Five 8-way teams descended on Hibaldstow, sadly finding somewhat windier weather than for the 4-way Nationals, but they still completed the competition on the Monday. Reigning champions MicroClim8 had won all but one Nationals since 2010, but they were fighting a season of line-up changes and next to no raining with only three training jumps in their final line-up! A last-minute shuffle moved usual cameraflyer Phil Hartree into the formation and brought NFTO’s cameraflyer Simon Brentford in to film. Their 10.2 average was still enough to comfortably take the gold medal – the second in two weeks for Simon.
Silver went to Groomed, who are off to the World Cup in Eloy in October and are feeling confident after having increased their average since last year to 8.8. Skywars: The Funnel Menace scored a respectable 8.0 average for bronze while Tardy took fourth place.
In Intermediate, Blame 8 On The Bootie came back for more, having got a taste for 8-way at last year’s Nationals. They registered for the 2018 competition with five minutes to spare and, despite being a scratch team, beat two other teams to win the gold medal. This year they have stayed together, trained and moved up a category – and were rewarded with a 60% increase in their average and another gold medal!
Out of all the many FS competitors who are now getting ready for the World Cup in Eloy, two will be achieving something quite special. This will be Emily Sugars’ second World Cup of the year. As well as being on 8-way team Groomed, she also competed at the CF World Cup in Romania with the VelociWraptors. Meanwhile, Joe Mann will be filming 4-way team Alola in the Eloy World Cup in October, then heading to South Africa to compete in the CP World Cup in November. Two World Cups in two different disciplines on two different continents in two consecutive months is not a bad way to end the year!
Photos: MicroClim8 presentation by Martin Martinez / MicroClim8 in formation by James Stevenson
First published in the October 2019 issue of Skydive the Mag.
