Category: Pool competition

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Bristol Blue 2018 BFA National Championship

This weekend, Bristol Freedivers hosted their 3rd Bristol Blue Freediving competition, which this year incorporated the British Freediving Association’s National Freediving Championships.  The event took place across two days, with the dynamic (with fins) taking place at Hengrove Park Leisure Centre on Saturday 24 March and the dynamic no fins and static at Horfield Leisture Centre on Sunday 25.

33 athletes gathered in Bristol from all across the UK and from across the water too – 9 nationalities in total were represented.  The level of experience varied vastly, from world champions and national record holders to 7 people competing at their first competition. Testament to a fantastically well run event, twenty-seven new personal bests were set.

The winners of the National Freediving championships were Adam Drzazga and Beci Ryan and the overall male and female winners of the competition were Stig Pryds and Camilla Salling Olsen, true to their Viking roots they came and conquered! The gold medalists for the static element were Georgina Miller (06:28) and Adam Drzazga (06:13), for dynamics it was Camilla Salling Olsen (184m) and Stig Pryds (192m) and for dynamic no fins Beci Ryan (149m) and Stig Pryds (150m).  The standard of newbie performances this year was so high, with Rosie Williams (04:32 STA, 111m DYN, 100m DNF) and Mik Bjorkenstam (05:30 STA, 109m DYN, 117m DNF) crowned the winners.  Newbies David Mellor and Alex Atkins also deserve a mention, the competition for this newbie spot was unusually high and their performance were impressive with a lot more clearly still to give.

Freediving is an incredibly wonderful and strange sport where at one moment athletes are trying their utmost in the water to give their best performance and at the next, coaching someone else to reach their peak performance, even if it means they outrank you or beat you to a place on the podium.  Bristol Blue’s 3rd competition was no exception to this rule, the organisers managed to create a calm, relaxed atmosphere, belying the incredibly hard work and effort that had clearly gone on well in advance of the event and behind the scenes on the day – from training and arranging the super slick safety team,  organising the AIDA judges and assistant judges, securing (top) sponsors and managing an enthusiastic and friendly team of volunteers.  Keeping control a bunch of nervous freedivers attempting to get into their zone of zen isn’t always easy and they did a wonderful job!

Last and not least, huge thanks to the amazing sponsors who provided fanstasic prizes and support – MARES – just add water, Finisterre, British Freediving Association, Freedive Ibiza and Saltfree Divers.

Words by Beci Ryan, Photography by Daan Verhoeven.

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Bristol Blue 2017 Competition

Bristol Blue Freediving Competition

November 2, 2017

 

Bristol successfully hosted its second annual international freediving competition, covering the three main pool disciplines.

 

The two-day event, which took place on October 21 and 22 at Horfield Leisure Centre, was hosted by Bristol Freedivers and was supported by the Mares, Saltfree Divers, Dr Apnea, the British Freediving Association, Lobster Freediving Weight, Finisterre, Nomenca, D Smith Flooring, and Blue Water Freediving School. The event attracted experienced competitive divers as well as some new faces, both from the UK and overseas.

 

The overall winners of the competition were:

  • Male: 1st Mike Board; 2nd Aristomenes Vounakis; 3rd Eóin Clarke
  • Female: 1st Lucelle Simms; 2nd Beci Ryan; 3rd Rose Van-Gowler

 

Eóin Clarke set a new Irish National Record for his 137m DNF swim.

 

In the individual disciplines, the winners were:

 

STA

  • Male: 1st Adam Drzazga 6:35; 2nd Aristomenes Vounakis 6:05; 3rd Michael Board 5:46
  • Female: 1st Hannah Thurston-McGowan 5:08; 2nd Lucelle Simms 4:47; 3rd Rose Van-Gowler 4:04

 

DNF

  • Female: 1st Beci Ryan 120m; 2nd Lucelle Simms 104m; 3rd Johanni Nel 82m
  • Male: 1st Eóin Clarke 137m (NR); 2nd Michael Board 130m; 3rd Constantin Timosca 116m

 

DYN

  • Female: 1st Lucelle Simms 134m; 2nd Hannah Thurston-McGowan 130m; 3rd Beci Ryan 126m
  • Male: 1st Michael Board 200m; 2nd Philip Fennell 183m; 3rd Aristomenes Vounakis 151m

Best Newbies were: Male, Paul Sutton; Female: Hannah Thurston-McGowan.

