Australian National Parachute Championships Review
by Krishna Strickland [Skydive Express York]
Courtesy of SWANChat - www.swanchat.comThe Australian National Parachute Championships 2000/2001 were held at Ramblers Skydiving Club in Toogoolawah. Skydive Express were happy to see such a large contingency from our dropzone representing WA. Four Dinkum (4-way) flew in to Queensland followed by Zephyrus (8-way) to commence their "Pre-Nationals" training. Kilara (freestyle) joined in the festivities, flying in on Christmas day. The weather was beautiful during the "Pre Nationals" team training and the dropzone nice and tropical, as you would expect from north Queensland.
The competition was fierce with a total of 35 teams competing in all events. The major downside to the competition was the fact that it didn’t even start until the 30th of December, due to the heavy rain. However, the bad weather didn’t dampen the spirits or stop the competitiveness of the teams, with the 4-way intermediate and open having to perform jump-off rounds after round 10 to obtain winners. Of course all of the WA teams performed fantastically, which has prompted questioning from the Eastern Staters as to what is going on over here. We look forward to seeing them all at the Easter Boogie!
Skydive Express would like to congratulate all of the WA teams that worked so hard just making it to the Nationals and we would like you to know that we are proud to say that we are affiliated with you and that you chose our DZ as your place to train. On ya guys!! (Special thanks to Zephyrus team member, Matthew (Jack) Surawski, who flew all the way from Queensland for their training camps). Were we not ecstatic when medal presentations were made on New Year’s Day and the 2nd of January 2001? Zephyrus bagged a silver medal for 8-way, Maiko (from Zephyrus) gained a strongly sought after gold medal for her role in the 4-way intermediate team Bustamove (Maiko was reserve and ended up jumping only one round, the jump-off round, to win with a 13 over Eutopia who scored a 12).
Finally, big congratulations to Kilara, years of hard work and dedication paying off in a freestyle gold medal. Four Dinkum came a very well deserved 7th in the 4-way open comp, scoring some serious points. The Legendary WA Teams are: Four Dinkum: Tom Lancaster, Tracey Moresi, Tim Radford, Cedric van den Dorpe, Mel Burr - Camera, Poo Smith - Coach; Zephyrus: Peter Etherton, Lisa Perdichizzi, John Seman, Brendon Bunning, Steve Hogden, Pat Boss, Matthew Surawski, Maiko Matsui, Dave Adamson - Camera, Lee Irvine - Coach; Kilara: Brooke Warburton, Darren Smillie; Bustamove: Maiko Matsui and 4 other Eastern Staters
For detailed competition results check out www.omniskore.com. |
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