Wellington Winter Champs 2010 NZ

[KatFish]

The Lazy Seal Freediving Club has just hosted their 5th annual Wellington Winter Champs at the Porirua Pool (25m) in Wellington with some awesome results.

We ran both the competition for men and women and a "rec" grade for our beginners in the attempt to get them hooked.

Results of note would be:

Dave Mullins 257m DYN (National record exceeding WR - no A judge or dope test)
Chris Marshall 200m DYN
Kathryn McPhee 154 DNF (still awaiting final decision from judge as to whether it's awarded or not after the judge's foot marking her distance found itself under her hand on the side of the pool at the end of the dive).
Tania Wong 4:23 STA (first comp and personal best)

Awesome results from our absolute beginners in the rec grade:

Adelene Lynch 4:50 STA (should I mention how tiny she is? - are there any other Singaporian women diving?)
Max Ma 4:23 STA (are there any other Chinese men diving?)
Mal Bird 151m DYN
Chris Mackie 130m DNF
Chris Phelps 105m DNF

Hopefully with a little experience under their belts they will now join the comp grade - the results were so strong. It was very refreshing as an organiser to have so many new faces and to see them really test their limits and work hard in their dives.

Results and a report can be found at:
Results | Lazy Seals Freediving Club

Until he's blue in the face | Stuff.co.nz
Mullins set for another breathtaking swim | Stuff.co.nz

Watch out for the new Lazy Seal You Tube Channel, coming soon with comp videos from current and competitions of the past...

 

[Phil C]

Congratulations especially to those divers taking part in a competition for the first time. Great to the level of talent (and commitment) in the deepening pool (no pun intended) of NZ freedivers.

Congratulations also to Kathryn, running another really sucessful comp. Despite having moved away from Wellington the Lazy Seals getting you back from the deep south (water is all frozen down there anyhow right?) to run the show.

Phil C
www.aidanz.co.nz
www.aucklandfreediving.co.nz

 

[trux]

Congrats to all! OK, so Dave holds now the best performances without the WR status in both DNF (232m vs 213m WR) and DYN (257m vs 255m WR). Does he plan to attend any WR ranking competition in near future, so that we can see the records officialized?

 

[Mullins]

I'm planning an event - either a record attempt or a comp - for the end of Sept, Ivo. Just trying to sort out availability of judges and decide which approach is best.

Those rec. grade performances were a bit, well... inappropriate. They could at least have had the decency to perform like beginners.

 

[ThomasB]

I'm planning an event - either a record attempt or a comp - for the end of Sept, Ivo. Just trying to sort out availability of judges and decide which approach is best.

Congrats for the amazing performance Dave!

 

[ADELENELYNCH]

KatFish, I believe we are definitely hooked. Everyone was still feeling the post-comp buzz at training yesterday!

 

[rddk]

Congratulation for ya incredible performance Dave!! I hope u'll have the possibility of doing your amazing performance in front of judges, i think is really silly that an athlete must work hard also for have international judges and do the antidoping test all spending his own money, what are the federation for? Only steal money?

 

[sapienaustralis]

The Lazy Seal Freediving Club is now posting its own videos, including those from the 2010 Wellington Winter Champs. The can be found here: YouTube - lazysealfreediving's Channel

Alternatively, go to You Tube and search lazysealfreediving


I should also mention that Kathryn MacPhee did the organising for the competition, and deserves a great deal of credit for its smooth running.