posted Feb 16th, 2008 - The Valentine's Meet 2008 got to a late start on Saturday morning after bad weather kept the teams on the ground in the morning. The first scores will be posted as soon as they become available. Shannon Pilcher, who works with the Canadian national team Evolution in Eloy, reported on the phone that Airspeed Odyssey scored 21 points in Round 1. Perris Fury completed 20 points in time, lost four points in the judging room and had a 16-pointer on the scoreboard. Evolution had to accept two penalties and got 15 points as the officil score.

The NSL News uses the time until more scores will be available to introduce another Russian team that competes this weekend at the Valentine's Meet and has also signed up for the World Challenge 2008 at the end of March.

Kaktus Hunter got together as a team in August 2006. The original lineup consisted of Andrei Kharitonov, Anna Panasyuk, Egor Gusev, Katya Kharitonova and videographer Oksana Kluyeva. The team started preparing for the UPSA Nationals 2006 where it planned to compete as a guest team.

However, for personal reasons Andrei Kharitonov could not make the trip to the 2006 training camp in Eloy. He was temporarily replaced by Sergei Romanyuk, who was a member of the former Russian 8-way team "Evolution Pro". Kaktus Hunter with the high-profile alternate made approx. 100 training jumps and spent four hours in the Arizona windtunnel. The USPA Nationals 2006 was the first competition for Kaktus Hunter, and the team posted a 12.3 average in the AAA/Open Class competition.

The original lineup with Andrei Kharitonov decided to continue in 2007 and made plans to compete at the World Challenge 2007 in April and the Russian Nationals 2007 in August. Goal was to reach the 15.0 average benchmark. By that time, the new windtunnel in Moscow, "Freezone Moscow", was operational, and the team spent quite a few hours there last year. The results of the training were obvious, Kaktus Hunter finished in 6th place at the Russian Nationals 2007 with a 16.0 average.

After the Valentine's Meet 2008, the team will be competing at the World Challenge 2008 at Bodyflight Bedford, the Russian Nationals 2008 in June and the Russian Cup 2008 in August. Team member Egor Gusev explained to the NSL News that the Russian Cup is probably the most competitive event for his team in 2008:

"The Russian Nationals have been scheduled too early this year for most of the teams. It will be just a pre-season event for Kaktus Hunter. The Russian Nationals 2008 have been scheduled so early since the event will determine the Russian national 4-way team for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in France. For the majority of the middle-class teams, this is a very early date. The Russian Cup in August will be the season-end event."

Outside Center Andrei Kharitonov is the most experienced team member with over 3000 jumps and ten years in the sport. He serves as the team's player coach. He also participated in the world record 400-way. His previous team commitments were with Kolomna Quik Blu (17.0 average at the Malevsky Cup 2005) and Synairgy (18.3 average at the Malevsky Cup 2006). He has worked as a coach with several other Russian teams.

Andrei Kharitonov's sister is also a Kaktus Hunter. Katya Kharitonova flies the Point position and is the youngest team member with her little over 1000 jumps. She has been in the sport for only two years, but she has obviously a very good coach in her family...

Anna Panasyuk is the Tail for Kaktus Hunter and has over 2000 jumps. She has been in the sport for seven years and was also in the 400-way world record. Two of her seven years in the sport she spent with the Ladybirds, the Russian female 4-way team of 2005 and 2006.

The Ladybirds with Anna Panasyuk reached their peak with a 17.2 average at the Russian Nationals 2006. Then they represented Russia at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2006 a few weeks later in Germany and ended up tied in 3rd place with the US team Elsinore Select. They eventually won the bronze medals after five completed rounds and application of IPC's tie-breaking rules.

Kaktus Hunter's Center Inside Egor Gusev has 1700 jumps after four years in the sport. He won the silver medals in the AA Class competition of the Russian Nationals 2006 with Quatro Plus. Team videographer Oksana Klyueva has 1700 jumps and seven years in the sport. She was a freeflyer and skysurfer before she committed to film Kaktus Hunter.

Egor Gusev and Katya Kharitonova, the team members on the lowest level of 4-way experience, have been training a lot with Arizona Airspeed members in Eloy, Arizona. They completed five 4-way camps in the last two years with Andy Delk, Mark Kirkby, Brian Johnson, Andy Honigbaum, Todd Hawkins, Gary Bayer and Thomas Hughes. It seems to be well worth to pay attention to the progression of this lineup.