National Free Flight Society

National Cup

NFFS sponsors nine National Cup competitions for Juniors, Seniors, and Open participants. Competition details are outlined in the National Cup Rules posted below.

 

National Cup Final 2023 Scores – December 21

 

Attached are the Final Results for the 2023 National Cups.  Most winners are familiar names, with the only first-time winner this year being Henry Forster, the winner of the inaugural Senior Cup, followed closely by Will Reuter, a previous Junior Cup winner.
 
The winning scores were down from last year for seven of the nine other Cups.  Attrition is taking its toll on us, as we aren’t replacing fliers as fast as we are losing them.  I think that the weather this year kept participation down as well, as several contests were cancelled, and many of the ones I attended could be euphemistically described as “difficult”.
 
The other two Cups were hotly contested down to the final contests of the year.  In Electric, the lead changed hands between Jack Murphy and Drake Hooke with every contest they attended during the final three months.  Both are multiple-time winners, exchanging the Cup between the two of them for the past seven years.  Each had already posted their maximum number of scores allowed, so in the end it was down to trying to improve their lowest scores.  Drake attended two contests in December, Jack attended one, and in the end, Drake edged Jack out by a mere 4 points, 438-434.
 
The Junior Cup was also contested down to the very end, with Caleb Finn leading in October, to be passed by Wes Reuter by scoring big at some late fall contests.  Then Skilly DeLoach made a surge from third place to the top spot by flying all six Junior events at the Arizona State Championships in Eloy, setting multiple National records at her last contest as a Junior.  This becomes her fourth consecutive Junior Cup, an unprecedented accomplishment, as only one other before her had won as many as two.  She’ll have her sights set on the Senior Cup next year.
 
In AMA Gas, Ronnie Thompson emerged on top, making a triumphant return, having last won that same Cup twenty years ago!  It was kind of him to let the rest of us have a chance during the past two decades.
 
Tim Batiuk extended his winning streak in Glider to more than two decades, winning for the 21st consecutive time.  When he first won, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl, the Florida Marlins won their last World Series, the New Jersey Devils won their last Stanley Cup, and Michael Jordan retired.  More relevant to Tim, USC won its first of two consecutive NCAA Football titles, with Head Coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Leinart.
 
Glenn “Doc” Schneider won the Large Nos Gas Cup for the ninth time in the past ten years.  He’s also volunteered to again be this year’s Nats CD—thanks Doc!
 
I will be looking into the possibly of making some modifications to the scoring system for next year—nothing confirmed yet—just beginning to investigate options.  In the tabulation of this year’s data, the following totals were found regarding participation:
CategoryEntriesFlyers
AMA Gas15255
Sm NOS Gas9731
Lg NOS Gas12937
Classic Gas11241
AMA Rubber23885
NFFS Rubber7031
Glider32083
Electric22454
Senior82
Junior14917
 
Not surprisingly, the most popular events were Catapult Glider (168), P-30 (156), Hand Launched Glider (116), and E-36 (115).  Apparently, fliers are aware of the three flight requirement to receive points, as less than 8% did not complete all three flights.  Some of those could be due to lost or damaged models, time constraints, weather developments, or recognizing that completing flights will not improve placing.  I’ve been in most of those situations.
 
Thanks again to all the CD’s—since I became administrator more than a decade ago, these past two years have been the best as far as prompt and correct reporting.  Hope to see you on the flight line in 2024.
 

Hope to see you on a flying field soon.
Bob Hanford

 

INFORMATION for COMPETITORS
National Cup Contest List
Free Flight Contest Calendar
National Cup Rules updated August 19, 2023

Past National Cup Final Scores


INFORMATION & FORMS for CONTEST DIRECTORS
AMA Form # 317 Free Flight Time Sheet
National Cup Pre-Contest Info Form: MS Word    PDF
National Cup Results Report Form: MS Word  PDF 

Contest Directors – Please download either the Word or PDF version of the Pre-Contest Info and Results Report Forms and use them to submit information electronically. Alternatively, you can submit them via US mail.

For PDF files you’ll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Free download here  getacro


National Cup Administrator

Bob Hanford
2306 W Waco Ct.
Broken Arrow, OK  74011
(918) 500-8383
bhantulsa@cox.net

Bob Mattes and Dick Kovalt, 2004 Nats