In recognition of all those who sacrifice their time and make great efforts to ensure freediving competitions are a success, special prizes were given to Becca Warren for providing Safety and Shirley Turner for coaching.

 

Organiser and founding member of Bristol Freedivers Andy Jardine said: “This was our first two-day competition, covering all three pool disciplines. We had competitors from eight different nationalities and 18 PBs were set, including Eóin Clarke’s new national Irish record in DNF. It’s great that we had six different winners for each discipline, too, which highlights what a strong field of competitors there was. We’re already planning for bigger and better in 2018!”

 

Photos of the event and full results can be found at www.bristolfreedivers.co.uk/photos and at Facebook at Bristol Blue Freediving Competition.

 

*Accompanying photos taken by and courtesy of Neil Wood, Bristol Freedivers

 

Background information on the BFA and freediving 

1. The British Freediving Association (BFA) is the UK governing body of the international freediving organisation, l’Association Internationale pour le Développement de L’Apnée (AIDA). Founded in 1999, the BFA promotes recreational and competitive freediving, ratifies freediving records, and sponsors events for its members. The association also supports a growing network of affiliated freediving clubs throughout the UK. The BFA is a non-profit organisation and its committee is composed of volunteers. www.britishfreediving.org; www.aida-international.org

2. Freediving is the sport of diving underwater on one breath without the aid of mechanical breathing apparatus. The roots of freediving stretch back in time to the very origins of human development where the ability to hold our breath allowed us to gather food and resources at all depths. Today, the sport encompasses recreational activities like snorkelling and spearfishing as well as competitions. Some competitive disciplines include “static apnea” (a stationary breath hold in water), “dynamic apnea” (a horizontal swim underwater on one breath with or without fins) and “constant weight” (a vertical dive to depth on one breath with fins).

As with any extreme sport or sport involving water, freediving should only be undertaken with appropriate training and supervision. Freedivers draw upon a wealth of knowledge from within the freediving community to dive safely. Through ongoing training and education, freedivers develop increased awareness of and control over their bodies and minds. The BFA recommends that new freedivers take an AIDA freediving course.

 

Regular updates and news on UK freediving can be found at:

For further information please contact:

Louise Nelson, Press Officer

press@britishfreediving.org

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Bristol’s first International freediving competition a success

Bristol Blue Girls WinnersBristol Blue Dynamic

Picture Credit: Neil Wood, Bristol Freedivers

Bristol hosted its first international freediving competition on Sunday 27 November with 30 competitors diving for prizes in static apnea, dynamic and dynamic without fins. Alice Hickson won the overall competition for the ladies, and Adam Drzazga for the men. The ‘best newbie’ award was won by Dave McGowan for the men and Kate Leney for the ladies.

Eoin Clarke set a new Irish National Record for his 134m DNF swim, increasing his previous record distance by 17 metres. He said “I’m proud to have been able to represent Ireland and I hope this will encourage more Irish swimmers, home and abroad, to get involved in the life changing sport of freediving”. It certainly was a day for the Irish as Dave McGowan also set a new Irish National Record of 05:59 static. The Men’s DYN discipline was won by Mike Benke.

Phillip Fennell swam 162m DYN to claim the top prize for male dynamic swim. Alice Hickson won for the ladies DNF with a 154m swim, and Anita Jasso winning with a 150m DYN. Alice’s static of 06:36 minutes secured her the overall lead, and similarly Adam Drzazga’s static of 06:38 winning for the men.

On her win, local freediver Alice said “I felt anxious on the day for everything running well as I’d helped with preparation, and my partner was also competing. In the end I don’t think I had any nerves left for my own dives!” All the athletes we spoke to thanks the organisers, sponsors and volunteers for putting together the event. Adam Drzazga added “There was a very calm atmosphere throughout the entire competition. My dives for me were a challenge, however I did my best on the day and I am very pleased with my white cards.”

