British Bouldering Championships 2013

photo- Sandy Carr

The British Bouldering Championships this year were held in Sheffield as part of the Cliffhanger Festival on the 6th-7th of July. The Qualifiers were on Saturday, with the Men's in the morning and the Women's in the afternoon. This suited me because it meant I could travel up in the morning instead of staying in Sheffield the night before.

I arrived early enough to watch some of the mens qualifiers. The problems looked great (but extremely hard!) which got me psyched and excited to compete, even though I wasn't climbing for hours.

When the time finally came for the female category to begin, I went into isolation. Unfortunately, I still had a big wait because I was the 20th competitor to climb.

photo- Sandy Carr

After a very tedious wait in the heat and a long warm-up, it was my turn to climb. I went out to the first problem feeling quite confident. This is because from the crowd cheering I knew that a lot of people had topped it.
However my confidence dropped when I saw the problem. I distinctly remember thinking 'where are the holds?!'. I had no idea what to do, but I didn't want to waste the 5 minutes so I decided to just get on with it. Luckily my instincts were better than my route-reading and I managed to flash the problem without too much trouble.

The second problem looked simple and definitely do-able therefore I felt quite annoyed that I couldn't get passed the bonus hold. The third, fourth and fifth problems went really well, as I got another three flashes.

photo- Sandy Carr

I finished feeling really pleased because I felt like I did my best and was confident I'd got a good position. However it wasn't util I saw the scores that I realised just how good a position! I was joint 3rd with Mina! In first and second were Shauna and Alex.

Results board after the qualifiers!

Orrin Coley also climbed awesomely in the mens and despite being a junior, qualified comfortably for the semi-finals - well done! Overall I thought it was a really enjoyable day - especially because I achieved a much better result that I expected!

On Sunday, I had another really long wait in isolation because the start order was in the reverse of the results from the qualifiers. This meant I was out third last.

The semi-finals didn't go nearly as well for me as the qualifiers did, and I only managed to top 1 problem. I became even more disappointed when I found out my position had dropped 5 places! This meant I finished in 8th. Looking back, this was a good result considering I'm only 16 and it was a senior competition, however it was disappointing to drop 5 places.

I'd like to say a massive well done to Jennifer Wood who's still a junior but qualified for the finals in 5th place, holding her own against the Senior British Bouldering Team! And also to Orrin Coley who improved his position further, coming 10th and beating a lot of strong seniors on the way! Awesome effort!

The competition was over for me, however I wouldn't miss an opportunity to watch some of the World's best climbers fighting for 1st place, so I stayed to watch the finals. In the end Shauna Coxsey and Dave Barrans both retained their titles as British Bouldering Champions - well done!

Also, thank you to all of the roue-setters, organisers, volunteers and anyone elso who helped to make it a great weekend.

British Lead Climbing Championships 2012

 

2012
Youth B British Champion!

 

 

The 2012 British Lead Climbing Championships (BLCC's) were held at Ratho in Edinburgh on Saturday 6th October followed by the British Speed Climbing Championships (BSCC) and the senior BLCC's on Sunday.
Both of my qualifiers looked do-able and suited my style of climbing, so I was feeling quite confident before the competition began.


Just topped route 1!
Photo Alex Messenger, BMC
 

I climbed roughly in the middle of my group on route 1, which I topped along with two other people (Molly and Elissa).
This put me in joint first for the second route where I was first to climb. Again this qualifier suited my style, as it involved more technique instead of power. I felt quite relaxed on the climb and before I knew it I was at the top! (Though it took a while to clip the last quickdraw because of the rope drag!) Molly also topped out so we were in joint first going into the final; with Elissa in third, Flo in fourth, Gracie in fifth  Liberty and Charlotte in joint sixth.
Me and the rest of the finalists went into isolation at about 2.30pm (I think) where we waited for the route viewing (everyone has 8 minutes to read the route before going back into isolation to warm up). I was really psyched for the final after reading the route, so when I went back into isolation I made sure I was really well warmed up and that I knew the sequence of the route.

