There was some magnificent diving seen at Parkside Pools playing host to the 2025 County Diving Championships. It was a packed evening of action with divers competing in individual events across the 1m and 3m springboards and the 5m platform. The overall winner is decided by the diver accumulating the most points over the 3 boards. With a large entry pool and all titles won by members of the Cambridge Dive Team there was some fierce team rivalry to secure those vital points.
The Junior Boy’s event was less contentious with Ryan Church a runaway winner with gold medals all on all three boards. Ryan improves with every competition and put on another master class – his performance on the 5m platform setting a new record with the judges pulling out 8s for his inward 1½ somersaults. His overall score of 521.65 for the trophy broke Rufus Bord’s record, held since 2022.
There were equally impressive displays in the Men’s events with demonstrations of very complex and difficult dives scoring highly from many of the competitors. Finn McFarlane, another elite springboard diver showed his class on 1m and 3m setting new records on each board. A very impressive inward 2½ somersaults on 3m amassed 56 points. Challenges from Rufus Bord and Charlie Tibbatts increased the stakes and brought out the best from Finn, with all men pushing their performance that little bit more.
