posted Feb 11th, 2008 - Two NSL News stories reported at the end of the 2008 season that Norway's national 4-way team Arcteryx had a personnel change for the 2008 season. The story on 25 October 2007 (Archives > 2007 > News > search for "Arcteryx") broke the news that Mathias Nord was the new Center Inside for the world-class team.

The next story on 14 November 2007 introduced Mathias Nord and his skydiving career until he joined the Norwegian national team. The same article mentioned that Arcteryx would once again spend the whole winter in DeLand, and the training would begin in January.

Ditta Valsdottir, Derek Broughton, Ole Petter Hjelle, Mathias Nord and new team videographer Borre "Slash" Morch have completed the first month of the winter training in Florida, and it was time for the NSL News to invite the team for a live interview and an update to the NSL News office.

The previous live interviews with Arcteryx have always been informative and entertaining, and the latest visit at the NSL office with the new lineup continued with this Norwegian NSL News experience. All team members, including the new videographer Borre "Slash" Morch, took the extra time at the end of a training day in DeLand.

Arcteryx had just completed the first set of a 10-round competition practice in training and was very satisfied with the results. Coach Gary Smith, reigning 4-way world champion with DeLand Fire, has asked the team to copy the competition draw of the USPA Nationals 2005 that his own team had won after a jump-off with the Golden Knights.

The Arcteryx members reported a meet average well above 21 points and provided the video footage of two of the ten rounds, which can now be viewed on NSL-TV. The whole video of the live NSL News interview with the team can be viewed by clicking here.

The interview begins with a short summary of the team history. Ole Petter Hjelle and Ditta Valsdottir are the only original Arcteryx members. They both provided some details of the personnel changes in the past years and are now very excited to have the strongest and most promising lineup in team history.

The NSL News had some special questions for Arcteryx' Point, Derek Broughton. The first appearance of the world-class freeflyer in the NSL News with a live interview on 23 January 2007 included a remark that stuck with the team, and with the NSL News as well. "4-way is the best", was his very first answer to the basic question how he likes 4-way.

Derek Broughton has now completed his first year of 4-way training and competition with Arcteryx and goes into the second 4-way season.

He has experienced the first personnel change in his team and the challenges of 4-way competition on the top level. However, he confirmed in the interview that he still feels the same as he did at the beginning of his 4-way carrer: "4-way is still the best."

The new Center Inside for Arcteryx, Mathias Nord, has brought the fresh air and dynamics that his new team mates have been hoping for. Ole Petter Hjelle, Ditta Valsdottir and Derek Broughton were all very excited reporting the progression of the team with the new Swedish engine.

The former Swedish national competitor is very happy on his own end. He has always been hoping for a chance to go after medals at the international top events, which never materialized with his Swedish teams. He sees the Arcteryx opportunity as a chance of a lifetime. The Scandinavian chemistry with the mix of Norway and Sweden seems to work very well.

The first test for the new Arcteryx line-up is coming up at the World Challenge 2008 at the end of March. The new lineup has spent enough time in windtunnels to feel very comfortable and confident going into the competition in Bedford. Arcteryx will go back to DeLand to continue with the winter and spring training until the end of May. The April meet of the Florida Skydiving League is on the team's agenda for the first outdoor competition this year.

A special challenge is once again coming up for Arcteryx at this year's national championship in Norway. The DeLand Norgies, 3-time bronze medalists at the World Championships of Formation Skydiving in 1999, 2001 and 2003, were not happy when they lost against Arcteryx for the first time last year.

The original line-up of the DeLand Norgies (Lise Aune, Carl-Erik Tuv, Torstein Valen, Pal Kolbenstvedt) is preparing for the next showdown this summer in Norway and wants redemption. In fact, the Norgies were training at Bodyflight Bedford when Arcteryx visited the NSL office for the interview.

However, the World Championship of Formation Skydiving this year in France is the main goal for Arcteryx. The team is eager to win the next set of medals for Norway and step out of the shadow of the Norwegian bronze medal winners of 1999, 2001 and 2003. The whole video of the live NSL News interview with the team can be viewed by clicking here.