posted Jan 17th, 2018 - The World Challenge 2018 at Twinwoods Adventure in Bedford is once again offering something new this year. For the first time in the World Challenge history, teams will also have the opportunity to compete in 8-way while visiting Bedford.

The flying chambers of the larger wind tunnels in the world have become popular for 8-way training and competition, and host Paul Mayer has eventually added the event to the meet agenda of his 16-foot flying chamber, as well.

It did not take too long until the first two 8-way teams signed up for additional ten rounds. The 8-way competition is scheduled for Sunday after the completion of the 4-way competition on Friday and Saturday. This will allow the 4-way competitors to create pickup teams and add more flying time during the visit in Bedford.

The first 8-way combination of two 4-way teams is the international lineup of the Jazz Dragons. InTime owners Claire King and Dirk Venter are bringing their South African Jazz Republic to Bedford where they will first compete in 4-way and then follow up in 8-way. The other half of the 8-way lineup is Tenanine, with Moulay Abbas from Mauretania, Marco Arrigo from Italy and Mathieu Cannesson and Martial Ferre from France. Both teams have competed at the World Challenge before and join the first 8-way competition.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	Tempo	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Tahma	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Airbivores	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
Rank	4-way A Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	The Flying Penguins	RO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	One Shot	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
Rank	8-way AAA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	MicroClim8	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Jazz Dragons	INT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0

MicroClim8 is everything but a pickup team in 8-way competition. It's the British national 8-way team that has represented the country at the last world meets and will compete for Great Britain once again this year in Australia.

MicroClim8 2017 members Audrey Rowe and Jonny Flowers are not in the lineup for the World Challenge 2018, which will be the first indoor competition for the British 8-way team. Andy Pook is back who competed with the team at the FAI Mondial 2016. Kate Lindsley is completing the lineup.

The first preview leaderboard of the World Challenge 2018 is already shaping up for the AAA Class competition, as well.

There will be a separate set of medals and a leaderboard for the 4-way Women event at the beginning of the world meet year in Bedford, while Paul Mayer is once again inviting teams to compete in all other 4-way categories (AAA - AA - A - Rookie) as well.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	IFS-Moscow	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	ISR FireFlash	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Jazz Republic	ZA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Blackjack	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	White Squall	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Odin Parachute System	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Nova	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Le 4 Cretins	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Falco	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0
-	Barak	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0.0

IFS Moscow is on the top of the power rankings at the very beginning of the registration period. The Russian indoor experts finished in 7th place of the SKYLEAGUE.COM indoor world rankings last year and battled with Black Cat for the Russian national indoor title in December.

Both teams beat the 30+ benchmark for the first time at the Russian Indoor Nationals 2017, and IFS Moscow will be one of the medal contenders at the World Challenge 2018.

ISR FireFlash was aggressively working the Belgian way up towards the same level (21.6 - 24.2 - 27.3) throughout the first three indoor meets of the 2017 season. The complete lineup was not available at the Belgian Nationals where FireFlash scored lower at the end of the year.

It would be no big surprise if the FlyIn Machine 44 showed up on Sunday morning for the ten 8-way rounds...