Author: Liv

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BFA Safety Divers

The British Competition Freediving scene has really been hotting-up in the last few years, with UK athletes becoming competitive with the best freedivers in the world. Combining that with some excellent clubs and Instructors back home who are successfully helping more people into the sport, and providing safe and fun training places, even more freedivers are able to practise and make new freediving friends than ever before. Perhaps this is why so many people have participated in local and national competitions, discovering the fun of being part of a larger freediving community.

With record numbers of people competing in the UK already this year, the BFA want to make these events the safest places that you can go freediving and would like to announce that all safety divers at BFA endorsed competitions in pool and open-water, will now have a minimum safety diver qualification of AIDA 2*. We will be increasing this in September 2012 to a minimum of AIDA 2* plus the AIDA Competition safety diver course, or pool safety diver course (except for qualified & renewed instructors).

We have had positive feedback from swimming pools about this development and hope that it will help give the safety divers the support they need to continue to give the very best freediving safety to all of our freediving events. The BFA will be assisting clubs to organise AIDA Competition safety diver courses, or pool safety diver courses. If you would like some assistance or you would like to find out how to enrol on a safety diver course please email training@britishfreediving.org

You can download the associated safety images, for printing out, here.

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Results for the British Freediving Association National Depth Championships 2012 – Hosted by Apneists UK and Salt Free Divers

Well, we haven’t had a BFA depth competition in the UK for a while, and its a nice way for a few of the divers who can’t get out of Blighty to get some points on the board and a very good excuse to meet old friends and make some new ones. So, freedivers.co.uk and saltfreedivers.com teamed up to run an event.

They say the sun shines on the righteous, and there it was, not a cloud for two days pretty much, which meant there was a wonderful feel to the whole event.

As ever the community pulled together and helped judge, safety, scuba, pull ropes, announce, man jetties and pontoons etc for our lovely athletes. Thank you all very very much!!. The athletes shone brighter than the sun and we had a slick showing with no red cards, a couple of National records from Apneists UK Mike Benke (Hungary) and some very very relaxed dives from everyone.

John Moorcroft won with two 50m dives, one was with no fins on. Tim Money finished second with two great Constant weight dives and Mikes two CNF NRs of 34m and 38m saw him finish third overall, and Chris Crawshaw getting the joint second best CNF dive getting the UK third spot. Rebecca Coales the yoga expert of OMdiver fame had a very comfortable dive to get the top spot for the ladies.

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British Freediving Association National Depth Championships 2012 – Hosted by Apneists UK and Salt Free Divers

Entries for the BFA National Depth Championships 2012 are open. The competition will take place on the 26th and 27thMay at NDAC Chepstow in 3 disciplines CNF/FI/CW.

Saturday 26th May – Social dive, and practice hosted by Salt Free Divers. Contact sam@saltfreedivers.com.

Sunday 27th May – National Depth Competition. Registration will be at 9.30am, first top will be 12pm.

To enter you must be an BFA/AIDA national member, hold a valid medical certificate.

For details and entry forms please contact Steve Millard at apneaboy111@hotmail.com.

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Emma Farrell to appear in in channel 4’s “Hidden Talent”

British Freediving Instructor to appear in new TV show Freediving Instructor Trainer, Emma Farrell from Go Freediving is to appear in a new TV show airing in May. The show, ‘Hidden Talent’ seeks to find members of the general public with hidden talents and Emma’s role as the expert on freediving was to devise tests to find the right person and then train them up. The main freediving episode airs on Channel 4 at 9pm on Tuesday 1st May followed by a live web chat with Emma and then on the 29th May for the catch-up show. You can also take some of the tests yourself and see how to perform the ‘frenzel’ at www.channel4.com/programmes/hidden-talent

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World Championships 2012 – UK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2012 AIDA Team World Championships in Nice, France are now open.

The competition will take place from 8 – 16th Sept, deadline for entry 15th July.

For more information visit the competitions page by clicking on the right hand menu or go direct by clicking here.

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Competitions Page Statement and new rules

The BFA aims to promote fair and safe competition in British Freediving at home and internationally for UK free divers and to help organisers to run their competitions safely and within the official rules of AIDA and BFA best practice.

We aim to inspire and encourage all levels of free divers to take part in competitive freediving and to help bring together volunteers to make the competitions possible.

