posted Nov 13th, 2013 - The NSL Profiles have been providing personal and athletic information of celebrities in the sport of Formation Skydiving competition ever since the NSL website was launched. That's a long time ago, and most of the profiles are not up-to-date any longer, even though the pages of the selected skydivers still provide interesting information.

However, it is time to update the oldest NSL Profiles, especially if they feature skydivers who are still active in the sport. Pete Allum is one of longest standing and most popular skydiving celebrities in the sport, even though he will most likely not appreciate very much the characterization as a celebrity.

The originally British gentleman is the most humble celebrity in the sport, which is almost an oxymoron in itself. However, it fits for Pete Allum, and the update of his NSL Profile is more than overdue.

It is hard to believe that his current NSL Profile was posted at some point before his team Sebastian XL competed at the World Meet 2001 in Spain. That's more than 12 years ago, and it will be difficult to squeeze more than a skydiving decade into one update.

His team's goal in 2001 was to finish with the best XL performance ever. The 19.0 average of the World Meet 1999 in Australia (4th) was the benchmark. The 19.9 average in Spain 2001 was the highest XL average, while the 4th place was once again short of a medal position that the DeLand Norgies stole for the second time. XL added two more years.

The XL average went up to 20.5 in France 2003, but the Norgies won the bronze medals for the third time - one single point ahead of XL. Pete Allum decided to retire, and XL did not come back in 2004.

Sebastian XL 2001	XL Indoor 2013

He focused on family and his professional and popular coaching servives (Inner Rhythm Coaching and thought that he was done with active 4way competition. It did not last very long...

He was working a lot in Italy, and the national team Sinapsi PD eventually offered him a slot when team member Marco Arrigo retired. He had Italian residency and citizenship and was eligbile to compete for Italy after sitting out at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia.

Finally, his pursuit of a 4way medal succeeded with the 3rd place at the World Meet 2006 in Germany, together with Sinapsi team mates Arianna de Benedetti, Livio Piccolo and Luka Marchioro. Sinapsi won the second set of bronze medals since 1991 for Italy, while the United Kingdom is still without a 4way medal since 1985.

World Meet 2006		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open Class	N-20-16	K-J-C-G-3	D-19-B-6	L-14-10	F-17-M-2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire (US)	20	27	25	17	28	117	23.4
2	Gap Nice Icarius Autrement (FR)	17	25	23	21	25	111	22.2
3	Sinapsi PD (IT)	19	26	22	19	24	110	22.0

Arianna De Benedetti stepped back after winning the bronze medal, and Sinapsi had a year off in 2007. The Spin Team competed for Italy in France 2008, while Sinapsi was preparing for a comeback with a new lineup. The British addition to the Italian team had worked well for Sinapsi, and Pete Allum's XL team mate Steve Hamilton was also ready to leave his UK history behind.

Livio Piccolo, Luka Marchioro, Pete Allum and Stefano Hamiltoni won the Italian Nationals in 2008 and followed up with new bronze medals for Italy at the World Cup 2009 in Prostejov. The 21.4 average was the highest Italian average at an IPC event in history.

Pete Allum had also joined the Canopy Piloting competition world at that time and won a bronze medal at the world championship in South Africa. However, he continued with 4way competition at the same time, and the Sinapsi 2009 lineup also competed in Menzelinsk 2010 with a new Italian 23.6 record average in 6th place.

Then it seemed like Pete Allum was really done with active competition, even though he came back every year for the annual XL reunion at the World Challenge in Bedford. The XL tunnel experts were still challenging the best 4way teams in the world at the indoor meet.

It still was not over yet with Pete Allum's outdoor career. Italy's new national 4way team Ex3mo had bad luck right before the Mondial Dubai 2012. Placido Udine was badly injured in a car crash shortly before the world meet. Coach Pete Allum was filling the slot, and Ex3mo finished with the best team average of the year (19.9) in Dubai. Pete Allum was back as Ex3mo's coach at the World Cup 2013 in Banja Luka.

His recent long term project has been UK's national team in the female 4way category, Kaizen, who he has been working with for several years. Kaizen surprisingly outscored all other female teams at the UK Nationals this year and is now preparing for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 in Prostejov.

UK Nationals 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	19,4,1	15,J,7	C,Q,17,12	L,13,10	9,G,20	H,11,2	K,8,21	P,6,M,14	N,E,5,16	O,F,A,22	Total	Avg
3	Kaizen (UK)	15	20	18	12(-1)	19	17	17	20	19	22	179	17.9
4	Bodyflight Isis (UK)	14(-1)	19	14	14	19	17	15	20	17	25	174	17.4

Pete Allum is currently living and coaching full time in Empuriabrava, Spain, either in the wind tunnel or at the DZ.

He says that he is "still absolutely in love with this sport and still learning something new every day".

That's Pete Allum. He is one of the most experienced Formation Skydiving competitors and coaches in the world and in the history of the sport - and he is still learning something new every day.

He enjoys his life in Empuriabrava, with the sun, the sea, the mountains, and a skydiving center that offers everything he needs to continue best what he has been doing best in the last 45 years...