UK Freedivers Smash National Records

Every year, the BFA selects the male and female National Champion based on competition results across all disciplines in the pool and open water. For UK divers this means training year-round and often having to travel abroad to reach the depths needed to excel on the world stage.The 2016 champions are Tim Money and Liv Phillip. Both athletes are cornerstones of British freediving; they are not only consistent high performing athletes on the pool circuit, but they rank at a high level in depth disciplines as well. The BFA would like to congratulate them both and wish them every success in 2017!

Liv Phillip commented: “It’s a real pleasure to receive the British Championship award again this year. It’s the 10th consecutive year I’ve won the British Championship, and every year has been very different as my freediving and my goals have developed. In the beginning I just wanted to hit the water with any excuse to do so, which is where my desire to do all the pool and depth disciplines came from. Now I’m a very experienced diver, things of course change, and I find new reasons to continue competition freediving. One thing that does not change is the freedom I feel from being in the water, and specifically in the sea. I made a competition personal best this year in constant weight with a dive to 75m, and the challenge in doing this was having very limited training time and resources, and very few training days doing depth in the sea. What I fall back on is a real joy of the water and the friends I get to share the challenges with along the way. I’d like to thank all the people who have supported me this year, and I’m looking forward to the 2017 Depth World Championship in Roatan in August.”

Tim Money commented: I love this award and am really chuffed to get it. It’s really challenging to get points on all disciplines, and almost see it as the pentathlon of freediving, as it’s very hard to train and do well across the board. My head says I should be more specific and concentrate on one event to progress, however the excitement factor throws that out the window and I have a go at everything, which is great fun. My main challenge is with time between teaching, family and work – I just don’t get to do enough diving or events. I managed to get to two events this year, so only just got points in all disciplines, and hope to do more in the future. I would really like to thank my family who let me run away to these adventures, and my employer (www.saba.com), as they help me with time to get to the World Championships.”

For more information, please contact Louise Nelson, Press Officer, British Freediving Association at press@britishfreediving.org.

Individual AIDA Depth World Championships Roatan 2017 UK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2017 AIDA Depth World Championships in Roatan, are now open.

The competition will take place from 22nd August -3rd September and will include Free immersion, constant weight and constant weight no fins.Selection for the team 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 28 February 2017. 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.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Roatan please let us know by 15th February. Please send an email to competition@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since September 2015 in Free immersion, constant weight and constant weight no fins 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 Roatan 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 2017 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Roatan for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and expenses and the entry feesIn the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2017 team.

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

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.

The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2016 AIDA Team World Championships!

elios Divesangha Salt Free Orbiloc

The 2016 AIDA Team World Championship in Kalamata (www.aidaworldchampionships.com), which will run from 17th to 25th September, in Kalamata, Greece.

The team comprises of 6 athletes: Georgina Miller, Beci Ryan, Carl Atkinson, Adam Drzazga, Tim Money and Adam Mustoe.

Athletes will compete in 3 disciplines, Static, Dynamic (both pool) and Constant Weight (depth) to achieve best possible combined point score. BFA is confident the team will perform to the best of their abilities and we wish them well.

All of our athletes are self-funded, and we are pleased to announce some fantastic sponsors for this year’s World Championships, helping them to perform to their full potential:

Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com), established in 1977, prides itself on its continuous innovation, evolution, improvement and refinement of comfort in its suits. Elios are a loyal sponsor of the British Team and many British Freedivers wear their suits across the UK because of the quality and feel of materials used. Team GB wear their suits with pride and are grateful for Elios’ continued support.

Divesangha (www.divesangha.com), manufacture ethically and locally, trade fairly, design wisely and consume responsibly. Their latest collection is made using ECONYL (a yarn that comes from 100% regenerated nylon from fish nets and other waste material). Motivated by passion, uniqueness, innovation and a love for the sea. This is the second year Divesangha have sponsored the Freediving Team and this year they invited the team to have a say in the design!

Saltfree (www.saltfree.biz), based at the NDAC, Chepstow, is a freedive school and training facility with the largest purpose-built freedive platform in the world, offering four training lines over 80mof water. Founded in 2003, SaltFree offer courses from beginner to instructor level and run regular training meets for qualified freedivers. Visit www.saltfreedivers.com to find out more! Saltfree have generously supported our Freediving Team GB over the years with their fantastic set-up and facilities.

Orbiloc Dual Safety Light (www.orbiloc.com), is a Danish-made high quality lightweight LED safety light that helps to maintain visibility in low light conditions, particularly when freedivng away from the line. They are low profile, easy to wear and very powerful underwater. Waterproof to 100 meters (IPX8 certificate), extremely resistant to impact (can withstand a pressure of 100 kg), with a 3-year warranty. The light comes in 5 different colours (red, white, blue, green and yellow), in 3 models and with 2 operating modes (steady-on and flashing). The base of the light is the same, but the attachment differs between the models with either an arm strap or a clip that fits a weight belt.

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).

UK Team Selection for the 2016 AIDA Team World Championships!

Applications for the UK Team for 2016 AIDA Team World Championships in Kalamata are now open!

AIDA Team World Championships, Kalamata, Greece, 16th September – 25th September 2016

Applications for the UK Team for 2016 AIDA Team World Championships in Kalamata are now open!

UK Team Selection
The competition will take place from 16th to 25th September 2016 and will include Dynamic with fins (DYN), Constant Weight (CWT) and Static apnea (STA).