You can visit the updated competitions page by clicking on the right hand menu or go direct by clicking here.

Volunteers: BFA Competitions are set up to support competing athletes and rely entirely on volunteers so if you want to help please contact the BFA at competitions@britishfreediving.org

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British Indoor Freediving records sent crashing for second time in under two weeks

Friday 16th March 2012: — Three British freediving athletes set incredible new records at the UK Indoor Nationals last weekend on 10th and 11th March; Georgina Miller pushed her own static record even further for the third time with 6 minutes 20; John Moorcroft took Chris Crawshaw’s brand new record with a Dynamic No Fins (DNF) swim of 153m; and to top off the excitement Chris reclaimed his record within the hour with an incredible DNF swim of 163m.

Georgina Miller, or George as she is known, has been training and competing for a few years now, but really found her confidence in 2009 when she made her first mark on the British records, with a static performance of 5 minutes 46 seconds. Since then she has gone from strength to strength, her second record coming just three months later when she became the first woman to break the magical six minute mark with a new records of 6:04. She knocked that record with 6:11 and now tops that with 6:20! George has represented the UK at all recent World Championships and also serves on the British Freediving Association.

She said: I had a great weekend getting a national record in the static of 6:20 and a first overall for the ladies. I would like to thank Daan Verhoeven who was a fantastic coach and has put lots of work into helping me, particularly in static. Thanks also to Orca for the wonderful sponsorship of the comp with a Breathe suit

John Moorcroft is one of British freedivin’s most consistent and persistent athletes and not only did he make a stunning performance with his second British record of 153m DNF (first in 2000 STA 5:05) at this year’s Indoor Nationals, he was also honoured with an Outstanding Achievement Award by the BFA for a decade of service to the freediving community. John’s commitment to competitive freediving goes back to 2000 when he competed in the 3rd ever AIDA World Championships in Ibiza. This weekend he not only took second place in DNF but also came third overall in the men’s competition. He is now in training for the UK Depth Nationals in Chepstow in May where he hopes to be in the mid-50s in Constant No Fins (CNF) and mid-60s in Constant Weight (CWT).

John said: Basically I’m really pleased with my record even if it only lasted an hour. My training is going well, and thanks go to Steve Millard for his coaching. I started snorkeling at the age of nine, and now at 44 my passion for breathhold diving depth and spearfishing mainly is stronger than ever. Thanks to PoloSub (www.polosub.com) for sponsoring me a new suit to keep me warm for my depth training in cold UK quarries over the next few months!

Chris Crawshaw is still cutting his teeth in freediving compared to John, but he is doing it in style. With two National Records in just two weeks, the first one was a beautiful 150m DNF hosted by www.totalfitness.co.uk and the second was a massive 163m in the main competition on the Saturday. This took the DNF record from 144m to a huge 163m, Chris has suddenly become a very compelling prospect for the future of British and possibly World freediving. He already has his first Worlds experience under his belt from the 2011 Indoor Championships in Lignano, Italy and is now setting his sights on even greater things. While he has a long way to go to the current DNF World record of 218m, with progression like this, who knows where he might end up!

Chris said: Thanks go first and foremost to Steve ‘raising the dead’ Millard because, as anyone who watches the video can see, without his coaching on the side it would probably have been a red card. That’s what it took, though, to put distance on John for whom I have so much respect as a diver and as a friend. I’m currently looking at a move out to New Zealand to train and to continue working as a doctor but the long term plan is to leave my job for a year and focus on the depth disciplines, providing I can find support and sponsors. It’s been such an incredible couple of weeks.

Thanks go to Steve Millard of Apneists UK, www.freedivers.co.uk for organising the event and coaching many of the athletes.

Prizes donated by Orca, Polosub, No Tanx and Emma Farrell

Thanks to www.totalfitness.co.uk for hosting the event.

