posted Dec 31st, 2010 - The recent previews of the Dubai Championship 2011 need another correction.

Arizona Airspeed's Center Outside Craig Girard informed the NSL News that Mark Kirkby will not be available next week. His new Airspeed lineup is in training, and the trip to Dubai would interfere with the new Airspeed plans.

Craig Girard, Eliana Rodriguez and Andy Delk found a good substitute for the Airspeed lineup in Dubai though.

Former Airspeed Point John Eagle will take Mark Kirkby's Tail slot. John Eagle has been flying the Tail slot for Paraclete XP4 in 2009 and 2010 and knows what to do in the rear piece.

The new Airspeed lineup creates another reunion in Dubai. Craig Girard and John Eagle have spent a lot of time together in their skydiving careers and go back to the days when both joined Arizona Airspeed in 1995.

They were team mates in 4-way and 8-way when Airspeed had probably the most dominating position in its history. They competed in 4-way with Airspeed's second lineup Vortex when they came to Arizona and then together won the first USPA 8-way title for Airspeed in 1998.

The following time period between 1999 and 2001 was pure success for Craig Girard and John Eagle. They won 8-way gold medals for Airspeed at the World Meet 1999 and USPA silver medals in 4-way. Then they were promoted to become Airspeed's first 4-way lineup when Jack Jefferies, Dan BC and Kirk Verner stepped back at the end of the 1999 season. Mark Kirkby continued, and Neal Houston completed the new Airspeed Vertical lineup.

Vertical with Craig Girard and John Eagle won gold in 4-way and 8-way at the World Cup and the USPA Nationals of 2000, then 4-way gold at the World Meet 2001 and silver in 8-way, double gold again at the USPA Nationals 2001.

Things changed in 2002 when Airspeed Vertical lost to the Golden Knights at the USPA Nationals. Airspeed still won the 8-way competition, and Craig Girard and John Eagle added another 8-way silver medal to their collections after the dramatic tie breaker with Russia for the 1st place at the World Meet 2003.

The 2002 season also brought Eliana Rodriguez into the picture. She trained and competed with Craig Girard and John Eagle in Airspeed's 8-way lineup in 2002 and 2003 after moving from Florida to Arizona.

Airspeed won the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2003, but Vertical ended up in 3rd place behind DeLand Majik and the Golden Knights in 4-way. It was time to take a break for John Eagle, and Airspeed won the 8-way gold medals in Croatia 2004 without him.

Round 10 at the USPA Nationals 2003 was the last time that Craig Girard and John Eagle competed together in 4-way or 8-way. John Eagle did neither come back in 2004 nor in 2005. The 2006 season brought him back to Formation Skydiving competition on a very light level. He was in Paraclete XP's 8-way lineup at the USPA Nationals.

Then his pace slowly and steadily increased. A year later, he competed in 8-way with Ace and re-joined with Airspeed and Craig Girard in 10-way and 16-way. He came back with a more serious Paraclete 8-way lineup for the USPA Nationals 2008 and joined again the Airspeed fun in 10-way and 16-way.

USPA Nationals 2003 4-Way Open
Rank	Team Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TOT	AVG
1	DeLand Majik	26	19	17	32	23	20	21	19	19	17	213	21.30
2	Golden Knights Gold	26	18	19	32	23	21	19	17	19	17	211	21.10
3	Arizona Airspeed Vertical	27	18	17	34	18	19	21	19	18	19	210	21.00

Finally, he also competed in 4-way again. A4C brought together a group of highly experienced 4-way competitors (John Eagle, John Hamilton, Todd Hawkins, Eric Heinsheimer) at the USPA Nationals. John Eagle also competed with Paraclete in 8-way and with Airspeed in 10-way and 16-way.

Paraclete then made serious plans in 4-way, and John Eagle's 2010 story with XP4 has been well covered by the NSL News. He took the Tail slot in 2010, and the NSL News recently reported that he will go back to the Point position for XP4 in 2011.

Now he still has one more meet in the Tail slot. Craig Girard will not be his piece partner in Dubai, as he was between 1995 and 2003. His 8-way team mate of 2002 and 2003, Eliana Rodriguez, has been the Airspeed 4-way Point ever since. His Tail training with XP4 makes it easy for him to leave the Point slot to Eliana Rodriguez and the front piece intact. He will fly the rear piece together with Andy Delk. They have a good reason for beer - it's a first time together for them in 4-way.

The Dubail polls are open again...

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