European Youth Championships, Gemozac

The European Youth Championships were held in Gemozac, France on the 3rd and 4th of November. There was a bigger team than usual going, and with most of the hotels filled with climbers, there wasn't enough room for all of us.
Because of this the girls and boys were in separate hotels. Us and the boys both thought we had the bad side of the deal, until we were proven right by finding we were 30 minutes further from the climbing wall than the boys (not to mention that 2 single beds could only just fit into a room!!)

Unfortunately the weather was worse than in Britain, so we were stuck indoors for most of Friday (we flew out on Thursday). We had to find some way to entertain ourselves, so we resorted to playing cards......more cards.......cards again........cards even more (you get the message!) Though it wasn't the best way to get psyched, I was still really looking forward to the competition.

I rose early on Saturday morning, grabbed some breakfast and went to the wall. It was an awesome place to climb, with lots of different angles (mixtures of slabs and overhangs) and I could't wait to start climbing.

On my first route, I came 10th - just enough to secure a place in the final if I continued to perform well on my second route. Unfortunately  when I was going for the last hold on my second climb I slipped, which moved my position down to 12th, meaning I just missed out on the final.Though I was annoyed that I slipped, my climbing has definitely improved. Molly and Alex made the final, so competed later on in the evening.

On Sunday we watched the speed with quite a lot of the Team competing - including Orrin Coley, one of my  long-term training partners! As always, the Russian's dominated the speed climbing and so took up most of the places on the podiums.

On Monday morning we were headed back to the airport (where the boys nearly made us miss the flight!).
Overall it was a great trip and I'd like to say thank you to all of the chaparones.