The competition, held at Horfield Leisure Centre in the North of the city, was hosted by Bristol Freedivers club, which has been active since 2008, supported by the British Freediving Association, PADI, Divesangha clothing and OMER diving equipment. Organiser and founding member of Bristol Freedivers Andy Jardine said “In Bristol we’ve been talking about running a competition for some time, so to make it happen was really exciting. The best part for me was seeing so many people from all over the UK, different clubs and new faces all getting together and having a great time”.

Some stages of the competition were streamed live through PADI’s online TV system. The morning static videos reached over 35,000 views and 18,000 views of the closing ceremony. We are encouraged by this increasing interest in freediving in the UK and abroad, and hope to see more new faces at competitions and recreational diving meets in the future.

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British freedive team perform at the World Championships in Kalamata, Greece

Carl Atkinson - Static at the 2016 AIDA World Championships, KalamataAdam Drzazga - Constant Weight at the 2016 AIDA World Championships, Kalamata
Georgina Miller - Dynamic at the 2016 AIDA World Championships, KalamataTim Money - Static at the 2016 AIDA World Championships, Kalamata

British divers Adam Drzazga, Tim Money and Carl Atkinson, with Adam Mustoe in reserve, formed the men’s team, finishing in 8th place behind winners Czech Republic, second place France and third place Russia.

Georgina Miller and Beci Ryan formed the women’s team, however Beci was unfortunately injured in training and didn’t compete, however she became a valuable team coach and assisted the organisers. Well experienced at top-level competition, Georgina gave three impressive performances including a new personal record in dynamic on the final day.

These World Championships are a team event, and everyone needs to work together to get a good result. The men’s team discussed a strategy and aimed at good, but not reckless, announcements in their depth dives (known as constant weight). Carl Atkinson, at his first World Championships, dived to 80m and Tim Money to 63m. Adam Drzazga reached 55m but unfortunately got a red card due to a technicality. Georgina Miller reached 51m.

This added some pressure on the men to “go big” in the next event, static apnea, which was Adam’s strongest and the team decided to be more aggressive with his performance to try and claw back some points. Carl achieved 4:57, Tim 5:47 and Georgina 6:31 which put her in 4th place for static amongst the ladies. Unfortunately, the men’s team strategy didn’t work, and resulted in a disqualification for Adam, so the team regrouped and ended in the final event dynamics with strong performances and white cards across both teams – 167m for Tim, 141m for Georgina, 130m for Carl and 123m for Adam.

Despite some setbacks, the British team enjoyed the calm, relaxed and inspirational atmosphere at the event. The race for gold in both sexes gave a nail-biting finish. The Japanese women’s team all pushed themselves to personal records to win gold, followed by the Czech Republic in second and Russia in third. Martin Valenta (CZE) swam 250m dynamic to ensure his men’s team won.

The British freediving team was kindly sponsored by Elios, DiveSangha, Saltfree divers and Orbiloc dive lights.

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DNF national record for Alice Hickson & Two World Records for Poland!

Alice Hickson Breaks Dynamic No Fins British Record at AIDA World Championships!

Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

180m DNF British Record & set at AIDA World Championships in Finland

On Saturday 2 July, Alice Hickson broke yet another national record, in the A-Final at the Individual AIDA Pool World Championships in Turku, Finland, swimming 180m without fins on one lungful of air (over 7 lengths of a 25m pool) and winning a silver medal. Alice held the previous British record of 174m, set at last year’s World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, for which she won a gold medal. The 180m swim was a personal best for Alice and was just meters short of the winning World Record dive of 185m by Magdalena Solich of Poland. This record marks a fifth for Hickson in a freediving career of just eighteen months!

Alice had this to say of her performance: “I felt more nervous than usual maybe because of other people’s expectations and yesterday wasn’t the best preparation, but I had a little word with myself and reminded myself that it’s not about the numbers of anyone else, just enjoy the dive and come up clean! And it’s still early days this is just the beginning of my freediving journey.”

