On the 12th July 2010 Dave King dived a stunning 91m CWT at the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt setting a new UK record.
To read the editoral and watch the BBC interview with Dave’s dive please visit the BBC by clicking here.
3rd Mediterranean Freediving World Cup
Seven British athletes attended the 3rd Mediterranean Freediving World Cup, between 6th and 20th June 2010, hosted in Kalamata Greece by Stavros Kastrinakis. Liv Philip, Georgina Miller, Maria-Teresa Solomons, Sue Pugh, Tim Money, David Tranfield and Mark Harris all competed.
In addition, Long-standing BFA committee member Ben Noble competed, representing Australia.
Photo provided by Laura Storm
A summary of their key achievements follows:
- 2nd place for Maria-Teresa Solomons in the Women’s overall results
- 3rd place for Liv Philip in the Women’s overall results
- 3rd place for Mark Harris in the Men’s overall results
- 2nd place for Maria-Teresa Solomons, Sue Pugh and Georgina Miller in the Women’s team results
- A new British record in Constant-Weight No-fins of 53 metres for David Tranfield
- A new British record in Free Immersion of 70 metres for Mark Harris
- A new Australian record in Variable Weight of 100 metres for Ben Noble
- A new Australian record in No-Limits of 105 metres for Ben Noble
Mike Board claims his first British Record 68m FIM – Friday 26th March 2010
The British men’s Free Immersion freediving record has fallen to a new-comer. Mike Board, training with Sara Campbell at her Discover Your Depths training camp in March, set the new record of 68m with a dive time of two minutes 39 seconds on Monday 22nd March.
Mike, already a freediving instructor, runs his own school near Bali on the idyllic island of Gili Trawangan. He completed the dive on the second day of competition.
Mike said: I didn’t really have any goals when I came to train with Sara in Dahab, simply to improve my own diving and become a better instructor as a result. However, my progress was so fast once she taught me the mouthfill properly, the British FIM record suddenly came into view.
Sara said: Mike trained with me for three weeks and am thrilled by his progress he arrived a 43m diver and leaves with a really impressive National Record, and is more or less touching 70m. He absolutely deserves this result and I look forward to seeing his name at the top of results lists in the future.
At the same event, Sam Still, who became World Champion in static five years ago, made an impressive come-back to the competition circuit after four years out, with two strong dives, racking up a total of 124 points to put him in first place in the competition overall. Mike came a very close second with 121 points after equalisation problems forced him to turn early on his attempt at 70m Constant Weight on day one.
Most of the divers were competing with a hope of qualifying for the British Team going to the World Championships in Okinawa, Japan later this year. However, many were less successful, several competing for the first time ever and learning valuable lessons in terms of the rules for international competition and the surface protocol.
Sara added: Many divers forget that a successful competitive dive is 50 percent the dive, 50 percent technical details and rules, which must be studied and practiced ahead of a competition as much as the actual depth and breathhold training.
To contact Mike please click here
Great Northern 2010 – by Emma Farrell
On Sunday 28th March 2010 I, along with Matt Kitchen were the AIDA Judges for the BFA Great Northern Pool Competition at the Liverpool Aquatics Centre. For me, competitions are always an experience, but being out of the water made it a lot more fun.
Being pool side and watching the athletes compete meant that not only did I have the benefit of seeing all the preparation, performances and technique, but I was also given an amazing snapshot of the state of UK Freediving in the run up to the team world championships in Okinawa and the world cup in Greece and it’s looking really healthy. This competition was all about unifying the various groups around the UK to put forward a united front.
First place for the men was taken by David King with a storming 6.58 static and 217m dynamic swim creating a new British record. He was coached fantastically by George Miller who came second in the women’s comp, their electric blue suits marking them out as team Smurf. The only thing missing was Papa.
Sam Still of Apneists UK training at the moment in London, came second for the men, since his phenomenal position as world champion just a few short years ago, and then semi-retirement after the Dahab bombings, Sam was poolside demonstrating Qi Gong and an incredible physique, and back in the water ‘just taking it easy’ with two solid white card performances. Stuart Bond of Apneists UK was just behind him in third with a lovely 150 dynamic.
The competition was organised by Steve Millard of www.freedivers.co.uk, assisted by Stuart Bond of the BFA. Steve has been instrumental in growing British Freediving in the North West and in a few short years has an active club of over 50 and great new talent including the Buckley mermaids (Mandy with a 150m dynamic and her sister-in-law Alison with a solid 100m in her first competition) and also Chris Laycock who won ‘best newbie’ with an easy 123 dynamic swim.
Even though the ladies were thinner on the ground and we were missing big hitters such as Sara Campbell, the competition was very close with great performances from Liv Philip who came first in front of George Miller and Sam Kirby.
As a judge, my job was made all the easier by incredible organisation and facility, support from a great team and well drilled athletes. click here to watch Daves amazing swim.
Sponsors:
Liverpool Aquatics Centre
BFA
First Prizes – Orca suit
Second Prizes – Trygon
Third Prizes – No Tanx monofin bags
New UK record!
