posted Jan 4th, 2010 - The upcoming 4-way event in Dubai, reported by the NSL News on 27 December 2009, also includes a competition in IPC's female category.

Both categories have the same jackpot of $45,000 USD for the first three places (15,000 - 10,000 - 10,000). 14 teams are registered for the Open Class, four teams for the female competition. Only one female team will leave Dubai without any cash in the pockets.

The first NSL News preview already introduced the top contenders in the Open Class, which will guarantee an exciting race. The competition in the female category will probably not be as exciting as in the Open Class. French World Cup winner Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge has no competition and will walk away with the $20,000. The only interesting question is the team's first meet average of the 2010 season.

There is another team in Dubai though that also competed with Deep Blue at the World Cup. Germany's national team Chicas is traveling to Dubai and will probably bring back the $15,000 for the 2nd place. The Chicas won the silver medals in Prostejov with a 16.3 average.

There could be a questionmark behind the easy road to the 2nd place though. Spain and Morocco have the other two female teams that have signed up for the Dubai meet, and Spain's Gatas are not new to international 4-way competition.

The Spanish female lineup competed at the World Meet 2008 in France and ended up far behind the Chicas. However, two years have gone by, the team is still there, and no Spanish scores were on the World Cup's leaderboard last year.

At the same time, the German Chicas have a personnel change. Nina Kuebler, the driving force of the 2009 season, has left the team. The Chicas found an experienced competitor to replace her. It will still be difficult for the German national team to maintain the scoring level of the 2009 season without much preparation.

The new Chicas member, Antje Prochnow, was already a member of the German national 4-way team in the female category in 2005/2006 but missed the World Meet on home turf due to an injury. She came back as a member of the German Open Class team Final Four in 2007 and continued with pick up teams on a lower commitment level.

Finally, she became the alternate for the Chicas for the 2009 season without knowing that she would eventually have at least a meet slot soon. The first meet of the 2010 season in Dubai will now show her in action with the Chicas.

The future of Nina Kuebler's former Chicas slot is still open, as the team has not decided yet how to move on from here. The Dubai meet might serve as a tryout event for the lineup with Antje Prochnow.

The situation in Germany is interesting, as the bronze medalist of the World Cup 2009, Incognito Leutkirch, has disbanded. There are no new plans yet of the young team members. However, it is difficult to imagine that the German shooting star in the female category is done.

Nina Kuebler has already new plans, at least for the World Challenge 2010 where she has competed with Alpenglow in the past years. The Austrian lineup has already signed up for this year's event.