Two World Records were also broken in the DNF World Championship A-Finals, both by Polish Freedivers, Magdalena Solich and Mateusz Malina, and both spectacular performances and strong. Magdalena swam 185m breaking Natalia Molchanova of Russia’s World record of 182m, set at the AIDA Pool World Championships in Belgrade in 2013. Natalia’s presence at World Championship events is sorely missed she was one of the most loved and revered freedivers to grace the sport of freediving. The icing on the cake for Poland came when Mateusz Malina broke his own World Record of 232m set just a few days earlier, swimming 244m (that’s over 9 lengths of a 25m pool).

For the first time ever in the history of the sport of freediving, people at home could watch the event unfold moment by moment with live streaming and commentary by Carla Hanson (AIDA International President) and Antero Joki (Finnish Freediver & AIDA International Technical Officer). This potentially marks a new era for competitive freediving.

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Alice Hickson Breaks Dynamic British Record at AIDA World Championships!

Alice Hickson Breaks Dynamic British Record at AIDA World Championships!

Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

Alice swam 200m on one breath & is through to A-Finals

On Wednesday 29 June at the Individual AIDA Pool World Championships in Finland, Alice Hickson swam 200m on one breath of air using a monofin (that’s 4 lengths of an olympic size swimming pool), breaking the British dynamic national record by 14m. The previous record, 186m, was held by Rebecca Coales set on 29 November 2014 in Stockport.

Asked about how she was feeling before the swim or if she had any expectations or goals in mind, Alice had this to say:

“I just went with the same old get in and do my best, come up clean, that’s all I can do. I didn’t have a number in mind, it’s only my 3rd ever top in dynamic. I just wanted to come up clean as I knew my mum might be watching on the live stream! During the dive I was thinking about the huge Waterpark next to the pool which were going to go play on in a bit.”

Impressively, Alice now holds all three pool discipline national records: in competition she has held her breath for 6 minutes 58 seconds, swam 174m with no fins and now 200m with a monofin. Alice has been freediving for less than two years and burst onto the scene in style last year’s Pool World Championships in Serbia when she won a gold medal and title of World Champion, a bronze medal and broke 3 national records. Not bad going for competing at her second ever competition!

The Pool World Championship in Finland is not over yet – athletes compete in the three pool freediving disciplines: static apnea, dynamic no fins and dynamic. The qualifying heats are now complete and Alice has won a place in all three of A-Finals which is quite a feat – it shows what an all-round athlete in the pool she is. The A-Finals will start on Friday 1 July and finish on Sunday 3 July.

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The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2016 Individual AIDA Pool World Championship in Turku, Finland (www.aidafinland.org).

The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2016 Individual AIDA Pool World Championship in Turku, Finland (www.aidafinland.org).

The competition will run from 25th June to 3rd July and we are sending a team of 5 athletes, two of whom hold Wild Cards* (which means they ranked top ten in the world for one or more of the three pool competition disciplines), they are: Alice Hickson*, Georgina Miller*, Lucelle Simms, for the women and Philip Fennell and Mark Gooding for the men. Also, Andy Jardine is taking up an important role of the team coach and captain for the event.

Last year’s World Championships in Belgrade saw Alice win two medals (gold in Dynamic No Fins and bronze in Static) and other UK athletes qualify for the final stages of the event. The BFA is confident this year’s team will perform to the best of their abilities and we wish them well.

The UK Team are all self-funded and to help them perform their very best they are being generously supported by Divesangha (www.divesangha.com).

Divesangha (www.divesangha.com) is made up of designers based in London; they are motivated by passion, uniqueness, innovation and a love for the sea. The word “sangha” means “association” or “community” in Pali and Sanskrit. They design and create basic, easy to wear clothes that give divers a proper identity. They call it “divewear” or “surface gear” and the designs mix fashion and sportswear, using functional fabrics and neutral colours. They manufacture ethically and locally, trade fairly, design wisely and consume responsibly. The divewear clothes are made in the UK as an exclusive, limited edition and they don’t use any plastic bags in their packaging when you buy from the website. This is the first time that Divesangha have sponsored the UK Team, we are delighted to have them on-board and the athletes will be proud to wear their surface gear!

