posted Aug 2nd, 2017 - The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 16 August 2016 that the DeLand Norgies had missed the national championships last year. However, there was no reason to worry, as original team member Lise Nansen promised that this would not be the end of the team career: "We shall never surrender..."

She was right. The Norgies were able to coordinate their schedules better this year, and they won their national 4-way gold medals once again in July, together with recent team videographer Johan Bryhni.

The 1st place in 4-way earned the 50th national gold medal for point Pål Kolbenstvedt who won the first one in 1994 with his previous team.

The Norgies also invited their friends and family once again to join their 8-way lineup. Esben Evensen, Nicolai Nansen, Kjetil Nordin and Ditta Valsdottir followed the call, and Pål Kolbenstvedt pocketed his 51st Norwegian gold medal.

Norwegian Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	7,M,D,5	C,16,2	P,4,J,G	A,22,O,3	F,11,9	6,21,17	B,14,19	L,H,E,12	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Norgies	22	17	21	15	21	17	17	17	147	18.4
2	Humlesus	11	9	11	9	11	9	8	13	81	10.1
3	New Swingers	8	9	11	8	9	7	8	10	70	8.8
4	3040 FS2020	7	7	8	7	6	7	7	7	56	7.0
Rank	A Class	G,F,E	L,D,6	21,Q	N,O,B	J,8	4,A	7,K	H,M,2	Total	Avg
1	Skummulus Nimbus	19	11	9	13	7	9	-	-	68	11.3
2	Humlesnurr	15	7	9	12	9	7	-	-	59	9.8
3	Bananaramas	8	7	7	11	8	7	-	-	48	8.0
4	Random Swingers Force FS2020	5	5	3	7	5	5	-	-	30	5.0
5	Humlerekrutt	1	4	6	7	4	4	-	-	26	4.3
6	Team One Skal	3	3	2	2	1	1	-	-	12	2.0
7	AFF Level 8	2	1	1	3	1	0	-	-	8	1.3

The Norgies did not have much competition, neither in 4-way nor in 8-way. 8-way Norgie Kjetil Nordin, who trains and competes mostly in Denmark, said that there is not too much excitement these days in Norwegian Formation Skydiving competition:

"In a small country like Norway, we are used to that some positions are as good as granted before we even start."

That counts especially when the Norgies are visiting for their reunions in both Formation Skydiving events.

The 8-way lineup also included Ditta Valsdottir, who won a bronze medal for Norway in 4-way Women when the Norgies won their last world meet bronze medal in 2003.

She continued with Arcteryx, Norway's next national 4-way team between 2004 and 2009. Arcteryx even managed to outscore the DeLand Norgies a few times at their reunions at national championships.

The DeLand Norgies competed in 4-way AAA/Open this year, while the three 8-way teams used an AA/Intermediate class dive pool.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24	25	35	26	19	22	27	39	23	22	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	23	31	26	18	22	27	40	23	23	254	25.4
3	France	FR	21	20	30	21	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8
4	Black Cat	RU	22	20	30	24	17	21	24	33	21	19	231	23.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	20	30	24	17	20	23	36	17	18	226	22.6
6	Evolution	CA	20	18	29	24	16	18	23	32	18	16	214	21.4
7	Satori XL	UK	18	19	27	24	16	18	22	30	18	18	210	21.0
8	Airbus	DE	16	18	29	19	15	18	22	29	14	19	199	19.9
9	Savolo	ZA	15	15	25	19	14	15	16	28	17	15	179	17.9
10	Final Fire	AT	16	15	25	17	12	16	18	29	17	13	178	17.8

The performance level of the Norgies is still as impressive as it has always been, even though the team members hardly make more than a handful of training jumps together. This year's 18.4 average is not far from the level (19.1) where the Norgies won their first world meet bronze medals in 1999.

It does not only hold up well with the medal level of 1999. The same 18.4 average would still be strong enough to make it to the Top 10 at a recent FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving. In fact, the Norgies would have taken the 9th place at the FAI Mondial 2016, ahead of Savolo and Final Fire, disregarding the different competition draws.

There are not many 4-way or 8-way competitors around any longer who competed at the world meet in 1999 and are still active on the top level. Satori XL members Pete Allum and John McIver might be the only ones, and they are once again pursuing the bronze medal level with a British team.

They were was the toughest bronze medal challengers of the Norgies between 1999 and 2003 with Sebastian XL. Pete Allum eventually won bronze with Sinapsi PD for Italy in 2006. Satori XL, now with three XL members of 2003 (Pete Allum, John McIver, Steve Hamilton), is probably one of the underdogs for a medal position in Australia 2018. The DeLand Norgies could easily qualify as the national team for Norway at the same event...

FAI World Meet 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		9,24,A	O,M,2,Q	14,P,11	19,3,15	N,8,12	C,1,E,20	K,23,17	B,16,21	L,22,J,7	G,5,6	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge	FR	23	23	18	19	18	24	21	21	21	20	208	20.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	16	17	26	19	19	20	19	202	20.2
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	21	23	16	17	16	23	20	19	20	16	191	19.1
4	Sebastian XL	UK	21	23	16	17	17	23	18	17	20	18	190	19.0
5	Russia	RU	22	20	13	16	16	17	18	17	18	15	172	17.2
6	Australia	AU	20	21	15	15	14	19	17	17	15	16	169	16.9
7	Daedalus	DE	18	18	13	13	14	18	15	14	16	16	155	15.5