We hope to send a team of 3 men and 3 women, plus up to 2 additional athletes of each gender as substitutes 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 9th May 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 Greece, please let us know by 9th May. Please send an email to competitions@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since November 9th 2014 in Dynamic with fins (DYN), Constant Weight (CWT) 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 Greece 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.

Availability and costs
If you make the decision to apply for the 2016 Team, you need to be available in Greece 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 240 Euros 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.

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.

UK Depth Team Announced for 2015 Individual AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, Cyprus Proud to be sponsored by Elios Sub, Divesangha, Bounce Energy Balls & Saltfree

elios

www.eliossub.com

Divesangha

www.divesangha.com

Bounce Balls

www.bouncefoods.com

Salt Free

www.saltfree.biz

The BFA are delighted to announce the UK Team for the 2015 Individual AIDA Depth World Championship (www.freedivingcyprus.com/wc-2015), taking place in Limassol, Cyprus.

Athletes will compete in 3 depth disciplines: Free Immersion (FIM), Constant Weight with fins (CWT) and without fins (CNF) during the 9-day long event in September (11th to 19th).

The UK is sending the following strong and experienced team of 8: Liv Philip, Michael Board, George Miller, John Moorcroft, Helena Bourdillon, Tim Money, Beci Ryan and George Close.

It is well worth mentioning that Mike Board was invited to the event as a Wild Card holder in CWT and FIM (meaning he was ranked Top 10 in the world last year in those disciplines).

The UK Team are all self-funded and to help them perform their very best they are being generously supported by sponsors Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com) Divesangha (www.divesangha.com), Bounce Energy Balls (www.bouncefoods.com) and Saltfree (www.saltfree.biz).

Elios Sub was established in 1977 and prides itself on its continuous innovation, evolution, improvement and refinement of comfort in its suits. Elios have sponsored the British Team for a number of years and many British Freedivers wear their suits across the UK because of the quality and feel of materials used. We are extremely proud and grateful for Elios’ continued support to our athletes.

Divesangha 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!

Bounce Energy Balls are an amazingly convenient and tasty way to nourish your body, satisfy your hunger and sustain your energy. Bounce Energy Balls are a special combination of high quality proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and essential fats. After a freediving session, recovery is of great importance and the Bounce Energy Balls have all the necessary ingredients to help our athletes do so. This is the second year running that Bounce have supported our athletes and we are pleased to have them back this year.

Saltfree, based at the NDAC, Chepstow, is a freedive school and training facility with the largest purpose-built freedive platform in the world, offering four training lines over 80m of water. Founded in 2003, SaltFree offer courses from beginner to instructor level and run regular training meets for qualified freedivers. Visit www.saltfreedivers.com to find out more! Saltfree sponsored the UK Team in 2012 and we are over the moon to have such a brilliant set-up available for our athletes to use.

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.org

The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2015 Individual AIDA Pool World Championship in Belgrade, Serbia

Divesangha

www.divesangha.com

Bounce Balls

www.bouncefoods.com

Beet It

www.beet-it.com

The BFA are delighted to introduce the UK Team for the 2015 Individual AIDA Pool World Championship in Belgrade, Serbia (www.aidapoolworldchampionships.com).

The competition will run from 21st to 27th June and we are sending a team of 9 athletes, three 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, Beci Ryan, Georgina Miller, Lucelle Simms, Rebecca Coales and Shirley Turner for the women and Adam Drzazga, Jason Kirkpatrick and Jay Cluskey for the men. The UK Team are all self-funded and to help them perform their very best they are being generously supported by sponsors Divesangha (www.divesangha.com), Bounce Energy Balls (www.bouncefoods.com) and Beet-it (www.beet-it.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!

Bounce Energy Balls (www.bouncefoods.com) are an amazingly convenient and tasty way to nourish your body, satisfy your hunger and sustain your energy. Bounce Energy Balls are a special combination of high quality proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and essential fats. After a freediving session, recovery is of great importance and the Bounce Energy Balls have all the necessary ingredients to help our athletes do so. This is the second year running that Bounce have supported our athletes and we are pleased to have them back this year.

Beet-it (www.beet-it.com) uses 100% natural ingredients and the Beet-it Sport shot juice drink delivers a dose of 0.4g dietary nitrates per shot. The beetroot juice shots are now the preferred delivery method used by research teams to boost nitric oxide (NO) levels in the blood. Nutrition is extremely important to freedivers and we are excited to see how the Beet-it Sports range of drinks and bars, boost and prepare our bodies before an apnea session. It is brilliant to have Beet-it back as a sponsor for the team this year.

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.org

Individual AIDA Depth World Championships Limassol 2015 – Team Selection

AIDA 2015 World Depth Championships Cyrpus

UK team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2015 AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, Cyprus are now open. The competition will take place from 11th-20th September and will include Constant Weight without fins (CNF), Free Immersion (FIM) and Constant Weight with fins (CWT).

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 4 months before the competition. 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.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Cyprus, please let us know by 11th May. Please send an email to competitions@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since November 11th 2013 in Constant Weight without fins (CNF), Free Immersion (FIM) and Constant Weight with fins (CWT) 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 Cyprus 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 2015 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Cyprus for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and expenses and the entry fee of 160 Euros per discipline and accommodation costs.

In the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2015 team.

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