I felt nervous just before I climbed, but as soon as I pulled onto the wall I was in the zone. Everything went as planned whilst I was climbing and I felt comfortable all the way to .......the top! This put me in first place so far, with Elissa in second and Gracie in third. I was really pleased with how I climbed as I couldn't have done any better, however if Molly topped the final route, it would go down to whoever was quickest (and I'm not a quick climber). As it was, Molly fell off the last move and I was crowned British Lead Climbing Champion 2012 (youth B)

I am really pleased with my performance because I got full points on all of the climbs and I'd like to say thank you to the route setters, organisers and all the volunteers who helped out.
Unfortunately I had to go on Saturday, therefore I wasn't able to watch the speed competition or the seniors, as it was the following day. However you can see the results at www.thebmc.co.uk/british-lead-and-speed-climbing-championships-2012--results?s=1

P.S. Orrin Coley won the junior boys speed championships which he deserves because he trains really hard - well done!

On Saturday there was also a senior Vets category, where my mum competed FOR CHARITY and came an impressive 5th place!?

Well done to everyone who competed over the weekend.

Junior Leading World Championships 2012, Singapore

On Saturday 25th August, I departed from Heathrow airport with the British Team for the Junior World Championships (www.ifsc-climbing.org). In the youth B girls category, there was me and Molly, in the youth B boys category there was William, the youth A boys had Buster and Jonny and in the Junior Girls there was Charlotte. We began our journey with a 13 hour flight to Singapore, where we didn't arrive until Sunday.

When we finally got to the airport, we got a taxi to Sentosa (the island where we were staying) and settled into our well air-conditioned rooms.

For the next two days we had the chance to recover from jet-lag and adapt to the hot, sticky climate. On Tuesday we went to China Town, which is the Chinese part of Singapore. I found  this interesting as it was typically Asian, whereas the shopping centre in Singapore was just like being back in England!

The competition was on a purpose built climbing wall on.....the beach! This was quite an awesome place to climb, however it wasn't that convenient because it was impossible to keep sand off the mats and my climbing shoes.

From IFSC facebook photo album day 1

Qualifier 1 took place on Wednesday, where I was climbing 2nd. Personally I preferred this because you always know the time the climbing starts, so you can time your warm-up more precisely, as you know you'll be climbing just after it starts. Knowing that my warm up had gone well, I was feeling far more relaxed than usual. I definitely climbed my best, and once everyone had finished climbing I found out that I was in Joint 3rd out of 48 climbers. This made me a lot more confident and put me in a good position for my 2nd route.

The following day, qualifier 2 began at 11am, however I was 24th to climb, so had quite a wait. I didn't climb very well on my second route but I still qualified for the semi-finals (top26) in 14th place. Molly, William and Charlotte also Qualified for the semis.

Isolation for the semi-finals was due to open at 9.30am on Friday morning, however we got woken up at 7am by torrential rain. I lost all hope that it would go ahead, especially when the rain got heavier as we were eating breakfast. If the semi's has been cancelled, the results from the qualifiers would have been used, meaning I would have come 14th. though I would have been pleased with this result, I had no desire for the semi-finals to be cancelled, because I didn't go all the way to Singapore just to do 2 routes, especially after all the training that had gone into it. Because of this, it seemed like a miracle when the rain finally stopped, and they gave a new time for isolation.

Isolation was on the beach behind the comp wall, where there was a small warm-up wall. I think that though it was hot, the setting of the competition helped me to stay calmer (it made me realise how lucky I was to even be there). There was a long queue for the warm-up wall, so I didn't get quite as much warming up as I'd have liked, however I still think I did my best on the climb, as it was slightly easier  than the qualifiers, meaning you had to get nearer the top to do well, and at the moment my endurance isn't one of my strong points. In the end I finished 20th in the semi's, therefore that was my final result. I was pleased with my performance throughout the competition, and it was a great experience competing somewhere so different from England.

In the end, Team GB had some great results, with William and Molly qualifying for the finals, where William finished an amazing 4th place at his first ever World Championships! and Molly finished 7th. Also, myself and Charlotte made the semi's with Buster and Jonny narrowly missing out.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and was a great opportunity to meet people from all around the World with different cultures. Also, it was a good experience to climb on great routes, set by international route setters, and I really enjoyed the trip :D