We would like to thank the sponsors of this competition;

www.orca.com
www.polosub.com
liverpool.gov.uk/leisure-parks-and-events/leisure-facilities/
www.britishfreediving.org
www.sppv.co.uk
www.notanx.com
www.emma-freediver.co.uk

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The Great Northern – UK National (with guests) Pool Competition 2012

Saturday 10th March: DNF competition (with the option to do DYN for ranking only) Sunday 11th March: UK National pool competition in the STA and DYN disciplines (with the option to do DNF in the 50 metre pool for ranking only)

We are extending the dynamic no-fins competition on Saturday 10th March to accommodate more people after the successes of last year. It was an exciting competition which John Moorcroft of Apneists UK winning for the men and Liv Philip (with a National record no less) winning it for the girls. It is again to be held at the Liverpool Aquatics Centre, Wavertree. This has kindly been sponsored by Lifestyle leisure who are also helping us host the main event. We have invited Male and female divers capable of breaking the UK record with that intention and we will open it up to divers from abroad to get their respective NR’s in Dynamic No Fins. Also it will be an opportunity for some elite divers and also newbies to get their AIDA ranking points.

On the Sunday we wish to increase the numbers of those competing in those disciplines too. The Great Northern will provide the ideal opportunity for athletes in the UK and from the continent to gain AIDA ranking to be counted for their National Team selection. It’s also the perfect place to meet other Freedivers and meet some of the personalities in the sport. A compilation of pictures from last years event:

www.youtube.com

Convinced? Please visit our website for your enrolment form www.freedivers.co.uk

Still not convinced? Turn up anyway, there is a free viewing gallery come and cheer the rest on or you can come and help we need around 30 – 40 helpers over the weekend to make it run as smooth as years gone by. This is the pool event of the year, all clubs come to compete, with a friendly relaxed atmosphere it is a great event.

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New AIDA Instructor Trainer Announced in UK

The British Freediving Association is pleased to announce that Steve Millard has been approved as a new AIDA Instructor Trainer by AIDA International.

After making his application to the BFA where Steve showed exceptional
levels of commitment, skill and experience as an AIDA Freediving Instructor
to the AIDA education system, he was recommended to AIDA International as a
candidate in 2011. When Steve got the good news last week that he had been
approved as an Instructor Trainer he said ‘I am really happy to be given
recognition of all my hard work teaching using the AIDA education system
over the last several years’. Steve has worked alongside the BFA & AIDA
International to help develop freediving as a whole within the UK , and he
had to show achievements in his own freediving. Whilst teaching he
has upheld AIDA recommended safety guidelines and developed his freediving
school to provide opportunities for freedivers across the UK.

Steve will now be offering AIDA Instructor courses to suitable candidates in the UK. We look forward to seeing the same high standards of teaching from Instructors who train with him.

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Liv Philip Wins Riga Freediving Cup

On the weekend of February 11th & 12th 2012 three British athletes set out in the London snow, headed for an even more wintery destination. They were off to the AIDA Riga Freediving Cup 2012 to compete in the biggest indoor competition of the year in Eastern Europe. The competition invites you to take part as an individual and as a team. It was the third time that Riga gathered freedivers from the Baltic nations Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland & Finland, and the three UK athletes put on a good show.

Liv Philip, Tim Money and Gary McGrath who all train with London Freedivers in Richmond www.londonfreediving.org, competed on the first day in static and dynamic no fins. Liv won the static event with the best static she has done in a competition of 5:58. Later in the day Gary did one of his first DNF competition performances swimming a very stylish 82m. Tim swam an easy 111m to put him in 5th place, and Liv won the women’s event and was placed 6th overall in the DNF with an easy 110m swim.

After exploring a frozen lake where fishermen cut holes in ice which creaked underfoot as you walked on it, and your face froze after a few minutes in -10, the three cold Brits decided that freediving in Riga was best done in swimming pools and headed off on day two to the 50m pool complex. A memorial to its former soviet days, the pool had real atmosphere.

The Dynamic competition is always tough when you are amongst Eastern European Freedivers as they have access to great pools and many experienced athletes who train this discipline. The World Champion Goran Colak was at the event and swam a smooth 225m dynamic. Feeling inspired by watching other great divers, Tim did 163m dynamic performance to put him into 5th place in that event, his best competition distance to date and in beautiful style. Gary and Liv put in two solid performances of 115m & 134m respectively.

Liv Philip won the women’s competition overall and Goran Colak topped the men’s ranking both winning new tailor made Elios freediving suits. Tim, Liv and Gary hope to see some of the freedivers they met in Riga at the UK Championships in Liverpool in March.