AE in England, Nick Takes Home Top Honor

The last event of the swoop season for the Skydive 99 Grand Prix’s was held in Dunkeswell in September.  Nick Batsch was around for some coaching prior to the event, then Curt and Jeannie showed up to England after traveling from Italy a week early for their scheduled coaching on the west coast of England to attend the event.  Nick decided last minute that he wouldn’t let his teammates have all the fun and entered the comp as well.  There was an awesome showing of 10 competitors, 8 Pro’s and 2 amateurs.  The weather was remarkably good (for England) during the time the competitors were there.  They were able to get in a few practice jumps a day around some low set English clouds before the competition.  The day of the competition, the weather held off as well, with the locals voicing that they had never seen weather like that in September, especially with a comp scheduled.  Speed started things off.  There were a few problems with the sensors but everyone got scored on all 3 events.  Nick started out with an early lead as the judges handled the technical problems extremely well and kept the competition moving.  We switched to distance and kept the meet moving.  The plan was to crank out the 9 round meet in one day because the weather didn’t look promising for Sunday.  We got a few rounds of distance in dodging clouds, then got stuck on the ground for a weather hold.  When the clouds broke enough to jump, we moved on to Zone acc and did all three rounds back to back to back.  Nick took 1st in Zone Acc as well followed by Curt.  In the second round, Curt had to deal with a little teasing from the competitors after Jeannie beat his score on the course.  The final round of the comp went back to distance, with Curt throwing down a great distance score to beat Nick in the distance event.  Nick took home the overall win followed by Curt in 2nd and Jeannie in 3rd in the Open category..  In the Grand Prix league the overall podium was Dan Guest in 1st Place, Chris Lynch in 2nd, and Chris Good in 3rd.  In the Advanced, or ameture category, Pete Hodges was in 1st followed by Scott Mckenzie in 2nd Place.  After the meet, everyone meet up at the bar down the street for some much earned drinks and awards.  The overall atmosphere at the event was very friendly and everyone was having a lot of fun pushing each other to new heights.  We look forward to more events in the future!

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Nick takes home 2nd World Title in Canada at the 2015 World Cup of Canopy Piloting

Everyone showed up to Parachutisme Nouvel Air in Canada thinking that it would cool, crisp weather.  They were all wrong.  We all showed up to what felt like a Florida summer, high temperatures and even higher humidity.  The air flew very strangely, not many of the competitors had ever experienced anything like it.  The air was very slow and the set up points for their maneuvers were in unusual spots.  The best of the best adjusted quickly and got on with their training.  Speed times were slow and distances short.  The turn of the first weekend saw the oppressive humidity vanish and conditions improve.  Speeds were quicker and distances were farther, for a short few days.  As the competition drew near, the forecasts were for strong headwinds.

The organizers and judges had an amazing opening ceremony and an awesome meeting with the mayor of the town for the competitors beforehand.  The dropzone was running smoothly and had taken great care of the competitors by putting us up in nice hotels.  The competition started off with all 3 rounds of the Speed event.  The winds were light in the morning but quickly picked up.  Nick Batsch started carving out an early lead, cutting through the headwind and humid conditions like butter with his 57 Petra.  Justin Price, new to the World level competition scene, was throwing down some great runs as well.  Alter Ego teammates Curt and Ryan came out of the gate with consistent runs, with Michael McCann following his teammates to shoot great air to air video.

The competition moved on to Distance next, completing a few rounds but not finishing the event.  Nick again set some awesome runs, with Curt and Ryan right on his heels.  The distances were some of the shortest in recent competitions due to the high head winds.  Only a few of the top runs were even over the 100 meter mark, most being down in the 80 meter mark range.  The comp was running smoothly and then went to Zone Acc.  Nick had gained a significant lead and kept putting up consistent, World Title winning runs.  Curt got back into the zone after a bad start for him personally.  A challenge between Pablo Hernandez, Mario Fatturoso, and Curt quickly escalated for the Zone Acc gold.  Very high scores were thrown down with the head wind.  Curt eventually put a perfect 100 on the course in the last round to secure the Gold by only a few points.  It took the top score for all 3 rounds for Curt to finish Zone Acc in 1st with 300 out of 300 points.  The end of this also saw Pablo in 2nd place overall, just a few points ahead of Curt.

