Category: Records

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Dynamic no fins national record of 167m set by John Moorcroft at Manchester Classic Competition


Picture Credit: Sean Peters, Frogfish Photography

Wednesday, 4 June 2014; — John Moorcroft has broken the dynamic no fins (DNF) national record at the 2nd Manchester Classic competition, organised by Steve Millard of Apneists UK (www.freedivingcompetition.com), with a marathon swim of 167m. Chris Crawshaw previously held the record for his 163m swim at the Great Northern competition back in March 2012.

DNF has long been one of Johns strongest freediving disciplines and the only one that he trains regularly in the pool. When Moorcroft started training in 1999 at a 25m pool, there were no long fins were permitted. The world record was held by Frenchman Andy Le Sauce and was 125m, so when John swam 100m he realized he might have a talent for the discipline: “Back then nobody used neck weights or suits, it was purely a speedos and goggles job!”

Before long the world records for DNF got bigger and bigger and John stopped training the discipline as much, but he returned to it in 2009 and came close to a national record with a swim of 140m, but unfortunately blacked out upon surfacing. In 2012 he came back fighting with a 153m swim this time, taking Chris Crawshaws previous record of 150m, which at that stage was just days old, but it was a short lived victory as John explains: “My record lasted even less time, a matter of about an hour as Chris came back with a massive 163m.”

John credits Crawshaws record standing for the past two years despite his attempts on it, the most recent of which at the Great Northern in Liverpool earlier this year, failing due to a technical error in the surface protocol, a silly mistake he says, not caused by hypoxia. Looking back on his training in the run up to this years Great Nothern competition, John openly reflects “I put in a lot of training, something like 70 sessions over 3 months consisting of a combination of pool, hill running, depth and gym. It certainly helped me gain the fitness to be confident in regularly going beyond 150m but with hindsight I think I was over training; recently I’ve not been able to train so much due to work and the distances have if anything been a bit easier. Something to bear in mind.”

John attributes his success to his buddies and sponsors: “None of my freediving achievements would be possible without my regular training buddies in Apneists UK and of course Steve Millard who has coached me and provided great advice and training opportunities not just for me but for everyone up here in the northwest. I would also like to thank Alun George who has always been there to inspire and motivate me. And I am grateful to my two sponsors, Polosub and Carbonio GFT whose products I rely upon with my [other] training.”

John is now setting his sights on the open water and improving his depths in both constant weight disciplines (with fins CWT, and without CNF).

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Three National Records Made at 5th Great Northern International Pool Competition, Liverpool

Rebecca Coales breaks own UK National Record for a third time

 
Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

Tuesday 2 April 2014; — The 2014 Great Northern International Pool competition, incorporating the UK BFA National Pool Championships, took place on the weekend of 22 and 23 March, at Lifestyle Fitness Aquatic Centre in Liverpool (www.liverpool.gov.uk/lifestyles). Three national records were broken and there were many impressive performances by experienced and new athletes alike.

This was the competition’s fifth year and organiser Steve Millard of Apneists UK (www.freedivers.co.uk), delivered yet another fantastic competition, catering for 51 athletes representing 15 countries: ‘We had an amazing helper list, with safety divers based all over the UK coming from different clubs to support what is the most inclusive competition in the calendar. The media set was made up of many of the organiser’s favourite photographers and videographers, all highly skilled and each having their own take on shooting good footage.’ The competition was made up of a combined point score over three disciplines: dynamic no fins (DNF) on day one, static (STA), and dynamic with fins (DYN) on day two.

Antonio Del Duca travelled all the way from Venezuela to compete and with three solid performances he secured himself first place out of the men (142m DNF, 209m DYN, 06:11 STA). Second place went to Roman Walczyk of Poland (155m DNF, 205m DYN, 05:24 STA), and third to British Tim Money (117m DNF, 161m DYN, 05:31 STA). And as this was an International and National competition, the UK podium was made up of Tim Money placed first, Gary Lowe second (126m DNF, 167m DYN, 04:30 STA), and Gary McGrath in third place (100m DNF, 150m DYN, 05:20 STA). There were other notable male accomplishments with UK athletes Chris Crawshaw swimming 146m DNF, Nick Uzel 124m DNF, Adam Drzazga completing a hold of just under 7 minutes and Hungary’s Mike Benke and Romania’s Constantin Timosca both swimming themselves into national record territory with a 142m DNF and 146m DYN respectively.

