In early July, 11 classic accuracy competitors gathered at Skydive Toronto in Ontario, Canada, for the third meet of the AmeriCup North American Classic Accuracy tour. Accuracy enthusiasts envisioned this four-meet series—modeled on the European World Cup series—as a way to grow the accuracy community on the American continent. Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales and Skydive Carolina in Chester, South Carolina, hosted the first and second meets, respectively.
Competitors from Belarus, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the Toronto meet, as well as a 10-day training camp that preceded it. Although the weather was tricky, with intermittent wind and rain, the meet ended with all eight rounds complete. Mark Jones from the U.S. took first in the open competition, followed by Natalia Velidtchenko of Belarus and Dave Tylcoat of the U.K. In the master’s event for competitors over age 50, Jones again took first, Tylcoat took second and Walter Samojlik of the U.S. took third. The Trumpeteers (Damir Boban, Jones, Tylcoat and Velidtchenko) took first in the team competition, while Canadian Arrows (Joseph Chow, John Davies, Jim Patterson and Craig Winning) took second, and CAmUK (Bill Rule, Robert Price and Samojlik) took third.
Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales will host the fourth and final AmeriCup meet of the year November 22-24. This event will also decide the series champions in each category.
Kelly Helfrich
Skydive Toronto