With a comfortable lead, Nick got on the plane and got a nice safe score to finish the meet off in 1st overall.  This saw Nick become only the 3rd canopy pilot in the sports history to obtain more than one World Title.  The first to do so was Jay Moledzki followed by Curt Bartholomew.  Nick also finished up Distance with a 2nd Place medal, giving him 2 Golds and a Silver for the competition.  Pablo finished the last round in 2nd Overall, Curt eventually finished on the last step of the podium in 3rd.  Ryan Brownlow was able to bring it home in a respectable 10th place overall.  Getting into the top 10 amongst the talented and deep field of canopy piloting is no easy feat.  The competition was fun for all and was run very well by the event coordinators and judges.  Thanks to everyone involved for such an awesome event!  Alter Ego would like to offer a congratulations for everyone involved and can’t wait to see everyone at the next comp!

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4th Consecutive Pink Open Title for Alter Ego as Curt Takes Home the Gold

Despite only being 2 weeks before the World Cup of Canopy Piloting in Canada, the Pink Open saw a huge turnout this year with almost 70 competitors from 15 different countries.  This can be attested to a beautiful dropzone run by some awesome people.  Every year the Pink Open is one of the biggest and best international Canopy Piloting Open competitions of the year.  It’s a great platform for new up-and-coming and also the most seasoned of pilots to sharpen their skills in the Czech countryside.  This year was no different, the competition was run extremely smooth and finished in only two days.

Curt and Jeannie of Team Alter Ego showed up a week early to coach the youngest members of the Danish Swoop Project.  They could be seen every morning bright and early with Jeannie leading her “morning jam” stretching and warm up session with the project.  As the days went on, a few other competitors outside of the Project joined in for the warm up.  The Danes made great progress adjusting to the Alter Ego Project style of swooping and soon began making big strides in their performance.  Curt and Jeannie trained alongside them during the camp to get adjusted to their new Sun Path Products Javelin containers.  Curt was doing R&D with a few pieces from the factory and felt very comfortable in the new rig.  Jeannie adapted quickly and was throwing down some great distance runs.  Short and long term goals were set, and end of the day reviews kept everyone on track and pushing hard.  There were also a lot of laughs and great times during the training camp.

Moving into the competition Curt and Jeannie continued coaching the Danish Swoop Project during the comp with strategy and small adjustments from round to round.  The comp was started off by two rounds of Zone Accuracy.  The first round was very light winds, with some great scores being set.  The Danes got some great scores on the board, and Curt and Jeannie stayed nice and consistent in their new containers.  The second round of Zone Acc saw the winds picking up into a downwind.  Curt landed in a nice consistent zone 6, like the first round and almost every training jump during the camp.  Jeannie came in a little hot and had a rough landing shutting the canopy down.  When she touched down her weight belt shift up into her ribs while she was planting her feet to stop her forward momentum, breaking her ribs.  She caught her breath and got on the plane for the next jump, toughing out a rough injury.

The competition then continued with speed.  The organizers got all three rounds of speed cranked out that same day during a strong headwind.  The Danish Swoop Project guys and gals continued to impress with their progress and put scores up on the board.  Jeannie had some of her smoothest and most consistent speed runs, even with the injury.  After a rough first round, Curt continued to have some trouble with speed.  Things just weren’t clicking and the World Champ did not look like himself during the three speed rounds.  He pushed through doing what he could and still managed a 2nd Place Speed finish while maintaining some damage limitation in the overall points.