Would you like to sponsor the UK Team? If so please visit our website for more information, or contact our Sponsorship Officer Jay Cluskey: sponsorship@britishfreediving.orgThe BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2016 Individual AIDA Pool World Championship in Turku, Finland (www.aidafinland.org).

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Winners of 7th BFA Great Northern freediving competition and UK Pool National Championships – Alice Hickson and Adam Drzazga

UK Pool National Championships - Alice Hickson  UK Pool National Championships - Adam Drzazga

Picture Credit: Dean Martin

Monday 11 April 2016; — On Sunday 10 April, the 7th Great Northern International and the BFA UK National Pool Championships, organised by Steve Millard of www.learn2freedive.com was held at Wright Robinson School Sports College in Manchester (http://wrightrobinson.co.uk/)

The Great Northern looked and felt a little different this year, being held on one day with two disciplines in the 25m pool, however athletes from the UK and Europe flocked to this friendly event with enthusiasm, with the promise of displaying some impressive performances.

We were not let down. The UK male winner was Adam Drzazga from Blue Water freediving club with two strong performances; a huge 7.18 STA and 154m DYN. Coming in second for the Brits was Steven Tasker with 135m DYN and 4.59 STA and very close in third Paul Butterworth, with 5.02 STA and 132m DYN, both from the local Apneists UK club. Notably both Steven and Paul swam in bi-fins rather than the usual monofin. In first place for International male was also Adam Drzazga. Coming in second with an impressive performance was Aristo Vounakis from Apnea Revolution club with 5.27 STA and 130m DNF, and Marco Piccioni in third place with 113m DNF and 5.47 STA. Eoin Clarke set an Irish National Record in his dynamic swim of 117m DNF.

The UK female winner was Alice Hickson, last year’s Newbie Award winner and also DNF World Champion in 2015, with a solid 130m DNF and 6:33 STA. Alice trains with the Bristol Freedivers club along with Rose Van-Gowler who came second with a 3.39 STA and 68m DNF. In third place with a 2.31 STA and 70m DYN was Kate Goodwin. Alice also took the top prize for International female, with Go Freediving Club’s Delphine Brise from France in second, swimming 115m DYN and 3.23 STA and Rose Van-Gowler in third. Camilla Argent set an Irish National Record for the ladies, swimming 80m Dynamic.The winners of the Newbie Awards were Delphine Brise and Phillip Fennell.

The Great Northern is a competition that celebrates achievements both in the pool and the hard training effort it takes to get there. It recognizes that freediving is not always about numbers and times but about personal achievements and obstacles overcome. Sometimes dives won’t go as planned and it shows the true strength of an athlete to learn from their experience and come back stronger next time. The sense of atmosphere at this year’s competition spoke volumes, with athletes from clubs all over the UK and indeed the world, coaching, congratulating and celebrating personal bests with genuine enthusiasm.

The official kit sponsors were: Omer Breathless Emotions (http://www.omersub.com/), part of the Aqua Sphere UK and Aqua Lung UK family, Blue Orb (http://www.blue-orb.uk/) and the British Freediving Association (www.britishfreediving.org).

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UK Team Selection – 2016 AIDA Pool World Championships

BFA AGM

Individual AIDA Pool World Championships Turku, Finland 25th June – 4th July 2016

UK Team Selection
Applications for the UK Team -2016 AIDA Pool World Championships in Turku, Finland are now open. The competition will take place from 25th June to 4th July and will include Dynamic with fins (DYN), Dynamic without fins (DNF) and Static apnea (STA).We hope to send a full team of 4 men and 4 women per discipline and a Team Captain/Coach (who may or may not be part of the competing team).Selection will be based on the highest proven performances in the three disciplines. AIDA world championship team selection will be by AIDA ranked points dated from 18 months prior to 15th March 2016. In case of candidates wishing to be considered who do not have AIDA ranked points a performance witnessed by an AIDA Judge or AIDA UK Instructor will stand at 80% of the resulting outcome.)

