Back On Board!
The Plymouth Life Centre hosted the Great Britain Diving Federation Spring Masters last weekend. The two day event proved to be popular with several divers from Plymouth who all dived in the 16-29 year old category. In their heyday all of them represented Plymouth Diving at either Age Group or Elite National competitions.
Harry Mason competed at the Spring Masters last year in Southend where he won a 1m gold and a 3m silver medal. Entering only 24 hours before this year’s event, Mason and Tommy Davis put on a platform masterclass. Both received a slew of 8’s on their ambitious dive lists. Winning the gold medal, Mason just pushed Davis into the silver position. Davis was a massive 82.8 points ahead of the bronze contestant -making it hard to believe that he last competed in 2019.
Connor West joined Mason on 3m to give the audience another great display of diving. Once again Mason finished first to make it a double gold, improving on his 2023 results. West took the silver medal and performed the dive of the meet, nailing a reverse 2.5 somersaults in tuck – one of the most difficult dives executed all weekend – which received a colossal score of 57.4 – the highest of the championships.
Cody Powell-Tuckett, Evie McCabe and Abby Fishleigh prematurely retired from competition in 2020 due to the pandemic and the lack of training facilities at the time in Plymouth.
At her peak Powell-Tuckett was an outstanding diver winning a plethora of medals, representing England and Great Britain on numerous outings. Powell-Tuckett put on a solid and consistent platform display which saw every judge awarding her nothing below a 6 on all her dives. Particularly impressive was her inward 1.5 somersaults which scored a huge 54 points. To that effect, she was full value for a silver medal after finishing only 10 points behind stiff competition in the form of the RAF’s Charlotte Goodman. McCabe who was the only diver from Plymouth to take on all three boards was awarded the bronze platform medal.
Just like old times McCabe and Fishleigh were closely matched on the 1m and 3m springboard. Fishleigh just edged ahead of McCabe on 3m to win the bronze medal with McCabe in fourth. The nail-biting 1m event was hotly contested with positions changing throughout. McCabe jointly finished in second to claim the silver medal which nudged Fishleigh into fourth.
Joel Trenchard is a Plymouth Diving volunteer and was the GBDF Communications Director and Officials Lead at the event. Speaking after the event he had this to say:
It was a joy for the annual GBDF Spring Masters Championships to be hosted at Plymouth Life Centre. Being able to witness some of Plymouth’s finest talent from the pre-COVID days take to the boards again was indescribably special, with parents and young divers showing up in huge numbers to cheer on their now-coaches and their diving did not disappoint! The competition has generated massive excitement and enthusiasm for Masters Diving in Plymouth, from coaches to lifeguards to parents. Hopefully we will see Plymouth’s ex-stars continue to shine in future competitions.