The next day saw yet another “morning jam” and some determined faces from all the competitors.  Distance was up on deck for the morning.  Winds were light and variable and slightly downwind at times.  Conditions were somewhat tough, figuring out setups was tricky as it changed from jump to jump.  As the heat continued to build mid-day, there was a lot of turbulence to deal with as well.  The heat itself was another factor competitors had to deal with.  It was very hot and dry the entire week and it put a toll on the competitors.  Wearing them out and making concentration difficult.  Curt kicked off the distance round with the farthest run of 144 meters, putting his new Javelin through the paces.  Jeannie had a few good runs and she adapted as well.  The Danes continued to put scores up, some have personal bests and getting more scoring runs than ever before.  Curt made a mistake on the second round of distance, rolling out low but managing to make the most of it.  Rolling into the third round, Jeannie had a personal best distance run of 116 meters on her Valkyrie 67 while pushing through the pain.  Her ribs made it difficult to control the canopy during her turn so it was an impressive swoop to watch.  Curt also had one of his best distance runs putting up an impressive 152 meters in almost zero wind, around 15 meters farther than the nearest competitor.  During distance a battle for the top step of the overalls was raging.  Curt and Cornelia trading points and vying for the overall victory.  Curt came out of Distance with another 1st Place podium for the event, only 5 points ahead of Cornelia for the event, and 25 for the Overall.

The last round of the competition was Zone Accuracy.  It was run in a high head wind, showing some great scores among the top contenders, while making it difficult for some of the newer swoopers.  Curt showed his experience in meet management and threw down a well flown 91 on the course to keep the Victory in his pocket, while also securing 1st Place in Zone Accuracy.

A fun round was then setup with 500 Euros on the line for a home run derby style swoop.  It was carving distance with narrowing gates.  It was an interesting course and everyone had a lot of fun flying such a unique course.  Cornelia came out on top for the round, closely followed by Curt and Junior from the Dubai team.

Everyone was extremely happy from the Danish Swoop Project with their progress and competition results.  There was some highs and lows, some awesome flights and a few light crashes.  Everyone walked away having had a fun week swooping hard, and knew what to work on for the next one.  Curt started off his relationship with his Javelin nicely with 3 Golds and a Silver, and Jeannie did the same with some personal bests and her smoothest flying in the speed event.  The two of them would like to thank Sun Path Products for their amazing support.  Congrats to Cornelia and Pat for their podium finishes, and all of the other competitors for their great flying.  A huge thank you goes out to Liquidsky, Performance Designs, Larsen and Brusgaard, Vigil, and Hypoxic for everything.

After the competition Skydive Pink put on a barbeque for the competitors.  The party then moved into Klatovy later in the evening, with the competitors blowing off some much needed steam.  Thanks to Skydive Pink and all of the staff there for putting together such an amazing event.  Also to all of the judges for standing out in blazing heat, without them these comps would not be possible!  See all of you again next year!

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Curt Bartholomew Takes Home the US National Championship Gold

Alter Ego had a great showing at the 2015 US Nationals.  Through extremely hot and humid conditions and changing weather, the team managed to bring home 8 of the 12 medals for Canopy Piloting and grabbed 3 out of the 12 slots on the US team.  Those medals included a distance podium sweep by Alter Ego, the first for the team.  Congrats to everyone who competed and gets to represent the US in Canada at the World Cup.  The team would like to send out a huge thank you to all of the judges and event organizers for standing out in the 103F weather all day everyday to make this event happen!

Overall

1st Curt Bartholomew – Alter Ego

2nd Tommy Dellibac – PDFT

3rd Nick Batsch – Alter Ego

 

Distance

1st Nick Batsch – Alter Ego

2nd Curt Bartholomew – Alter Ego

3rd Jay Sanders – Alter Ego

 

Zone Accuracy

1st Curt Bartholomew – Alter Ego

2nd Rob Wallace – Socal Evolution

3rd Gage Galle – PDFT

 

Speed

1st Tommy Dellibac – PDFT

2nd Nick Batsch – Alter Ego

3rd Curt Bartholomew – Alter Ego

 

US Canopy Piloting Team
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Curt Bartholomew – Alter Ego

Tommy Dellibac – PDFT

Nick Batsch – Alter Ego

Greg Windmiller – Golden Knights

Justin Price – Airspeed

Paul Rodriguez

Albert Berchtold –  PD Factory Factory Team

Rob Wallace – Socal Evolution

Ian Bobo – PDFT

Matt Shull – G-Swoop

Ryan Brownlow – Alter Ego

Gage Galle – PDFT

 

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Nick Gets 2nd Place Podium as Swoop Challenge Starts a Revolutionary New Era for Canopy Piloting

