Tag: 2012

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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.