Welsh divers have had a successful few days at the Irish open diving competition held in Dublin this weekend. The team of 12 junior athletes and 1 masters diver from Abedare Comets and Bangor Billidowcars diving under the Aberdare banner took gold in every event entered by the club, bringing home 9 gold and 2 silver medals as well as some well placed rankings amid tough competition.

The event attracts teams from across Britain, offering competition for senior, Masters, Age group and Novice level divers. Held in Irelands prestigious National Aquatics centre, the pool boasts a full range of diving facilities including a 10 meter platform, offering our welsh divers an opportunity to gain the valuable high board training currently unavailable in Wales.

Day one and first up in the events was Matthew Lewis, a masters diver in the 30+ category. Hailing from Ebbw Vale, Matthew trains twice a week as part of the adult recreational and Masters Sessions provided at Rhondda Cynon Taffs diving development scheme Wednesdays and Sundays at Aberdare pool. Matthew dived consistently throughout his first event the 1m springboard, loosing marks only on a slight error on his back dive pike. His superior degree of difficulty across his dive list however proved to outweigh that of his rivals easily securing him the gold medal position scoring 190.20. Matthew went on to dive in the 3m springboard event on the second day taking his second gold of the meet with 202.80 points. Seren Watkins in the girls group E category (8-9 yrs) dived her socks off winning gold with a dive in hand scoring 243.40 points, 26.85 points clear of the field. Anya Arkless secured silver medal with some fantastic diving scoring 216.55 points.  Manon Hudgell held her nerve to take the gold in the girls group D (10-11yrs) event scoring 276.6 points with well executed dive list, Kaitlyn Hughes came a close second taking silver with 268.55 points and Alora Walters came 4^th only missing out on the bronze medal position by 0.15 points. Alora was the only competitor in the event to score 9.5 on her forward entries showing near perfect form. Megan Davies took gold in the girls group B (14-16 yrs) event using her higher degree of difficulty dive list to her advantage, scoring at total of 372.15 points. Jamie Richards took part in the Boys group B (14-16yrs) event, working hard over the last 6 months to put together a set of dives to compete in the more difficult 12 dive B level competitions and taking gold for his efforts. Kojo Terrile dived as a guest in the Age group level group C Boys (12-13) category on 1meter, the first Welsh diver in over a decade to compete at this level scoring 129.05 from 6 dives.

Sundays events saw Caitlin Thomas take gold in the girls group C (12-13 yrs) event scoring a massive 293.65 diving consistently well across her event and securing a personal best. Leah Silverton placed 4^th narrowly missing out on a medal after dropping her front one and a half somersault tucked. Leah managed to dust herself off and put in a good performance for the rest of the event scoring a respectable 237.40 points. Shaun Baker took a well deserved gold in the boys group D (10-11yrs) event scoring 283.25 points. Kojo Terrile took gold in the Boys Group C (12-13yrs) event with 329.30 points setting a new personal best. Ollie Arkless took silver in this event scoring 308.80 points with a very polished set of dives.

Ben Fox Aberdare Comets and RCT Diving development schemes head coach said 'The results show that the work the divers have been doing to increase the difficulty of their competition set lists is paying off. The development of strong technique and form as a base for these increases in degree of difficulty is a slow process, but one we endeavour to establish from the very start of the learn to dive program at Aberdare. With the right dedication, time and discipline there is no limit to where these divers can set their sights. Ben goes on to say 'All the divers that competed in Ireland at the weekend are setting the Bar high and blazing a trail for Welsh divers of the future. They should all be very proud of themselves for a great performance.

Aberdare Comets Diving Club train as part of the Rhondda Cynon Taff Diving Development schemes training squads based at Aberdare Swimming pool.