Copenhagen, a city filled with beautiful waterways, ships, delicious food and incredible history. The view from above is truly amazing and one I will not soon forget.Swoop Challenge is a concept developed in 2013 by Michael Kattrup Lassen and George Blythe whom were both officers in the Danish army. This concept gave swoop competitors the ability to compete in an environment that would be more visible and spectacular for the public! In 2014 they ran a test event into the same lake as the competition this year; this event proved swoop challenge could be successful. And so the preparations for this years event begun. Prior to this event in August of 2014 Brian Martin Rasmussen joined the Team and headed up the marketing for the event. Roger Mulckey a professional swooper from Australia participated in the demo jump and in October decided to dedicate his event coordinating skills to make help Swoop Challenge happen. Roger runs the Funny Farm event out in Austrailia and has proven to be one of the most successful invitational boogies out there. Jens Toftbjerg joined the team shortly thereafter in January, making the Swoop Challenge staff a full powerhouse; success was inevitable.On June 4th 19 of the best freestyle competitors from around the world flew into Copenhagen to take part in the first professional freestyle competition ever to be held in a major city. This included 19 International Athletes representing 11 different countries. The competition would begin at Dropzone Denmark with 3 days of intense training before a 2 round qualifier for the main event. Only 16 would make the cut and go on to Copenhagen.

Competitors received a warm welcome from Dropzone Denmark which is located in Herning, a city 3 1/2 hours outside of Copenhagen. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating and competitors only got a handful of jumps in over the first few days of training. Despite the weather, there was an amazing vibe at the drop zone and everyone was super excited to be there. That energy carried through and the night before qualifying we made a demo jump into the beach at Fuglsang Lake located in Herning. It was a ton of fun for the athletes and the crowds loved it!

Wednesday morning began qualifying. It was a strong headwind and proved difficult and challenging for everyone fighting for the top 16 slots. After a training jump and 2 qualifying rounds the athletes continuing on to Copenhagen had been selected. The amount of talent and difficulty in freestyle moves was incredible. The people in Copenhagen were in for a great show! After round one I was sitting 12th overall. On the second round I had to stab out and abort my signature move a Lazygirl, I was pushing too hard and took it low and in the corner. Unfortunately that took me out of the competition. My Teammates Curt Bartholomew and Nicholas Batsch would make the cut and go into the competition qualifying in the top two slots! Myself along with the other athletes that did not make the cut, would still participate in the Swoop Night Lights; a spectacular air show in the Copenhagen Harbor on Thursday night.

Thursday morning competitors were transported back to Copenhagen to the Naval Academy where we would be staying. After a quick briefing on the helicopters and a view of the demo site we headed back to prepare for the evenings events.

The highlight of my trip was the demo in the harbor. After a disappointing qualifying for me, I wanted to go up, have some fun and rock some freestyle. exiting the helicopter over Copenhagen is one of the most incredible moments in my life (aside from marrying the most amazing guy in the world) 😉 The view was breath taking! We swooped right over top of the royal ship that was parked in the harbor. As I approached the water I realized I was perfectly set up to nail my Lazygirl and land on the raft. As I popped up and landed in the center I heard the crowds go wild. What a surreal moment for me. When my Husband Curt Bartholomew landed he greeted me with the biggest smile ever and later posted the following quote on Facebook “We did a demo jump into the harbor in downtown Copenhagen last night before the comp. My badass wife Jeannie Bartholomew KILLED it! She had the loudest crowd cheers out of everyone that jumped after doing a Lazygirl and then nailed the landing right on the center of the raft. Super proud of her, that was not an easy jump and she rocked it. Love you baby!” I have never been so happy!! Half of the athletes landed on the raft that night and half in the water. The emergency boats were ready and picked everyone up within seconds of their landings. Afterwards, we celebrated then headed back to get some sleep. The top 16 had a big day ahead of them!

The morning of the competition the weather was beautiful! A warm and sunny day, the first since we had arrived. The winds however, proved to be inconsistent switching from a tailwind to a headwind. This happened in between competitors jumps which caused some to miss the landing platform; a 6 meter wide and 25 meter long raft.

The competition consisted of one practice round followed by 2 rounds of competition. 70,000 people surrounded the lake, watching as the athletes either nailed their moves and landed on the platform or in the water. It was exciting and fun to watch. I have never witnessed such loud cheering at a skydiving event anywhere. The announcers Reagan Tetlow and Peter “Irish” Sutton did a great job commentating and explaining to the crowds what was happening and what the judges were looking for.

