Kingfishers in at the deep end

The three-day National Invitational Diving Event saw 12 of the best clubs in the country travel from as far afield as Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield and Plymouth to try out Kingfishers’ new diving facilities.

It was the first Luton Challenge to offer 7.5m and 10m platform dives as Luton Major, Syd Knight, was among the VIPs who watched the famous David Bratt Pairs Event and the finals from the same day.

The pairs event is a knockout competition between pairs formed from one senior diver and one diver from a lower age-group.

This is the only opportunity divers get to compete in such a way as they also have the chance to pair up with a diver from a different club.

It is named after David Bratt, a previous national champion who competed at the event for many years and who died from leukaemia at 23.

Many national and international divers in the UK attended, including Rebecca Galantree, the 3m individual and 3m synchro Olympic diver.

Medals were awarded to the top six divers in each category, with cash prizes in the ‘blue ribbon’ events.

Kingfishers claimed a number of medals and some gained cash prizes too.

Joanna Matthews (Women’s Group A) came second in the Pairs Event with Daniel Goodfellow (Cambridge Diving Club).

Katherine Kerr (Girls Group E/D) came second in the 1m competition in the preliminaries and fourth in the finals, James Cripps (Boys Group C) came fourth in the 3m competition and Katie Cripps (Girls Group E/D) came sixth in the 3m competition.

Kingfishers performed really well, despite their previous Wardown Leisure Centre facility shutting in May.

Clubs around the East, including Beaumont, Southend, Dacorum and Hemel Hempstead, along with the dedicated support of coaches Jackie and Brian Hazelton and Chelsey Lawson, helped to keep the divers to maintain their form.

This event was the last competition to be organised by the Hazeltons, who are retiring after 40 years of coaching.

New coaches Harry Glover and David Jenkins, along with the continued support of Lawson, have taken up the mantle.