posted Apr 27th, 2015 - The 5-team delegation of the Czech Republic at the World Challenge 2015 brought up another interesting aspect of the biggest 4-way competition in the world.

There were teams from 20 different nations in Bedford, and the Sun Path Products NSL News took a closer look at all delegations. Five countries (Qatar - Tigers, Estonia - Lupus, Mauretaina - Tenanines, South Africa - Jazz Republic, Spain - Lahottia) were represented by one team only, while all other 15 countries had more than one team in Bedford. Of course, the UK delegation was by far the biggest one with 38 teams.

The Sun Path Products NSL News applied the scoring system of the European Skydiving League championship to find out how the 20 different countries and their delegations compared to each other in the rankings.

World Challenge 2015				Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class			15,K,E,F	11,22,A	16,H,M,19	3,10,D	17,18,P	4,12,O	5,N,L,G	14,B,C,20	2,1,21	J,Q,6,13	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	10	40	24	32	25	29	26	38	30	24	33	301	30.1
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	8	36	24	28	22	28	23	34	26	23	29	273	27.3
3	Weembi Lille	FR	6	36	20	31	25	23	23	31	29	21	29	268	26.8
4	Gavroche	FR	5	34	23	30	23	25	23	32	27	22	24	263	26.3
1	Golden Knights	US	4	34	21	28	21	25	22	33	27	23	28	262	26.2
5	Thunder ISR	BE	3	35	21	29	23	27	21	28	24	22	27	257	25.7
6	SportLoto	RU	2	36	23	30	21	24	21	32	22	23	22	254	25.4
7	Artemis Saumur	FR	1	33	21	28	22	23	21	29	27	19	27	250	25.0
Rank	AA Class			6,H,1	22,9	P,D,E,K	18,Q,13	J,G,21	O,A,N,15	14,11	B,8,2	C,7,20	4,19	Total	Avg
1	Chatterchicks	UK	10	16	17	28	13	17	20	14	17	17	13	172	17.2
2	Dubai Asaar Red	AE	8	16	14	22	14	17	18	13	17	16	15	162	16.2
3	Blue Rebels	GR	6	15	17	21	14	18	19	12	14	17	12	159	15.9
4	Equinox	LT	5	15	15	23	11	15	19	11	13	16	14	152	15.2
5	No Mercy	PL	4	16	13	22	12	17	16	12	12	10	12	142	14.2
6	AirRush	DK	3	11	13	20	11	15	15	9	12	12	11	129	12.9
7	Team Pointless	UK	2	12	13	19	10	11	15	10	12	13	10	125	12.5
8	Fr4gment	UK	1	12	12	16	11	15	17	6	11	11	10	121	12.1
Rank	A Class			O,L,Q	4,21	P,F,H	K,J,E	N,M,B	C,2	19,A	G,D,6	8,9	7,8	Total	Avg
1	Flyspot Chicks	PL	10	25	12	35	25	31	16	15	15	14	15	203	20.3
2	PB FIRE	CZ	8	23	14	29	24	30	12	13	16	14	13	188	18.8
3	Team Rudi ZR	BE	6	22	13	27	27	17	13	14	15	14	15	177	17.7
4	Funzies	DK	5	19	15	22	17	24	13	12	16	14	13	165	16.5
5	Vossvind Girls	NO	4	19	14	22	21	22	14	11	13	11	13	160	16.0
6	Brebe	IT	3	18	12	19	18	21	13	11	15	12	12	151	15.1
7	Brain Storming	IT	2	13	10	25	17	22	11	11	12	10	11	142	14.2
8	Sapphire	IE	1	17	11	22	18	23	9	7	12	11	11	141	14.1
Rank	Rookie			C,O,A	F,B,N	E,P,L	K,D,Q	J,H,M	G,E,C	H,N,J	B,M,F	O,K,G	P,Q,D	Total	Avg
1	Flying Circus	CZ	10	18	26	19	19	23	20	22	45	15	24	231	23.1
2	Jetmax	BE	8	20	19	16	10	25	15	19	38	18	19	199	19.9
3	Blackhawk	UK	6	12	22	14	10	18	11	16	35	5	20	163	16.3
4	Skyfall	IE	5	11	16	11	10	19	14	12	31	14	10	148	14.8
5	ChatterChaps	UK	4	10	17	13	9	15	7	11	19	11	12	124	12.4
6	Velocity	UK	3	7	14	9	10	13	7	16	21	10	8	115	11.5
7	Lahottia	ES	2	9	10	4	6	11	9	10	17	10	10	96	9.6
8	Staunch Jades	UK	1	4	11	8	7	13	8	7	19	8	10	95	9.5

The UK delegation used their massive presence to come out on top of the delegations' leaderboard, with seven teams adding their ranking scores in only two of the four categories (AA - Rookie).

Belgium had a completely different approach with the same result of 27 ranking points. Five Belgian teams competed in four of the five categories, and four of them contributed to the total ranking score. Only Les Stunts, Belgium's national 4-way team in 4-way Women, could not add to the Belgian total since the AAA Class teams were all on the same leaderboard, as the scoring system applies the same way at the ESL Championship.

The other three categories (AA - A - Rookie) neither separate 4-way teams by gender, and Les Stunts ended up without ranking points on the combined AAA Class leaderboard. NMP-PCH Hayabusa and Thunder ISR scored for Belgium in the AAA Class, Team Rudi added six points in the A Class, and Jetmax completed the Belgian total of 27 points with the 2nd place in the Rookie Class.

World Challenge 2015 - National Delegations
Rank	Countries	Teams	Total
1	Belgium	5	27
1	United Kingdom	38	27
3	Czech Republic	5	18
4	Poland	2	14
5	United States	2	12
5	France	3	12
7	Denmark	4	8
7	United Arab Emirates	2	8
9	Ireland	3	6
9	Greece	1	6
11	Italy	2	5
11	Lithuania	1	5
13	Norway	1	4
14	Russia	2	2
14	Spain	1	2

The Hayabusa/Thunder combination outscored the US delegation in the AAA Class (SDC Rhythm XP/Golden Knights) by one point, and the three French teams matched the total of the two US teams.

The Czech delegation had two teams in the 5th category (4-way Women), as well, who did not count for the rankings scoring, HF Chicks and CZ Ladies. The third Czech AAA Class team, the Bad Boys, could neither contribute to the delegation's total number of ranking points. However, the Czech delegation needed only two teams in top positions to place 3rd, PB Fire (A) and Flying Circus (Rookie).

The efficiency and competition experience of the Belgian delegation won the tied 1st place in the special rankings. Team Rudi attended the ISR Grand Prix events in the last three years, and Jetmax did the same in 2013 and 2014. Belgium might have a good chance to take the "ESL Spirit" award away from the UK delegation this year...