Application
If you are interested in competing for the UK in Finland, please let us know by 15th March. Please send an email to competitions@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since September 15th 2014 in Dynamic with fins (DYN), Dynamic without fins (DNF) and Static apnea (STA) with details of where this ranking was obtained. If you do not have a ranked performance in any or all of these disciplines, please let us know your current best performances in training, and when you anticipate seeing those ratified officially. If you anticipate achieving a higher ranked performance in any of the disciplines in the next few months, please also let us know that in your email. If your geographical location makes it difficult for you to gain a ranked performance, please let us know and we will take this into consideration.

If you are interested in going to Finland as Team Captain/Coach, please let us know you are interested by letting us know your experience in this area, and why you think you would be good for the job. Applications for the Team Captain/Coach position will be considered by the team once they have been selected, and appointed within one month of final team selection.

If you make the decision to apply for the 2016 team, you need to be available in Finland for the dates above.The BFA will be doing all it can to gather sponsorship and logistical support for the 2016 team. However, you also need to be sure you can afford your flights and expenses and the entry fee of 350Euros and accommodation costs.

All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

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Alice Hickson wins Gold & Bronze at AIDA Individual World Championships & Breaks two national records in DNF & STA

Four other Team Members also qualify for A & B Finals

UK Freediving Team Pool World Championships 2015

Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

The Individual AIDA Pool World Championships ran from 21st to 27th June in the city of Belgrade in Serbia, with 122 athletes from 27 countries in attendance. A team of eight British athletes made the trip to represent the UK and fly the flag: Adam Drzazga, Alice Hickson, Beci Ryan, Georgina Miller, Jason Kirkpatrick, Lucelle Simms, Rebecca Coales and Shirley Turner.

The team was made up of seasoned and novice athletes alike. Despite it being an individual event the athletes worked together as a team, offering competition advice and coaching one another’s performances. All the athletes on the team are self funded and this year they were grateful to receive sponsorship from Divesangha, Bounce Energy Balls and Beet-it shots.

From the onset the team looked strong, with three athletes, Rebecca Coales, Georgina Miller and Beci Ryan holding wild cards (meaning they ranked top ten in the world for one or more discipline), and Jason Kirkpatrick and Alice Hickson having won best newcomer at the National Pool championships in March at the Great Northern.

But no one could have predicted that a 25-year-old, Swim Coach and Occupational Therapist, who had been freediving 8 months and this just her second competition, would break three national records, win a gold and bronze medal and become a World Champion! But this is exactly what Alice Hickson did with ease, grace and humbleness.

On day one Alice came out and performed like a professional, breaking the UK national record in dynamic no fins (DNF) by swimming 153m (the previous record was 145m set by Rebecca Coales) and securing herself a place in the A-Finals. In the A-Finals Alice continued to impress by adding almost an entire length onto her previous performance, 21m to be exact, and coming up clean and strong at 174m; winning her a second national record, a gold medal and the title World Champion.

It was in static (STA) that Alice went on to win her bronze medal. In the qualifying heats, despite the challenging cold conditions, which put a number of other athletes off, she held her breath for 05:58. In the finals she increased her time to 06:58 and broke her third national record. Georgina Miller had set the previous static national record at 06:33 at the Great Northern on 22 March this year.

There were some strong performances from other members of Team GB, with Georgina Miller qualifying for the STA A-Finals and now ranking number 7 in the World. Shirley Turner and Adam Drzazga made the STA B-Finals and rank number 10 and 11 in the World. Beci Ryan qualified for the DNF and STA B-Finals. Lucelle Simms narrowly missed out on the DYN finals with a solid 166m swim. Jason Kirkpatrick at his first World Championships and his second ever competition did brilliantly, his performance in DYN was impressive, swimming 124m in bi-fins, not an easy feat.

With the Pool World Championship over, we now look forward to the AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, Cyprus. The UK Team and sponsors will be announced very soon, so watch this space!