EDMONDS — A former champion is scheduled to return to the Edmonds Bellyflop/Cannonball contest at Yost Pool today.
Lauren Davidson Humphreys, the 1986 winner, is to serve as a judge this year at the Parks and Recreation Department’s annual event.
Davidson Humphreys remembers the cold and rainy day she won the event as a 5-year-old. “It was a nasty day when I won. I remember just shivering as I waited in line,” she said.
“I have not been a champion in anything else,” she added. “Often in life you have just one chance to do something great.”
Her winning technique: fully plugging her nose and flopping into the pool with limbs extended, then dog paddling to the pool’s edge. She continues to use that same technique today.
Her training in belly-flopping came out of necessity, she said. “I am a horrible swimmer. The only thing I can do is belly-flop.”
Since her big win, Davidson Humphreys has traveled the globe belly-flopping. “I can only do my thing in a pool. I need a diving board to get the air I need.” This requirement recently precluded her from performing in Belize.
She said she will be on the lookout for the 2010 champion to flop with abandon. “I’ll be looking for the entrant who just goes for it, going all out with no regard for protection of the belly.”
Given the atmospheric conditions on the day Davidson Humphreys won the contest in 1986, she intends to take into consideration the circumstances of the day in determining the winner.
Davidson Humphreys is an Edmonds Woodway High School graduate who served on the cheer squad. She now lives in West Seattle and is a practicing attorney. She graduated from the University of Washington and Seattle University Law School.
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