posted Apr 15th, 2017 - Once again, the Czech 4-way teams who competed at the World Challenge 2017 did not get much rest before it was time for the next 10-round meet.

The competition in Bedford was over on Saturday, and Sunday was travel day for most of the teams, including the Czech delegation, which consisted of five teams this time. Monday and Tuesday were work or school days before four of the teams gathered again at the Hurricane Factory for the April meet of the Czech part of the World Tunnel League.

The Sun Path Products NSL News published a preview of the Czech trip to Bedford on 3 April 2017, after Jan Klapka had submitted the scores and videos for the Indoor Cloud League March leaderboard. The story mentioned that the highest Czech AAA Class average at a World Challenge in Bedford was the 19.1 that the HF Chicks had posted at the World Challenge 2015. HF Flying Circus seemed to have the potential to set a new Czech standard for the meet in Bedford.

The young Czech AAA Class team lived up to the expectations and finished just one point short of the 20-average benchmark with a new 19.9 team record average, which is now the new Czech highscore in Bedford. The Sun Path Products NSL News had the opportunity to introduce HF Flying Circus to the audience on World Challenge Live TV, together with Czech 4-way Godfather Jan Klapka.

World Tunnel League April 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		6,10,18	17,8,N	O,20,21	16,K,22	15,14,A	1,J,5	12,9,B	E,H,4,P	2,C,11	L,19,D,3	Total	Avg
1	Bad Boys	CZ	16	21	21	19	20	19	20	28	20	21	205	20.5
2	HF Chicks	CZ	16	21	19	18	18	19	20	21	18	18	188	18.8
3	HF Flying Circus	CZ	14	19	19	17	18	18	18	24	18	20	185	18.5
4	CZ Ladies	CZ	13	17	16	15	16	15	16	22	15	16	161	16.1
5	DeLand Kickers	US	14	15	17	14	16	15(-1)	15(-1)	23	14	16	159	15.9
5	Blue Steel	US	13	17	16(-1)	10	17	15	17	23	14	17	159	15.9
7	ZEUS 3.2	US	12	14	14	13	15	15	16	18	14	9(-1)	140	14.0
8	Accord	CZ	8	10	13	9	11	8	12	13	11	11	106	10.6

The 10-round WTL meet last Wednesday was the 5th 10-round competition for HF Flying Circus in the AAA Class this year. The Czech team sprinted through all four outdoor categories (Rookie - A - AA - AAA) in little over two years since the team project was launched in September 2014.

Last Wednesday's WTL meet brought all other Czech AAA Class teams back together. Bad Boys, HF Chicks and CZ Ladies did not make the trip to Bedford this year, even though Jan Klapka and his wife Jirina Klapkova provided guidance and coaching for the three 4-way junior teams (HF Cubs - HF Flies - HF Blue).

Flying Circus had to accept once again the seniority of Bad Boys and HF Chicks, even though the distance to both teams was closer than ever. Only three points separated Flying Circus from HF Chicks, and it seems to be only a matter of time when the young team will end up in the Czech top spot. The Czech indoor winter season is over now, and HF Flying Circus will have to complete the 2017 outdoor season before facing the HF Chicks again at the Hurricane Factory. However, there will be a face-off between father (Jan Klapka - Bad Boys) and son (Jakub Klapka - HF Flying Circus) this summer.

The four best Czech 4-way teams ended up in the Top 4 spots on the combined WTL leaderboard, where the CZ Ladies barely fended off the two best AAA Class teams in Florida by two points.

World Tunnel League April 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		6,G,M	8,N,A	O,20,21	K,22,P	15,14	1,J,7	9,B,F	E,H,4	2,C,11	L,19,18	Total	Avg
1	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	21	19	16	18	14	18	33	21	16	15	191	19.1
2	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	20	19	15	17	14	15	31	20	11	14	176	17.6
3	HF Junior Flies	CZ	17	14	10	10	14	16	28	16	12	10	147	14.7
4	Best of Relative	CZ	14	15	12	11	10	14	25	14	11	11	137	13.7

World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		F,G,D,P	9,J,18	E,7,M	19,13	4,L,8	2,21	C,14,20	1,K,O	A,6,11	N,B,H,Q	15,22	Total	Avg
1	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	29	17	29	14	16	16	13	20	17	35	-	206	20.6
2	Bahrain	BH	26	17	30	15	17	16	15	17	16	28	15	197	19.7
2	Alakran	ES	27	20	27	14	15	16	13	18	17	30	14	197	19.7
4	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	23	19	27	12	16	14	17	19	17	31	-	195	19.5
5	HF Junior Flies	CZ	23	14	25	15	13	13	11	16	15	23	-	168	16.8
6	Koloncok	HU	18	15	24	12	12	13	13	16	14	28	-	165	16.5
7	Tahma	FI	22	16	21	11	11	12	14	17	11	23	-	158	15.8
8	Zero!	IT	25	14	20	11	11	13	12	14	13	24	-	157	15.7
8	Brain Storming	IT	21	16	22	10	13	13	13	14	12	23	-	157	15.7
10	Salty Jacks	UK	16	16	22	10	11	13	12	14	13	23	-	150	15.0
11	Vantage	UK	18	13	17	10	13	12	12	14	12	22	-	143	14.3
12	Ballista	IE	19	12	18	11	9	10	10	14	13	22	-	138	13.8
13	Lobster Therma4	UK	17	11	14	9	11	10	10	14	10	20	-	126	12.6
14	Manticore	UK	17	12	19	8	9	11	8	12	8	21	-	125	12.5

The winner of the AA Class competition at the World Challenge 2017 has shared the Czech leaderboard at every single WTL meet this year, while Skydive University Slovakia is from a neighboring country. The team used the meets at the Hurricane Factory in Prague to collect competition experience, which obviously worked out perfectly.

The World Challenge was the 5th 10-round competition for Skydive University Slovakia this year. They still could not get enough of 4-way meets and visited Prague again last Wednesday to wrap up the winter season with the 1st place in the AA Class.

The HF Junior Cubs almost made it into the medal rankings at the World Challenge on the same leaderboard, as well. It was exciting to watch the four female 4-way teenagers moving closer to the medal positions round by round, beginning after Round 6.

The Cubs ended up two points behind the Bahrain and Alakran 4-way seniors both after Round 9, and they had to watch both teams going into an extra round for the silver medals. The 19.5 average in Bedford was the team's new record number and gets the Cubs once again closer to the medal level at the FAI Indoor World Meet later this year.

World Tunnel League April 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		6,G	8,N	O,21	K,P,M	F,A,Q	J,7	9,B	E,H,4	2,C	L,D,8	Total	Avg
1	Mimozemky	CZ	13	11	15	24	31	21	19	17	8	9	168	16.8
2	Mirek Team	CZ	13	10	16	21	30	17	18	12	11	10	158	15.8
3	Lukasz Team	PL	14	11	13	23	15	17	18	12	11	10	144	14.4
4	ZEUS 2.2	US	13	9(-1)	11	20	24(-1)	14(-1)	15(-1)	13	12	11	142	14.2
5	Z-Hills Tunnel L/D	US	9(-1)	8	9(-1)	16	19	14	16(-1)	11	10	10	122	12.2
6	HF Junior Blue	CZ	9	7	9	10	11	11	11	8	8	8	92	9.2