Free diver wins title at Taupo

Wanganui free diver Tania Rounthwaite overcame the pressure of competition and the build-up in her ears to chalk up a national title in Taupo last weekend.

Rounthwaite competed at the AIDA New Zealand Depth Nationals against seven rivals in her AIDA grade and eight others in the recreation grade. She won the women's grade with a deep dive of 21m in the CNF (constant weight, no fins) competition.

"I got two penalties on this as I stopped twice on the way down and held the rope in order to equalise my ears," she said.

Rounthwaite also made two personal bests of 31m in the CWT (constant weight with monofin) and FIM (pulling down the rope and back up again) competitions.

The men's AIDA grade winner was Wellington's Dave Mullins.

AIDA International is the worldwide federation for breath-hold diving, overseeing and managing recognition of records.

"We had competitors representing Australia, France, Britain and South Africa at the competition and a good turnout from New Zealand," said Rounthwaite.

Last November in Masterton, she set a depth of 133m in DNF (dynamic no fins) diving, which was the second best women's dive for the year internationally, earning her qualification to the AIDA Pool World Championship in Belgrade, Serbia.