National Novice Championship 2004

Well, its come around again. Following the success of last years Novice event, and after some thought, we are again hosting the GBDF Novice diving championships, this year back in the central location of Cheltenham.

Cheltenham is nicely positioned in the middle of the country, this makes travel about the same for everyone, either equally easy or equally hard dependant upon your viewpoint!

The main difference this year is the addition of an Intermediate 1 metre event alongside the Novices, so that those who have dived as a novice in the past can now move up a step. This is not a new competition as such, it is a return of the Intermediate event that we aimed to put on in 2000 but was shelved at that time. It is specifically designed as a step up from the Novices event.

In terms of where to stay, there are plenty of hotels in and around Cheltenham. Travel Inn have two in close proximity, Cheltenham Central (08701 977056) and Cheltenham West (08701 977 055). Travel Lodge also have a hotel locally (08701 911701). Other accommodation is available either in hotels or B&B accommodation. I suggest looking on www.scoot.co.uk or yell.com.

Competitions will run on the Saturday and Sunday, the programme is yet to be completed as we need an indication of numbers before we can work out our times and thence the programme. This will be sent to everyone once it is done in outline form.

Saturday night there will be a get together for the divers as usual, and we will arrange food for everyone, I would hope that this will be somewhere where the parents can have a drink while the children are enjoying themselves. We have a venue in mind, which will meet these requirements very well.

When filling in the entry forms please ensure you fill in the correct form for Novice or Intermediate. Also indicate on the entry form if an adult(s) requires a ticket for the evening function and don’t forget to include the fee. That includes coaches.

I look forward to seeing you all again at this event, the most fun Novice/Intermediate Diving event in the UK.

John Whitby