Two pupils at an independent prep school in Harrogate have taken gold in a national diving competition.
Catherine Garnett and Oliver Whitaker, both pupils at Belmont Grosvenor School, based at Birstwith, near Harrogate, beat off tough competition to take top place in their age group at the Thistle Trophy in Edinburgh.
The two, members of Harrogate Diving Club, collected gold medals in the 8-9 year girls and boys age group at the national competition held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.
Their gold medals came hot on the heels of other successes in the current diving season – with both Oliver and Catherine winning gold in Tynemouth just weeks before their Scottish triumphs.
The nine-year-olds, who took up diving three years ago, are delighted with their successes.
Senior Diving Coach at Harrogate District Diving Club Rosie Whiting said nine novice divers had travelled to Edinburgh to compete in the event.
Rosie Whiting said:
All the novice divers performed exceptionally well and contributed to the Harrogate team finishing 5th overall in the Thistle Trophy team points.
And she said Oliver and Catherine, who has just been crowned Harrogate Diving Club’s Novice Diver of the Year 2012 ,deserved praise for their gold medals.
Rosie Whiting added:
Both Catherine and Oliver have had an extremely successful few months in diving. From the start of the 2012/13 season in September it was easy to see that both divers were going to do well in their age group.
In Edinburgh, Ollie had clearly grown in confidence following his success in Tynemouth and dived brilliantly against divers from both England and Scotland scoring 8’s and even 9’s on some of his dives.
Despite having one slightly weaker dive in the final round, Catherine had established her lead and came away as the champion in the girls’s 8-9 year event, beating her closest rival by 5 points.
The pair will next be competing in the Shipley Novices in March, followed by the North East Region Skills Championship, which is a qualifying event for the ASA National Skills Finals which take place in Plymouth in May – where Tom Daley trains!