The Richmond Freediving Club is pleased to announce a new UK record in the Womens Static Apnea discipline.
On Thursday 20th August 2009, at the AIDA individual indoor World Championships 2009, Aarhus Denmark, Georgina Miller completed a static breath hold of 6 minutes 4 seconds.
The new record beats the previous time of 5:46, set in May 2009, also by Georgina Miller.
Georgina has been competing for 2 years and trains at Pools on the Park Richmond, and at Fusion Leisure, Camberwell.
For more information on freediving visit Richmond Freediving Club
3 New Womens Freediving National Records in One Day!
The BFA is pleased to announce that 3 new Women’s National Records were set on Sunday 31st May at the 2nd Great Camberwell Breath Hold in Camberwell Pool, Central London. The Freediving pool competition, organised by athlete and UK record holder Liv Philip saw freedivers from all over the UK and the world, compete in static, dynamic and dynamic no-fins disciplines.
In the run up to the World Indoor Freediving Championships in Aarhus in Denmark in August, some of the athletes were using the event for valuable competition experience and rankings. Alongside them were many new athletes who were competing for the first time. Organiser Liv Philip says ‘we wanted to create a competition with a different atmosphere that would be motivating and encouraging for athletes and give the as near perfect an environment as we could to help the atheltes stay relaxed and produce good performances‘. The girls especially took full advantage of the calm atmosphere – reflected by the result of 3 New National records being set during the day.
The first record of the day went to Georgina Miller who did an excellent static breath hold of 5:46 putting, 11 seconds on Livs existing record, well deserved after some months concentrated training on this difficult discipline. The next record went to Mandy Buckley with a wonderful swim of 140m to set a new Dynamic-with-Fin record. Both athletes gaining their first National record and beating there male counterparts by some measure. The final record came right at the end of the day seeing Liv Philip break her own existing record and swim 106m dynamic-no-fins to gain her 8th National record in Freediving. ‘I was very happy to do it as it was tough combining competing and organising – now Im looking forward to going home and sleeping!‘
Camberwell Breath Hold 2009 – The three new national record holders
The overall Winners with combined scores from 2 disciplines were Georgina Miller for the Women and Chris Holmes for the men, who was competing for the first time in a national competition, completing a static of 4:51 and a nice dynamic of 133m. Other athletes in the overall placings were Barbara Jeschke from Germany experimenting after swappping onto monofin for the first time and Martin Ashkenazy-Jones with a first rate no-fins dive and PB of 104m taking him into 3rd place overall just behaind Alan Barber who had broken his Dynamic record the day before. There were over 15 pbs in competiton at the event.
Athletes can now try to transfer their pool skills to depth as one of the next ebents on the UK freediving calendar is ‘SaltFree Double Dip’ competition held at NDAC in Chepstow www.saltfreedivers.com . Athletes get to choose 2 freediving depth disciplines over two days.
The event was supported by Fusion Lifestyle, Diving Matrix, Eat Natural Bars and the British Freediving Association.
NoTanx Competition
On May 30th NoTanx held a small comp…
The objectives were two fold…
1. The opportunity for some of UK top athletes to attain AIDA points.
2. To test the organisation for the NoTanx Laurie Comp in July.
Everyone had a thoroughly good time, and although there were only 8 competitors, 4 of them gained places on the National Team.
Alan Barber set a New UK Dynamic Record of 202m.(congratulations Alan)
Thank you to the NoTanx members for running the comp, MT, Steve G and Gad for judging and to Immersion.
David King Sets New British Record in Constant Weight
On Sunday the 24th of August 2008, at the AIDA Freediving Team World Championships 2008 Pre-Competition in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Dave King’s dive to 80 metres set a new British record in the Men’s Constant Weight discipline. This beats his previous record of 78 metres, set in November 2007. David has held previous British records in Static Apnea and Dynamic Apnea and is part of Freediving Team-GB, who are about to compete in the Team World Championships 2008.
Liv Philip Sets New British Record in Static Apnea
On Saturday 23rd August 2008, at the AIDA 2008 World Team Freediving Championship Pre-Competition in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Liv Philip completed a performance of 5 minutes 35 seconds, which beats her previous record of 5 minutes 32 seconds, set in July 2007. Liv is part of Freediving TeamGB, who are about to compete in the main World Team Championships and also holds the British records in Dynamic apnea and Dynamic Apnea Without Fins.
The Pre-Competition has given team athletes a chance to compete as individuals in a number of disciplines, and David is the second British athlete to set a national record there.
Philip Clayton Sets New British Record in Dynamic Apnea Without Fins
On Saturday 9th August 2008 at the Wellington Winter Freediving Championships in New Zealand, Philip Clayton completed a performance of 132 metres. The new record beats the previous one of 127 metres set by Alan Barber in February 2008. Philip, 40, originally from Lancashire, lives in New Zealand where he works as a Consulting Engineer. He has been competitively freediving for 2 years and this is his first UK record.