posted Feb 14th, 2008 - The first outdoor competition of the 2008 season is coming up this weekend at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. The Valentine's Meet 2008 has been the season opener of 4-way competition in the USA for many years. The event has recently also become the first meet of the Arizona Skydiving League, which was launched at the beginning of the 2007 season.

The Valentine's Meet attracted up to 27 teams at the peak of the event in 1998. Arizona Airspeed's dominating 4-way lineups were drawing their large following to Eloy at a time when most other parts of the world had their winter breaks, and many teams scheduled their winter training around the February event.

The number of participating teams has recently not been on the same record level any longer as between 1998 and 2000. However, Arizona Airspeed lineups have still been using the Valentine's Meet to launch their own competition season and defend their home turf against any challengers.

Many world-class teams have tried to beat the Airspeed lineups on their home turf, including national teams from all over the world. However, only France Maubeuge (1999) and the Golden Knights (2005) managed to win the Valentine's Meet since 1998.

The French national 4-way team moved on to win the gold medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving the same year (1999) in Australia. The Golden Knights beat Airspeed Odyssey the same year (2005) at the USPA Nationals. It seems as if the Valentine's Meet offers a realistic view into the near future at the very beginning of the season.

It will be interesting to see which top teams will challenge Airspeed Odyssey this year in Eloy. The Canadian national 4-way team Evolution has spent the winter in Florida but has traveled to Arizona for the first high-profile competition with the complete LeMay family line-up.

The NSL News update from Russia on 3 February 2008 also mentioned that the Russian team Crossroads is well prepared to move up to the very top level of 4-way competition this year. Kactus Hunter is another Russian team that will compete in Eloy this weekend.

The competition draw will be posted on Friday evening during the team briefing in Eloy and then at the NSL website. Veteran meet director Bryan Burke will make sure that the operation of the Valentine's Meet is running smoothly.

Arizona Skydiving League Director Annie Peterson, who is an Arizona Divewerkz member, explained that the official six rounds of the Valentine's Meet will be completed on Saturday. Teams have then the option to complete the additional jumps for a 10-round meet on Sunday. She confirmed that the Valentine's Meet is once again the season opener for the Arizona Skydiving League and that the other meet dates will be announced very soon.

Meet Director Bryan Burke added that this year's Valentine's Meet has a very interesting aspect. The participating teams have the option of jumping either from a Twinotter or using the Pilatus Porter in preparation for the upcoming World Championship of Formation Skydiving in France this year.

He said that there are at least the two national teams (Airspeed Odyssey and Canada Evolution) that would like to complete a 10-round meet from the Pilatus Porter with the right-hand door. The Valentine's Meet will also be a training event for this year's US and Canadian FAI judges at the World Meet.

This weekend's competition will be the first right-hand door challenge for Airspeed Odyseey and Canada Evolution. Both teams have only trained and competed from left-hand doors of the Twinotter and were forced to switch to the other side after qualifying as their countries' national teams for the World Meet in France this year.

The scores and videos of this weekend's event will show how far both teams have come with their right-hand door training.