The ladies gave a good show and were no less exciting with three British athletes taking the place on the podium for the International and UK part of the competition. Rebecca Coales delivered three well-executed dives, breaking her own national record for a third time no less, in the discipline of DNF with a mighty swim of 145m! Coales also swam 154m DYN and held her breath for 05:27 for STA. Georgina Miller took second place (105m DNF, 139m DYN, 06:15), and Beci Ryan came in third (129m DNF, 151m DYN, 04:35 STA).

As with previous years, there were a number of newbies taking part with some excellent accomplishments. The award for Best Female Newbie was given to British Claire Ellwood and Best Male Newbie to Jev Maligins from Latvia who both received three well-earned white cards for promising performances.

Steve had a wonderful group of volunteers on hand to help ensure the smooth running of the event. The safety crew as usual were spot on and the judges Pim Vermeulen, David Tranfield, Christina Suck and Kate Jardine were professional, encouraging and welcoming to all. The sponsors support and generosity in supplying fabulous prizes, helped make the competition even more special, they were: the British Freediving Association, Fins 4 U (www.fins4u.com), Aqua Sphere (www.aquasphereswim.com/uk), GLowe Fluid Goggles (gazza_lowe@hotmail.com), Lifestyles Fitness (www.liverpool.gov.uk/lifestyles), Orca (www.orca.com/gb-en), Apneists UK (www.freedivers.co.uk) and Blue Water Diving School (www.bluewater-freediving.co.uk).

Thank you Steve Millard for putting everything together and making it all possible!

Video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZs5eO6Vlp8

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Another Freediving record falls during Huddersfield competition… this time Dynamic No Fins (DNF)

Rebecca Coales, trained by Steve Millard of the freedivers.co.uk group, managed to extend her own record from 120 metres to 134 metres distance underwater swimming doing just breast stroke. The total dive time took 2 minutes and 52 seconds at the Huddersfield Stadium health and fitness complex run by Kirklees leisure kirkleesactive.co.uk on Sunday the 17th November. It was overseen by internationally qualified judges from the main Freediving agency, AIDA International.

Rebecca is a yoga teacher and uses a wide range of yoga techniques in her training to build physical strength for swimming, mental focus and relaxation. Rebecca said “The competition atmosphere was very relaxed and so focusing on my dive felt easy. My main problem has been shaking off a winter cold in time for my performance. Rebecca prepares for her dives with gentle stretches, music and a deep guided relaxation. She is a founder member of the Bristol Freedivers group and also trains with a local fin swimming club… omdiver.co.uk

A number of athletes from around the UK came to Huddersfield compete in one of three disciplines. Dynamic apnea with Fins (DYN), which is swimming horizontally, as far as one can, wearing a single mono-fin or bi-fins. Dynamic no fins (DNF), swimming as far horizontally as one can with breast stroke. And static apnea (STA), lying stationary holding your breath for as long as you can. Each discipline has a point score, the highest point score wins, simple. We also have depth disciplines but this competition just concentrated on the pool.

Other note-able results were a 152 metre swim from Bart Lubecki of our Liverpool club using a mono-fin. Masa Sorn took the overall second place turning at 150 metres, also mono-fin propelled. And 5 minute 10 second breath hold from relative newcomer Jason Amson-Orth, and a 4 minute 46 second breath hold from Deb Gaskell, who only started freediving in the last few months.

As Freediving grows steadily in the North of England, we have been running professional courses and have had groups operating for well over a decade. Freediving however isn’t just about competition; it is also an enjoyable recreational activity taking us to all parts of the country. freedivers.co.uk started in Manchester but we have clubs in Liverpool, some in Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland and Crewe with people travelling to us from far afield. There are many opportunities for people to start to try Freediving nowadays. It is a great sport for increasing fitness and losing weight, as a confidence builder for Scuba divers, for snorkelers we can give you an improvement in style and ability helping those wanting to explore the reefs on holiday and of course it holds the exciting possibility of records for those who have good swimming style.

Freediving is an extremely personal sport, you do your own dive on the day, but at the same time you never dive alone without someone properly looking after your safety. I think this, in part, is one of the reasons for the strong, welcoming, community spirit within the sport and, all divers encourage the best out of their peers whatever their goal may be.

This competition was also be a good opportunity to make sure every wrinkle is ironed out of the background organisation for the International competition we have on the 22nd/23rd March 2014 in Liverpool. We have some camera testing to do to make it really special. Above is the intro video from this years competition, videos of Huddersfield will go up on the ApneistsUK facebook page in the next couple of days Apneistsukfreedivingcompetitions

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British Team Fly the Flag at the Freediving Depth World Championships in Greece & Liv Philip brings home a Medal!

