This weekend wrapped up the 4th meet of the 2011 FLCPA Series.  Competitors began arriving in Raeford on Tuesday evening for practice on the pond.  The PD course markers were set up by Wednesday for practice.  15 Pro and 15 Amateurs had arrived by the 7:00am briefing on Saturday morning. 

Though the forecast was grim, Friday and Saturday turned out to be great weather for the practice day and swoop meet.  Saturday began with the speed event in 0-3mph downwind conditions.  The North Carolina State speed record was broken a few times during the meet.  The new state record went to Nick Batsch with a time of 2.371 seconds.  Chris Watkins also took a nasty spill exiting the course during the second round of speed and injured his shoulder which took him out of the meet. 

We continued with the Zone Accuracy event into a 0-4mph headwind and then onto the distance event.   The state distance record of 115 meters seemed very reachable.   Warren Cleary and Nick Batsch managed to make it to 111 meters but were just short of setting a new record so Marat’s 2009 record will stand for at least another year. 

At the end of the day Nick Batch had the Gold, Newcomer Kelsey Mizeur took the Silver, and Atlanta boy Warren Cleary was in the Bronze.  Complete results can be found here.

We managed to finish the meet by 3:00 due to the quick and efficient work by Raeford Parachute Center and our judging staff.  Eric, Laticia, Catie, AJ, Emily, Laura, Tuna, Nathan set a standard for efficiency in Judging.  John Hawke assisted by running comms with manifest and the pilot to keep the aircraft running smoothly.   I think that’s a CP record as well!

Paraclete provided 30 Minutes of Tunnel time which was awarded to the top scoring Amateur in each event.  Miguel Torres from the Ranch received 10 minutes for his speed round of 2.60 seconds.  Kelsey Mizeur from Chicagoland scored 10 minutes for his 84 point zone accuracy run.  Jeanie Anderson from AlterEgo took to minutes for her monster distance run of 91.93 Meters.

Our friends from Sunpath kept a cooler full of water and tasty beverages for the competitors throughout the competition and opened up the bar for us in the evening for a while which was very welcomed by all.

See you all at Skydive The Farm next month for the fifth and final meet of the 2011 season!!