - Monkey Magic

How did the team come about? Tell us a bit about your history.

Monkey Magic came together in April 2007. Myself, outside centre, and Jo, point, were part of a rookie team last year (Aether). Unfortunately the team decided to go separate ways (finances and injuries). However, myself and Jo decided that we wanted to plod on and be on a girlie team. Zuz flew camera for us last year in the 8-way and 16-way competitions that we did in 2006 and wanted to concentrate on her 4-way after having done rookies too and joined us as our inside centre. Viki had just got back from Thailand late last year and felt like taking part in a team if we shared the same goals, thankfully she did and is our tail. As a team I think we've got nearly 1700 jumps between us.

What are your goals for this year?

To beat our rookie average of 10 points from last year.

Where and how often do you train?

Monkey Magic are vagrants! Geographically we are from all over the country, so we have tried to choose drop zones round the country that will ease the journey for one or the other team member. Langar, Sibson, Weston are our UK drop zones. As a team we formed quite late, so training wise we have had to accommodate on dates that we could train. We chose 7 weekends for training and tried to fit our tunnel time around the back of the weekends or during the week. We've also had a training week away in Seville with Pete Allum, who helped enormously with our technique and approach to 4-way generally. We've been very lucky this year to have so many people coach us, sometimes inadvertently! Milko, the Wingnutz boys, including Chris Hollis, to name a few!

How do you think the season is going so far?

It's been an interesting season. After competing at the Langar GP we realised we had some potential. Following that we had the Hibaldstow GP, and we realised that we still had the technique but were not the most synchronous of teams. We've been working on this so that we can realise our full potential at nationals, fingers (and toes) crossed ;-) The A Class is the most contested category this season, with some very good teams that are all very close points wise, makes for a very interesting competition!

What is it about 4-way that makes you compete?

4-way is great. It leaves room for individual skills to grow in a team environment. It's also working within that team as well and understanding those limitations. We've all competed in other areas of relative work, such as 8-way or 16 way and have done big-ways with varying degrees of success. Jo's even a bit of a crew dog! And then there's Zuz with her love of camera work... However, 4-way is where it's at for us at the moment!

What do you think of the NSL concept of teams all doing the same global draw?

The NSL concept is a fantastic idea, it gives you a good idea of how good you are relative to those around the world. Getting the highest score for a last round in a competition in the UK is great, but to beat the rest of Europe too, now that's fabulous!

As a team, how do you find the 4-way scene in the UK? Is FS still as popular as it has been recently?

We've only really been in the sport for a max of 5 years and only been competing for 2 years. The 4-way scene in the UK is even more popular now than it was. We believe that the advent of the tunnel brought on a lot of teams last year, but this has now evened itself out this season. Relative work in general is still as popular, you just have to look at the Rookie Class teams that have competed so far this season, most are competing for a laugh and then realising that they have the ability to medal!

What do you think the future holds for your team?

The Monkeys will be around next year in some shape or other...world domination?! On a serious note, we will move onto AA Class competition, learn some more blocks, flying each other around the sky and hopefully have a few laughs while doing it!

Any words of advice for 4-way teams starting out or junior to yourselves?

Individual skills are important and shouldn't be forgotten. Have fun with it, but make sure you're all on the same page and are all prepared to make the same level of commitment whatever that may be.

Finally, tell us something not many people know about your team!

We all own matching jumpsuits but refuse to wear them!