Sunday 29th September 2013; — Between the 15th and 22nd September the AIDA Individual Depth World Championship took place in the deep waters of the bay of Kalamata, Greece. Around 150 athletes from more than 30 nations took part to challenge themselves and compete for the deepest dive in Constant No Fins (CNF), Constant Weight (CWT), and Free Immersion (FIM). Each discipline stood alone and encouraged specialists in each area to excel.

Great Britain was represented by a team of 10 divers, many of whom have sprung from the busy freediving clubs around the UK. The first competition day was CNF, and athletes awoke early to find a cloudy, chilly day in contrast to the sunshine of previous days. Competition was scheduled to run from deep to shallow for safety reasons allowing the deeper dives to commence early, when conditions are generally better. After a fast transfer boat five minutes from shore, athletes arrived at their allotted time to prepare for their dive in a fantastic set-up provided by Stavros Kastrinakis the Organiser. An incredible crew of safety divers watched over the divers on the warm-up lines, towed them to floating dry areas to relax, and onto one of three competition lines which were manned by teams of AIDA International judges.

The surface water temperature had dropped by two degrees from previous days and was dark and shadowy because the sun was hidden by thick cloud. This did not deter the Brits however as although many of the team had spent some months training in Dahab, a large number had travelled direct from the UK having had limited training in the cold quarries back home. Two such athletes represented Team GB in the challenging CNF event. John Moorcroft completing a valiant 61m dive to be disappointed by a DQ for an unfortunate pull on the line which the rules do not allow in this event. Liv Philip, a London based athlete decided to go for a tactical depth with a dive to 50m: ‘I knew this would be a challenging but safe dive and I had to factor in such things as conditions, and the water had been getting colder by the day’ Liv explained. This paid off as Liv surfaced from a strong dive to get a white card from Californian judge Grant Graves. She beat competitors from Russia and Japan to bring home her first bronze medal from a World Championship. Liv said ‘I’m really happy, getting the medal gives a nod of recognition for all the hard work and dedication of all the UK self funded freedivers, plus I really like bling!’. Natalia Molchanova did it again setting a new World record and winning gold with a dive of 69m, and Morgan Bourchis of France did a beautiful 87m dive to take gold in the men’s competition.

After two days allowing athletes to rest and train, the tension of CWT day built as the announced performances were published. Two men, Dave Mullins (NZ) and Alexey Molchanov (RUS) announced World records of 128m adding to the excitement. The sun came out and the conditions started off calm, but slowly conditions got bumpy, testing the athletes who could best deal with the nature of this ocean competition. There were good dives from London freedivers Gary McGrath 67m, Liv Philip 62m, and Georgina Miller 47m and from John Moorcroft who put a fin on to dive 67m for the northern contingent. The Biritsh divers held their own in rough seas and showed great strength of character. The British athletes were keen to point out that their much liked team mate Mike Board, who looked on-form to be the first British man to 100m in CWT ‘is really strong and we know he will be back to do it next time” after he suffered an ear injury during the pre-comp. The CWT was won by Alexey who set a new World record, and his mum the Russian grandmother, proved unbeatable yet again in the women’s category!

By the final day, many of the athletes nerves had subsided, and the ocean rewarded them by giving them perfect conditions to take part in the final discipline of Free Immersion. Gary McGrath had a beautiful dive to 70m bringing him a white card, an excellent 10th place and a wonderful days diving to remember. John Moorcroft dived to 61m showing what a strong all round athlete he is by completing all three disciplines. Newcomers Richard Bevan and Louisa Collyns both dived to 56m and Chris Laycock to 36m with excellent results in their first World Championship. Liv Philip completed her run of white cards with a PB of 66m bringing her into 7th place in this discipline. The gold medals were taken by William Trubridge and Natalia Molchanova.

All that was left to do was to thank the organisers, judges and safety team, collect the medals and PARTY down on the beach until the small hours under the shadow of the Kalamata mountains and next to the big blue sea that had kept all the divers safe throughout their dives!

The BFA would like to congratulate all the Freedivers who took part and entering into the spirit of this fantastic bi-annual event. We hope they all enjoyed the experience and have a greater understanding of the sea as a result. We would also like to thank Elios wetsuits on behalf of the British Freediving Team for their support (http://www.eliossub.com/index.php/en/).

Full results can be found on the British Freediving Association Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfreediving/).

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The UK Female Dynamic No Fins (DNF) Freediving record is broken!

On the 31st July, 2013 at 10.05pm Rebecca Coales broke the current female DNF record at the Total Fitness centre in Walkden, North Manchester. For those new to Freediving, DNF is swimming as far as you can horizontally in a swimming pool without the aid of fins.

