So Wembley was late, we didn’t make it to Europe in the football and the Olympic torch can’t even travel though London without embarrassing the country. It’s nice to see something going well in UK sport! The Bodyflight World challenge is fast becoming one of the highlights of the international skydiving calendar. Described as: “The most important competition for skydivers ever held in the UK” the weekend of the 29^th and 30^th of March didn’t disappoint.

 “This is the best competition I have ever competed at” says Steve Hamilton, team XL captain who ended only 2 points behind Airspeed in the nail biting 4-way final. "This has become THE competition. It is the most challenging meet there is." says 3 time gold medalist Craig Girard of Airspeed. Without a doubt for any serious 4-way team the Bodyflight World challenge is a must to attend, if only to see how you rank against other teams in advance of the summer’s world meet. For many of the UK teams who took part it is a rare opportunity to not only compete against some of the worlds best, but also to watch them up-close though Bodyflight’s new larger windows.

Image by Ross Dagley Cleworth

Craig Girard of Airspeed Odyssey: “It was a high level competition; we had the highest score we have ever done. The World Challenge is the most challenging mental competition; there is nothing in skydiving to compare with it. It’s a really important ability for every competitor to control the mind and have concentration. For us it is the better training for practice, for pressure, for nerves.” Bodyflight did nothing to play down the drama as the final 4-way rounds were shown in reverse order on the innovative DZTV system, which played the rounds on TV’s throughout the building. As each round was played and the scores announced the crowd in the hangar area waited with baited breath to find out who would claim the top 4 places.

Image by Ross Dagley Cleworth 

When it came to the 4^th and 3^rd place results, a battle between US team Perris Fury and Norway’s national team Arcteryx, the rounds were played at the same time in split screen. As the scores counted up Arcteryx pulled ahead by a point, only to be caught by eventual bronze medallists Perris Fury. The competition for 1^st place was much closer. As teams Airspeed Odyssey and half British half American team XL had both gone into the final with the same score, it really did all depend on the final round. Again the rounds were played at the same time in split screen, leaving a hushed crowd holding its breath as the two teams seemed to pace themselves point for point.

The biggest of cheers went out as Airspeed finally pulled ahead by 2 points, claiming the gold medal for the third year in a row and claiming the massive £5000 1st prize.

Image by 90% magazine 

In the Free Fly AAA category favourites Bodyflight Mamba didn’t disappoint, as they performed a near flawless routine to wow the judges and claim the £5000 top prize and gold medals. Volaikix came a close second winning a not too shabby £3000, closely followed by Norwegian team Skywalkers.

The competition was not only for adults however, Team future, Aeon and Gerontius and Jupiter all had younger members who only tunnel fly as they are not old enough to jump.

Image by John Williams 

“Children fly at the tunnel regularly on gift vouchers or on school trips, it is fantastic to see some of them coming back to train and turning into the skydivers of tomorrow” says Bodyflight MD paul Mayer. “The standard of some of these young flyers is just gob smacking”

For those who missed out on this years competition don’t worry, the dates for next years has already been set as the 4^th and 5^th of April. Applications will open very soon, watch this space!

Check out www.worldchallenge.info for full scoreboards and more photos of the event.