UCF’s Head of Marketing triumphs at the Saltfree Freediving Championships
Friday, 07 August 2009
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Sam Kirby, Head of Marketing at UCF, recently took 2nd place at the UK's annual National Freediving Championships, Saltfree Double Dip, held at the National Diving and Activity Centre in Chepstow.
Set against pouring rain, rumbling thunder and the odd flash of lightning, Sam dived off the newly refurbished freediving pontoon, sited over the deepest part of the lake, and completed two dives whilst holding her breath - one using a freediving monofin; a single piece of fibre glass attached to footpockets for both the freediver's feet; to a depth of 32m, and one using a modified breast stroke technique to a depth of 15m.
A former member of the UK Freedive Team, Sam also organised the two-day event through her club "Saltfree", based at the National Diving and Activity Centre, where she teaches freediving. 18 athletes competed for trophies and Worldwide Federation (AIDA) rankings for breath-hold diving in three competitive freedive disciplines - Constant Weight, swimming down and back to the surface as far as you can on one breath with fins or a monofin; Constant Weight without Fins, as before but using a modified breast stroke technique rather than fins; and Free Immersion, pulling yourself down and back up a rope using only your arms.
To ensure everyone remained safe at the bottom of their dives, members of The Angels Technical Dive Team, http://www.angelsofthedeep.org/, were waiting at the bottom using rebreathers and deep scuba whilst on the surface the judges, event doctor and a team of safety freedivers kept a watchful eye.
"As if planning and organising the event was not enough of a challenge, this year I was persuaded by my training partners to enter as well," said Sam. "Coming second was a real surprise and has given me real motivation to continue my training and compete again. Whilst the lake at Chepstow is lovely, I might well aim for a warmer, blue water competition next time!"
AIDA International judges, Dave Griffiths and M.T. Solomons were joined by the British Freediving Association judge, Steve Gardner for the event and the presentation of the Bristol Blue Glass trophies.
For more information, visit http://www.saltfreedivers.com/ or contact Sam Kirby at sam@saltfreedivers.com.
University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.
This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West.
The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.
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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk
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