The record had previously been held continuously, by Liv Philip, since 2007. Rebecca with a very comfortable dive beat the 116m that was on the board, and pushed the distance to 120m, which is well within her Personal best (PB), in a dive time of 2:24 minutes.

Rebecca is a founder member of the Bristol No Tanx Freedivers group where she trains with friends. She was a relative newcomer to the competition circuit, only starting to explore her potential in the last 6 months starting with a no-fins clinic, and mono fin clinic with Steve Millard of the Apneists UK group learn2freedive , based in the North of the UK. Recently she earned the right to represent her country in the World Freediving Pool Championships and with this new record it has placed her firmly on the map. Rebecca runs the Yoga website and courses which is the perfect cross training for Freedivers.

The video and a short story of the dive can be found here.

Record attempts can be organised for those wishing to gain National records in the UK. Thanks to the dream team who came and supported the event.

Athlete: Rebecca Coales
Organiser: Steve Millard

Judge: Gary Lowe
Judge: David Tranfield

Judges Assistant: Fiona Cahill

Safety Diver: James Cluskey
Safety Diver: Steve Millard

Videographer / Photographer: Sean Peters http://www.sppv.net/

Surface Coach: John Moorcroft

Medic: Dr P. Taylor

Thank you to the management and staff of Total Fitness Walkden for hosting the event and their continued support of UK Freediving athletes and students. Please visit here for more details to join the gym.

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New UK CNF National Record by Dave Kent

Sunday 28th July 2013; — On Saturday 27th July, in Dahab, at the most recent of the Little Blue Hole competitions, arranged by Brian Crossland of Blue Ocean Freedivers, British Freediver Dave Kent smashed his own National Record in the discipline of Constant Weight No Fins by swimming to an amazing depth of 70 meters.

It was only two years ago in September 2011 that Dave competed at his first major competition in Kalamata at the AIDA Depth World Championships, where on the opening day he gained his first National Record in CNF by swimming down to 62m. The following month at Dahab’s Blue Hole no less, he swam down a further 4 meters, increasing the record to 66m.

At the competition on the 27th, Dave had to swim down to the previously announced depth, marked with a weight at the end of a rope, and back without the use of fins, propulsion aids or pulling on the rope to assist him. CNF requires, as well as other things, a high level of technique, coordination, equalisation and buoyancy. Dave said that his training leading up the competition, his first one of the year, had gone well with solid 70m plus dives over the last month.

However in Dave’s own words, like most best laid plans, things didn’t go 100% as they should have done! On the day of the dive, Kent miscalculated his warm-up time and found himself getting cold during the two minute Official Top countdown, which is the countdown the athlete hears just before their competition dive. The cold is not conducive to relaxation and this combined with nerves, resulted in a not so comfortable descent compared to Dave’s training dives. This might have been detrimental to a less experienced diver, however his training and discipline, clearly put him in good stead. He was pleased with his dive time of 2:35, as he had announced 2:40 and the ascent part of the dive was very comfortable and was made in 1:15, it was Dave said the most positive part of the dive. This is also the part of the dive, which is going to give him the confidence in striving towards 80m, which he has his sights set on as his next goal.

Dave is now heading back to the UK for a short break after which he will return to Dahab where he is planning on competing in another competition at the end of August as his final preparation for the Aida Individual Depth World Championships in Kalamata in September. Brain Crossland (organiser of the Little Blue Hole competition), coaches Dave whilst he is in Dahab and has done for the past three years. Dave has also been working with Aharon Solomons through his remote coaching program, and trained with him last October and earlier this year where the main focus was solely on equalization, which Dave says, is arguably the single biggest change in how I dive now compared to 12 months ago.

Currently on a career break from his job in Sussex Police who have allowed him once again to take un-paid leave in preparation for this year’s World Championships, Dave is financing himself from his previous years savings and he says, basically letting go of most, if not all, of his worldly possessions to fund this year’s training. It’s been a huge sacrifice, and a difficult one at times – but one that is paying off when you look at Dave’s results, and he clearly has a lot more in there to give!

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Tandem No Limits World Record by Stavros Kastrinakis & Andrea Zuccari

Liv Philip headed the safety team for Andrea Zuccari and Stavros Kastrinakis’ Tandem World Record of 126 meters on 21st January 2013 at the new Freediving World Apnea Center in Sharm El Sheikh. Andrea Zuccari went on to secure the Italian National Record in No Limits by going down to an incredible 155 meters, a record previously held by the legendary Umberto Pelizzari. The record was judged by the UK’s David Tranfield and Liv Philip was the Head Safety.


Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

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Mike Board is Britain’s deepest man – 96m Constant Weight

Monday 10th December 2012; — Mike Board has officially claimed his place as Britain’s deepest man; at the Vertical Blue competition last month he pushed the men’s Constant Weight record of 91m to 92m, 94m and finally 96m. He attempted 100m to become the first Brit to officially cross the line, but despite being conscious on the surface was disqualified for forgetting to remove his noseclip.

Mike had already made his mark on British freediving with two National Records in the discipline of Free Immersion (pulling himself down and up a submerged, weighted rope) to a maximum depth of 83m. These records, and his closest of misses at the 100m, really solidify Mike’s reputation as an outstanding freediver.

The competition got off to a wobbly start as nerves got the better of Mike in this, his first, attempt at the lauded CWT title. On 20th November Mike turned early at 88m on his first attempt at 92m, however two days later managed to pull the record out of the bag with a dive to 92m in two minutes and 50 seconds.

With the record secured, the pressure was off, and things began to get very exciting for the British freediving instructor and owner of freediving school, Freedive Gili in Indonesia. On 26th November, Mike did a far more comfortable dive to 94m one second faster than his previous record, and on 28th he hit an incredible 96m the same depth as fellow Briton Sara Campbell’s former World Record in two minutes 51 seconds.

Buoyed by his success Mike decided to take a risk on his final dive and attempt the magic 100m. To all intents and purposes it was a clean, successful dive, however the protocol of competition requires that a diver removes all facial equipment before giving the ‘OK’ sign to the judges. Mike forgot to remove his noseclip, thereby disqualifying this attempt as an official British record.

Mike said: After having narrowly missed the National Record at the Worlds in Kalamata last year I set my sights on Vertical Blue to really test my ‘depth legs’. Equalisation looked like being my main barrier to achieving it, but with a few tweaks, which clearly worked, any by increasing the speed of my dives to reduce my hypoxia at the end of the dives, I not only stole the record from Dave King, but I broke my own record twice over! The Worlds are being held again in Kalamata next year and you can put money on me attempting the 100m once more officially then! For now it’s back to work in Gili, and training whenever I can find the time and depth.

Liv Philip, one of the UK’s top female divers, was also at Vertical Blue, and came third in the No Fins category with a dive to 50m, and an excellent fourth place overall after a very tough and tight battle with Japan’s Tomoko Fukuda.

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British Freediving Team holds strong at AIDA Freediving World Champs in France

This September (8th to 16th) saw the biggest freediving World Championships so far. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of AIDA, freediving came home to Nice, France the birthplace of AIDA all those years ago. 120 athletes were supported by a safety and logistics crew of well over 100 people.

Team UK 2012

The team this year consisted of Georgina Miller, Liv Philip (captain), and newcomer Beci Ryan for the women, and Gary McGrath, John Moorcroft and Tim Money for the men. We also had the support of two reserves, James Cluskey and Gary Lowe. Sara Campbell was also there teaching free yoga and meditation to the athletes.

The team was very kindly once again sponsored by top Italian wetsuit manufacturer Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com) and team kit was generously provided by British dive fashion brand SevenTenths (www.seventenths.com). The team is also grateful for sponsorship from Oceanic (www.oceanicuk.com), for providing us with amazing new dive computers by Aeris and lava core wear. This company is in exciting talks with the BFA’s sponsorship officer, James Cluskey for a longterm mutually beneficial relationship and we look forward to being able to announce exciting news in the very near future on this front.

Sevententh Sponsors Team UK 2012

With challenging conditions both in and out of the water a special mention should be made to Gary McGrath for his impressive personal best of 68m in Constant Weight. Tim Money also managed a new personal best in Constant weight of 60m. John Moorcroft who, after over 30 years in the sport is also still pushing his depths to never-before reached numbers – 67m in competition! Beci also did amazingly well, having started the sport this year, she entered the competition with a spirit of courage and endeavour and, despite very unfamiliar and stressful surroundings for a beginner, also delivered personal bests in all three disciplines! In The pool we saw another personal best in dynamic from Georgina Miller of 133m, she also made 6th place overall in the women’s static, Tim Money also delivered a very strong 169m. Liv, George, and Tim are seasoned athletes who also delivered consistent and strong performances, both competing and coaching the less experienced members of the team, which is a tall challenge at such a big and important competition.

A strong captain in Liv Philip, with support, coaching and fabulous photography by Daan Verhoeven and coaching and general care from Stavros Kastrinakis made a difficult event a success.

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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