Friday 30th May 2003 – 6:30pm
The statics have just finished ending with the showdown between Martin Stepanek, Nicholas Druine, Herbert Nitsch and Timo Kunnunen. Martin was the first to come up in what seemd to be well before his subscribed time 6’00 minutes. This was hard for me to tell as one item I forgot to bring was a stopwatch (not my finest hour). Nicholas came up second closely followed by Herbert, who was given a red card (and disqualified). Timo’s 7’30 static generated a huge roar of approval from the crowd as he came up clean with a white card. 7’30 is below his subscription time of 8’00 minutes so he will gain some penalty points but his performance was impressive none the less.
One interesting point to note is Karl Pernett’s performance. He managed 7’16 as one of the tester athletes before the event started in the morning. His result could not be officially recognised though due to the fact he missed the subscription deadline the previous day. It is a shame as his was the second best performance in time and would have been the best in terms of points (due to Timo’s time coming in under his subscribed time).
Over the course of the day many competitors seemed to perform below their maximum known times. This could have been down to the pressure of the competition, or the weather (we had several small showers and a strong wind was blowing across the pool). Many competitors are known not to like the competition environment and this seemed to show.
The environment didn’t seem to effect everyone though – I witnessed 3 national records being set. Amanda Williams (part of the team sponsored by our friends at Seven Tenths) set a new UK Womens national Static Record. Deron Verbeck set a new US Mens national Static Record and Annabel Briseno set a US Womens national Static Record. We are still awaiting official results before being able to publish what the times for those records are.
The competition element finished with a photo shoot of everyone in the pool and we’re only minutes away from the big party. Martin Stepanek advised me to bring a helmet (i’m not so sure why) and I have a sneaky suspicion that a lot of people are going to end up in the pool again but it all sounds like a lot of fun. We’re going to be bringing our cameras along and will posting the "evidence" tomorrow.
Before I sign off i’d like to thank a few people – Steve Copeland who organised the safety diving team; Jeanette Copeland who was not only the bottom safety diver but also works as our Technical Diving Editor; Axel Maul who is a character in his own right as well as one of the bottom safety divers; the rest of the Safety Team who worked tirelessly on very little sleep; Roland, Nestor, Ruth, Carlos and who are the team from our partners at SportalSub.net; Giorgio Volpe from our partner at Apnea Magazine; Dan Burton, Danny Bamping, Sam Gavin, Zigi, Dieter and the numerous other Media around; The "Monkeys" who worked to help run the event; Sam Kirby and Emma Farrell who despite competing took time to help with our coverage.
Finally i’m sure i’d be speaking for the competitors by thanking Howard Jones who organised the event.
SW
Friday 30th May 2003 – 1:30pm
The static competition started early this morning just after 8am. Starting with people who subscribed shorter times and proceeding to champions like Martin or Herbert just after 5pm tonight.
We’re up to the 4’00 minute competitors now and going strong. We witnesses a new UK static record by Amanda Williams and our own Emma Farrell managed a new personal best of 3’46.
There are so many untold stories at this competition we wish we could pass on all the competitors stories.
We’ll update with more info as the day progresses!
SW
Check out the Photos
We are posting photos of the event in our Gallery. Why not check out the daily activites.
Official Website
In addition to the coverage here, why not visit the Official Competition Website
Partners
Why not visit Apnea Magazine for Italian, or SportalSub.net for Spanish translations of our coverage?