Some of swoopings favorite freestyle pilots threw down some impressive moves! Gage Galle from the USA attempted the first ever barrel roll in competition and ended up missing the raft and landing in the water and the crowds went wild!

The whole competition was broadcasted on live television showcasing the athletes like the true professionals they are. This is a first in Skydiving history and hopefully won’t be the last. Pablo Hernandez from the PD Factory Team was flying outside video. He had a rig set up on his helmet where his go pro was broadcasting to live television. On the last round of competition he followed Curt Bartholomew in as he pulled of his signature move a boomerang switchblade cowboy and landed in the center of the raft. His first move he threw down a new combination (that he actually thought up for me) a lazy boy switchblade cowboy that has not been done in competition before this event. Both scored fairly high and put him in 5th overall.

Noah Banson brought the heat with a miracle man switchblade on his first round and a boomerang miracle man on the second round securing his first place overall finish along with $7,500.

Cornelia Mihai invented a new move called the “Hat trick” Where she used a magnetic hat to swoop in and removed it off as she came across the water.

Nick Batsch pulled off a boomerang superman and boomerang blindman pulling him up to 2nd overall with less then a point away from 1st. He also took home a check for $5,000!

David Junior Ludvik brought home 3rd with his blindman switchblade cowboy and an award of $2,500.

In my opinion, everyone went home wining with the memory of an extraordinary experience.

So whats next for Swoop Challenge? Brian martin Rasmussen stated “The idea of Swoop Challenge and the motto ‘Swoop to the People’ was only formed in 2013, and after a trial event last year, the big test of the setup was yesterday’s competition. Next step is taking the concept to other major, spectacular cities around the world”

“What a fantastic day. The 70,000+ spectators in Copenhagen had a giant party, and the crowd created a unique atmosphere around the lake. We have been working extremely hard to build this event over the past two years, and it all became a little more complicated due to the weather forecasts, that made us reschedule on short notice, but despite that, Swoop Challenge was a great success and we are thrilled and proud. 70,000 people chose to stop by the lake today, and this makes it clear to us, that it is possible to unite the beauty in extreme sports and the heart of a historical, cultural metropolitan. After today’s success we are dedicated to carry Swoop Challenge across the borders and create a world tour, but it is only attainable, if others are willing to support us. Our athletes, whom are the among the best swoopers in the world, have all said, that it was amazing to jump in Copenhagen,” says George Blythe, co-founder of Swoop Challenge.

“Swoop Challenge was organized with great success. It opened our eyes and gave us world class parachuters in the skies above Herning and Copenhagen. With this great event, Swoop Challenge has achieved to take event planning the to the next level, and shows us a new way to use spectacular arenas for sporting events. The international athletes tells us, that they have never experienced a more beautiful place to skydive than Copenhagen, and it proves, that the concept of Swoop Challenge is on the right track,” says Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, the national sporting event organization that works to attract major international sporting events to Denmark and that supports Swoop Challenge financially.

We all hope this is just the beginning of Swoop Challenge freestyle competitions world wide! We train the same 3 events year round and freestyle is something fun and different that brings a dynamic and fun event to the eyes of the public.

Top-6 – the total number of point attainable were 100 per round (200 total after 2 rounds)
1: Noah Bahnson, USA – 140,80 points (60,60 and 80,20)
2: Nick Batsch, USA – 140,01 points (58,32 and 81,69)
3: David Junior Ludvik, USA – 133,49 points (58,75 and 74,74)
4: Patrick Kaye, USA – 126,28 points (57,00 and 69,28)
5: Curt Bartholomew, USA – 123,53 points (57,68 and 65,85)
6: Christian Webber, Denmark – 112,32 points (63,76 and 48,56)
—–
7: Cornelia Mihai, Romania
8: Billy Sharman, South Africa
9: Gage Galle, USA
10: Petter Mazzetta, Sweden
11: Abdulbari Qubaisi, UAE
12: Martin Reynolds, England
13: Micah Couch, USA
14: Chris Stewart, New Zealand
15: Leigh ‘Macca’ McCormack, Australia
16: Kristian Moxnes, Norway

