British Masters Dive In Niesen Cup

The 18th Niesen Cup International Diving Event took place in Cologne over 18-19 November 2006, with teams from Russia, Kazakstan, Lithuania, Holland and Great Britain joining German divers in the Open Team event.

Nearly 20 teams competed and the standard was high, with many divers performing full lists, including 107B, 205B and 5337D from the 3 metre springboard. The format is that each of three team members perform five dives from three groups; two divers dive from the 3 metre springboard, while the third dives platform.

This year, a team of British Masters divers decided to compete, while taking in the sights of Cologne. During the weekend, our divers, Jim McNally, Barbara Heathfield and Tony Hunter (combined age of 150), sampled the delights of Cologne Cathedral, climbing to the very top (well over 500 steps!!), visited a chocolate factory (mmmmm) and ate themselves silly in a bier keller environment (all regreted the following day). Finally, we dived in the Niesen Cup, diving creditably, to come 11th, well ahead of the next placing.

The British Team scored extremely well in a judging environment where marks were hard to come by, scoring no lower than 14.5 (raw score/three judges), with a best score of 18.5. Tony Hunter dived consistently well, running through his highboard (where else??) dives on 6s, while Barbara Heathfield's 201A was the best scored dive by the British Team.

Results are on tpsk-koeln.de/springen

The British Masters divers were not the only Brits at the meet; Southampton Diving Academy also sent a team of young divers, who warmed the crowd up for us old codgers, winning several medals and many friends in the process. Contacts were renewed and established and we hope to see a number of divers at the GBDF Spring Masters Championships in April 2007, as a result of attending this meet.