posted Aug 12th, 2005 - The NSL News received scores from Russia. The national championship in 4-way has been completed last weekend, and the former Sky Panthers, newly named Black Cat, is the old and new Russian 4-way champion in 4-way. The 8-way competition was still on the way when Fyodor Mozgovoy, Malevsky Cup organizer and Lady Birds videographer, kindly provided the information.

The NSL News had covered the Russian 4-way competition, especially the problems surrounding the status of the Sky Panthers, with a story that was posted on July 6 after round six of the Malevsky Cup 2005 and explained the conflict of which team has the official status as the Russian national 4-way team.

The NSL News followed up with additional information within the story on July 18, which covered the World Games 2005. The Russian national championship of 2005 would be the final showdown between the two teams in the race for the Russian 4-way title, the status as the national team and the trip to the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2006 in Germany.

The Sky Panthers obviously had to change the team name and won the championship as the Black Cat team by two points over Extreme.RU in second place. It was a very tight competition between these two teams throughout round seven, after which they were tied in first place.

Black Cat was able to win two points each in rounds eight and nine for a 4-point lead going into the last round. Extreme.RU gave its best in a last effort to come back in round ten and reduced the deficit to two points. However, the Black Cat is the new Russian 4-way champion of 2005, and the NSL News will try to find out if this also qualifies the team officially as the Russian national team.

RussianNationals 2005		Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Total	Av.
Rank	Team	14-M-H-G	2-6-16	12-3-A	N-P-21-Q	8-F-11	E-B-22-L	K-C-13-19	1-15-18	20-16-J	7-9-D	Total	Av.
1	Black Cat	21	21	18	23	19	25	19	16	20	26	208	20.8
2	Extreme.RU	24	19	18	23	19	23	20	14	18	28	206	20.6
3	SkyLight Barkli	21	18	16	23	16	16	16	15	18	26	185	18.5
4	Kolomna Quik Blu	20	15	16	20	18	23	18	14	16	24	184	18.4
5	BBC	20	17	15	22	16	20	20	14	18	22	184	18.4
6	Synairgy	17	15	15	21	15	18	16	12	16	18	163	16.3
7	Lady Birds	17	15	12	19	14	18	17	13	16	21	162	16.2
8	Sunny Heaven	15	15	14	19	11	14	14	11	14	21	148	14.8
9	Wild Wind Kuzbass	16	9	10	18	11	15	8	9	13	17	126	12.6
10	Gudzun	13	12	10	11	10	8	10	10	10	14	108	10.8

Several of the Russian team names on the scoreboard are the same as they appeared at the Malevsky Cup 2005, including the Russian national 4-way team in the Women's Class, the Lady Birds. The story of the Lady Birds received the NSL News attention on June 17. The Russian female team followed up strongly at the Malevsky Cup 2005 by posting a new team record average of 15.5 and by giving the French 4-way team a serious competition.

The Lady Birds had started out slowly at the Malevsky Cup and were five points behind France after four rounds. However, the remaining six rounds were completely different and saw the Russian team catch up point by point. In fact, the Lady Birds did not give up any point or round to France between rounds five and nine, and the difference was down to two points. France reacted, won the last round by one point and the whole competition by three points.

The Lady Birds continue with the scoring progression. The scoreboard of the Russian national championship shows the Lady Birds only in 7th place. However, the 16.2 average after the 10-round meet speaks a different language. It is a new team record average and moves the Russian team closer to the winning average in the Women's Class (16.9) at last year's world meet in Croatia.

The Lady Birds quietly move up toward a position that could put the team in gold medal contention at this year's World Cup in October and next year at the world meet in Germany. It all depends on what the other top teams will come up with. The distance to France has already become closer.

The defending world champion, US team Synchronicity, has not competed yet and will show what the team has to offer at the USPA Championship 2005 in September. The other US contenders in the Women's Class, Fastrax Select and Element Perris, have posted scores slightly below the 15.0 benchmark so far (14.7 - 14.5). The United Kingdom has Airkix competing in the female class. Airkix just lost the Open Class 4-way competition in the UK by one point with a 14.8 average.

The Lady Birds are not done yet with the 2005 season. The team will travel to Eloy, Arizona, in October and compete at the World Cup 2005. This will most likely become the first opportunity to compete directly with the best US team, and the French 4-way team of the Women's Class will also be in Arizona in October. The NSL News will cover this event, as well, and the Women's Class competition seems to become an exciting part of the event.