A team of eight divers from the Masters squad of Southampton Diving Academy enjoyed another successful outing for the club when they competed at the Great Britain Diving Federation British Masters Championships in Hatfield last week, coming home with a clutch of medals including a clean sweep in the Men's 40 – 49 years event.
l to r: Lindsay Dibden, Tony Hunter and Peter Nicholson
Pitting themselves against clubs from all over Britain and guest teams from Sweden, Belgium and Italy, the Southampton Divers showed themselves to be up with the best taking 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals between them.
Tony Hunter continued his recent form from the European Masters taking another gold in his age group. The silver medal in the same event was hotly contested by two other Southampton divers, with Lindsay Dibden coming out just ahead to take second place only 2 points in front of Peter Nicholson.
The second gold for the team came from its oldest member, Derek Dearden, competing in the 60 – 69 years category, whilst Ian Hammond took bronze in the age group below him.
There was another close contest in the women's event where Kim Purkis missed out on the gold by less than half a point in only her second Master's competition.
Team coach, Chris Jenkins, was very pleased with the outcome. "This was an excellent result," she said. "I am really proud of them achieving so highly against such challenging opposition from all over the UK and also Europe. With their current performances and commitment we can look forward to some great events in the coming season."
At least two of the squad, Ian Hammond and Peter Nicholson, are now setting their sights on competing at the World Masters Diving Championships in Australia in April.
Full results:
Men's 40 – 49 years
Tony Hunter, gold; Lindsay Dibden, silver; Peter Nicholson, bronze; Bob Shearer, 5th; Bry Lingard, 7th
Women's 16 – 24 years
Kim Purkis, silver; Emily Burden, 5th
Men's 50 – 59 years
Ian Hammond, bronze
Men's 60 – 69 years
Derek Dearden, gold