posted Apr 10th, 2013 - The Fun Flag had not made it from Canada to the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2013. However, it was at Bodyflight Bedford for the World Challenge 2013, as the NSL News reported on 4 April 2013.

It was not really flying as usually at the outdoor meets since host Paul Mayer once again played his own game with it. He makes it visible on the DZ-TV screens with hints of the location where it can be found.

The World Challenge 2012 was the first time that the Fun Flag made it to Bedford, and the game was the same as this year - different. It created the same fun though and went through different ownerships. Eventually it ended up with a group of female UK and US competitors last year and crossed the ocean for the first and not the last time in 2012.

Eclipse	SonicNutz

The Fun Flag events this year turned out to the advantage of another British player. AAA Class team Eclipse provided the NSL News with evidence that the Fun Flag was in UK possession at the end of the meet.

Eclipse deserves to own the flag for a little while. The UK team started in the A Class of 2010 with the same lineup as this year and moved up into the AA Class a year later. The 2012 season was the first Eclipse year in the AAA Class competition.

The second AAA Class year could not have started much better for Jenny Buckle, Martin Cressey, Jonny Flowers, Ben Lawford. Last weekend's 18.0 average clearly beats the 15.2 at the World Challenge 2012 by a lot. Five UK teams placed ahead of Eclipse (33rd) last year and only one at the World Challenge 2013 (15th). Eclipse had a serious battle with SonicNutz for the highest UK ranking in the AAA Open Class.

World Challenge 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Open Class	O,E,J,K,3	M,Q,A,14	4,6,16	8,18,N	H,19,12	2,7,13	11,C,P,9	15,D,10	L,F,17,G	20,1,22	Total	Avg
14	SonicNutz (UK)	29	22	17	18	16	13	22	19	17	14	187	18.7
15	Eclipse (UK)	22	25	15	16	15	17	19	15	22	14	180	18.0
19	Escondido (UK)	22	24	14	15	17	16	16	13	21	13	171	17.1
26	Hyrrokkin (UK)	19	21	13	13	13	14	18	15	19	10	155	15.5
30	Anti Matter (UK)	17	21	11	12	12	12	19	13	15	13	145	14.5
31	Festina Lente (UK)	15	23	11	12	13	12	17	13	17	10	143	14.3
33	Finger Puppet Mafia (UK)	17	19	13	11	14	13	17	8	17	9	138	13.8
34	SAVoA (UK)	18	19	12	11	12	13	13	12	16	10	136	13.6
35	Gurt Lush (UK)	18	19	10	11	13	12	17	9	15	8	132	13.2
37	Nuevo (UK)	15	19	8	10	12	12	13	11	12	9	121	12.1

SonicNutz had Claire 'Sparky' Scott in this year's lineup for the World Challenge. She is a 3-time world champion for the United Kingdom in the female 4way category and had her second baby at the beginning of the year. Husband Andy Scott, former national 8way competitor and manager of the UK Skydiving League, was in Bedford for babysitting services.

Hyrrokin, with Katie Woods' brother James in the lineup, is following a very similar pattern as Eclipse. The young UK team won the AA Class competition in 2012 and has now moved up into the AAA Class competition with a slightly different lineup. The 15.5 average in the AAA Class is almost identical with Eclipse in the first AAA Class year.

The 2013 outdoor season of the UK Skydiving League begins with the first competition on May 11th. Eclipse had a 12.7 average at last year's national championships as the highest result. That will be history soon, and the Fun Flag may fly outside again too...