Armada Cup 2019 Review
A total of 43 Plymouth divers were out in force at the Plymouth Life Centre last weekend, competing in the prestigious 20th Armada Cup, sponsored by Need-A-Cab? Twelve other diving clubs from around the country attended, making a grand total of over 165 competitors.
Day 1 saw Scarlett Colbourne and Amelie Underwood win gold in the girls under 13, 1m synchro event. Katie Martin and Ellie Pearce won the silver medal. Zach Anderson and his partner Todd Geggus from Southend won gold for the boys.
In the girls 14-18, 3m synchro category Kayleigh Sinclair and Summer Radcliffe won gold and are proving to be a very successful pairing. Cody Powell-Tuckett and Frances Burdett took the bronze. Josh Gibbs and Curtis Yuen for the boys narrowly missed out on a medal, placing 4th in their first competition together.
The second day was packed full of events. Scarlett Colbourne won gold in the individual 5m event with synchro partner Amelie Underwood winning bronze in the girls E/D group. In the 3m event the girls swapped positions with Amelie winning gold and Scarlett winning bronze. The boys in the same group competed on 5m with Ollie Heath claiming the gold, whilst Theo Stevens won bronze and Harry Denham placing 4th.
Ellie Pearce and Maia Pearson just missed out on the final for the 1m girls C group in 7th and 8th position. Katie Martin placed 6th on the 1m board and 4th on the 3m board. Zach Anderson won bronze in the platform event in the boys C group.
In group B, Summer Radcliffe finished in 5th position on the 1m board competing against 36 other girls. Euan McCabe won bronze and Josh Freeman placed 5th in the 1m boys B group.
The women’s 3m event saw Kayleigh Sinclair win gold and Emily Martin win bronze. Matthew Dixon; Commonwealth medallist, recent National Cup platform runner up, Devon and Cornwall Young Sports Personality of the Year was on form. He claimed gold on the 3m board for the men with Connor West winning the silver medal and Curtis Yuen placing 6th. Josh Gibbs narrowly missed a place in the final by 0.05 points!
The High Dive workshop and competition was sponsored by Adrenalin Quarry. Gary Hunt the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion made a guest appearance. Aidan Helsop won the competition; he became the youngest diver to ever compete in a Red Bull Cliff Diving Series last year, at the tender age of 16. Team mates Euan McCabe, Connor West and Josh Freeman completed the top four positions for the boys. Not to be outdone, Plymouth girls Frances Burdett, Scarlett Colbourne and Lucy Gutierrez-Freeman made it a one, two, three for the club.
Day 3 was another busy one. Scarlett Colbourne picked up her fifth medal – this time silver on 1m in the girls E/D group with team mate Yvie Tucker in 4th position. Ollie Heath won his second gold on the 3m board with Theo Stevens also claiming his second bronze. Jake Harrison-Bennetton was 4th and Harry Denham 5th.
Katie Martin placed 5th on platform in a tough group of C girls. Zach Anderson triumphed in the 3m boys C group, winning gold after competing against 28 other divers.
In group B, Summer Radcliffe won the silver medal on the 3m board once again competing against a large group of 34 other girls. Euan McCabe won gold on platform for the boys with a very convincing victory. Josh Freeman won the bronze medal after a high scoring final dive.
Kayleigh Sinclair added to her medal collection winning a third gold in the women’s 1m with Cody Powell-Tuckett also winning her second bronze. The podium for the men’s 1m event was full of Plymouth divers with Matthew Dixon 1st, Aidan Heslop 2nd, Tommy Davis 3rd and Connor West in 6th position.
The Team Event saw Alfie Brown, Summer Radcliffe and Zach Anderson win gold. The other Plymouth team consisting of Cody Powell-Tuckett, Josh Freeman and Ollie Heath placed 4th.
On the final day group E/D boys were back in action on the 1m board with Theo Stevens winning gold, Ollie Heath winning bronze and Harry Denham in 4th and Jake Harrison-Bennetton in 5th.
Zach Anderson after battling through the preliminaries went on to win gold in the 1m boys C group. Ben Kearton, after a 4 month break from diving finished in 9th but less than 5 points from qualifying for the final.
In group B boys, Euan McCabe won his second gold in the 3m event with Josh Freeman placing 4th.
Following on from her success at the National Cup, Shanice Lobb won the women’s platform competition putting a frustrating 18 months of injuries behind her. Less than 5 points behind Shanice was Cody Powell-Tuckett winning the silver and Emily Martin was in 4th. Once again the podium was packed with Plymouth divers for the men’s platform event with Matthew Dixon, Alfie Brown, Aidan Heslop and Connor West taking the top 4 positions.
Other Plymouth divers competing were Eva Lang, Rose McCabe, Lily Walker, Polly Evans, Harlie Stringer, Phoebe White, Oscar Hart, Jack Kinsman-Moore, Aiden Lamerton, Alex Snell, Archie Waines, Abby Fishleigh, Evie McCabe, Maria Marasescu and Kate Saxby. Some of these divers were competing at this level for the first time, others breaking their personal best scores. Every team member’s performance contributed to Plymouth Diving winning the Armada Cup Best Club Trophy by a clear 423 points.
Plymouth Diving would like to thank Need-A-Cab, Everyone Active, Plymouth City Council and Ashfords for their support as without this it would not be possible to run this event and showcase the talent that the club has produced.
