posted Jul 31st, 2007 - The NSL News goes back to the July 21 meet weekend. One of the eleven events that weekend was the Danish Nationals 2007. The situation in Denmark had an interesting aspect since the new official national 4-way team, Danish Blaze, had to take on the former national team, the DaneZ.

Rene Andreasen, Jesper Rasmussen, Jess Romer and Mikael Toft had represented Denmark until the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2006 in Germany, where this line-up finished with an 18.0 average. The DaneZ had set new highscore records for Denmark during the team's competition career.

The DaneZ retired as the national team at the end of the 2006 season, and only Rene Andreasen continued with the new official Danish line-up, Danish Blaze.

The other three DaneZ members still attended the two events of the 2007 season in Denmark. Former Vitesse member Peter Andersen joined the team and replaced Rene Andreasen, while the team now competed under a new name, ZenaD, which reminds somehow on the former team name...

The new Point was not able to compete at the DFU Open in May, and Danish Blaze won with a 14.6 average after ten rounds. Peter Andersen was back for the Danish Nationals on July 21, and ZenaD won he competition with a 15.7 average.

ZenaD member Mike Toft reported that the new national team, Danish Blaze, had a good meet. The 4-pointer in Round 5 was caused by a camera issue. Mike Toft said that Blaze actually had the team's best jump of the competition when they lost nine points in this round. In fact, the 13-pointer would have been the first and only highscore of the meet for Danish Blaze.

Mike Toft added that the new projekt teams, Seqence and Contra, had convincing performances, as well: "They really showed some good stuff for the future. Danish Blaze handled the camera situation very well. It was a good competition experience for the team's main goal, the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in France 2008.

ZenaD/DaneZ had completed two hours of tunnel training at Bodyflight Bedford this spring and made a few training jumps prior to the July 21 competition. The team's 165 point in time were reduced to an official 15.7 average on the scoreboard. The ten meet jumps also included a painful incident in Round 4.

Block 19 (Ritz - Icepick) turned out to be very painful for ZenaD's Point and Tail. Peter Andersen and Mike Toft did not execute the vertical transition as planned and had a hard collision. Mike Toft said that he had never hit a person so hard in freefall before. The video shows the collision.

However, the tough ZenaD members moved on as if nothing had happened, and the 13-pointer was still the highscore for the round in Denmark. Only Sweden's Team Spaï (16) and Teiwaz BU (14) scored higher in the AAA Class the same weekend.

Danish Blaze continues to get ready and represent Denmark at the World Cup and European Championship of Formation Skydiving 2007 in Stupino, Russia. The competition begins this weekend, and the NSL News will provide scores and meet information. Reigning USPA 4-way champion and DeLand Groove member Solly Williams will be on site in Russia and provide additional meet information directly from Stupino.