Skydive The Mag
Written by: Jeannie Bartholomew
Team Alter Ego

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Curt Wins Skydive Sac Pro/Am in Memory of Walt

The Canopy Piloting community has been reeling from a rough few weeks after a few high profile accidents.  Most recently had been an accident which claimed the life of Walt Hawkins.  As competitors arrived for the Skydive Sacramento Pro/Am there were somber greetings and reflections on our fallen friends.  Walt was an amazing person, always quick to help everyone around him and always had a smile on his face.  He had a big part in getting the Sacramento pond up and running again, and always made sure the pond was as well maintained as possible while it was around.  Walt and his wife Sharon organized this whole meet, making it a Pro/Am so that the Am’s could get as much help and learning as possible.  The comp was held on a Thursday so that there could be a dedicated King Air for the competitors.  There was a great turn out, 24 competitors showed up to compete in Walt’s memory. The weather was not cooperating the day before the competition and no practice jumps were made due to high winds.

The morning of the competition, the weather was much better and the winds were only at 6 mph.  The competitor briefing happened around 7:30, with Sharon thanking the great turnout for support Walt.  This competition was a much more relaxed meet.  It was about being together as a community and having fun in the sport we love.  Curt and Jeannie had a 30 hour travel day from Uruguay to California the day before the competition, and had zero training jumps on location before the competition started.  They used the practice jump the morning of the comp to get acquainted with Skydive Sacramento.  Ryan Brownlow and his wife had also taken off work to support the event.  There was a great judge turnout and even some vendors in the form of Safeish and Sierra Navada brewing company with tents set up.  With the side of the pond covered in spectators, the competitors started the comp with the Speed event.  Curt started off the comp with the fastest speed time in the Pro’s, and Ben Lowe started the Am comp with the best time.  The speed event moved along smoothly with Curt putting the fastest speed time of the meet up in the second round, and Jessie Brownlow putting the fastest Am time on the board in the same round.

From there the comp moved to distance.  The winds had died down to a light head wind and the weather was looking beautiful for a swoop comp.  The first round went off without a hitch, with the judges doing a great job.  In the second round of speed there was an accident where Dave Hebert crashed, missing the pond on the first impact and ending up in the pond at the end of the tumble.  Everyone was quick to attend to him and help out.  Dave will make a full recovery and ended up coming out of the rather scary looking crash with just a broken leg.  Everyone at the event sends their well wishes and were very happy that he is ok.  After the break in action from that incident, the jumping resumed and distance was finished.

The competition was rounded out with the visually appealing Zone Acc.  The spectators cheered as all the jumpers came in and posted great scores in light tailwind conditions.  Curt had 2 stand up landings in zone 6 and then zone 5 giving him 1st place in Zone Acc.  Ryan flew 2 extremely smooth and consistent runs on his Petra in a tailwind and put a lot of points on the board to round out the competition.  When the dust settled, Ben Lowe took 1st place in the Amateur class with a 1st in Speed, 2nd in Distance and 2nd in Zone Acc.  2nd Place overall for the Am’s was Nathan Emmett, and rounding out the podium was Jessie Brownlow.  Congrats to all the Am’s who flew an awesome and safe meet.  Curt took 1st place overall for the Pro class with a 1st in speed, 1st in distance, and 1st in zone accuracy.  He walked away with 595.822 out of 600.  Ryan Brownlow ended the comp in 4th place overall with a 2nd place finish in zone accuracy.  At the awards, Curt and Scott Harper said a few words in remembrance of Walt  to all those that were gathered, and then the trophies were distributed to the winners.

The team would like to thank Skydive Sacramento and all of the judges who made the meet happen.   A special thank you goes to Sharon Hawkins for organizing the meet after everything that had happened.  We all know that it was not easy for her to be there doing what she did and we are all grateful that we could support the event and Walt’s memory.  It was a very special event and Alter Ego was extremely honored that we could have a great presence to support someone as special as Walt.  We will all miss him dearly and we, as a community, would like to send our love out to Walt, Sharon, and the entire Hawkins family during their time of need.

Photos by Will McDaniel and Phil Zidek

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