So I haven't written anything in a little while now, at first I thought this was because I hadn't really done much of interest. But I've just got home from the European cup at Ratho and realised I've done so much recently, that it's actually just overwhelmed me and I haven't given myself the time to process all that has happened.
First of there was the Scottish Bouldering Championships held at The Climbing Academy in Glasgow which formed the second round of the British Bouldering Championships. This event was really well run, the problems were all fantastic and the finals where amazing! My only thought on it is that in the qualifying maybe my categories problems where too easy, I say this because I flashed them all but coincidentally I was the only person to do that. Thinking about it now it might not be a case of that they were easy but more proving to myself that I am actually improving and all the training is paying off. Unfortunately in the finals I didn't have such luck and failed to top any of my climbs, but I did get enough bonus points on them to finish in a comfortable second place.
The day after that I traveled to Ratho with a few other friends for a training session. But I had a different goal to them as I knew the European cup was coming up I wanted to get on the speed wall and try to get a good enough time to qualify to enter! I knew it would be a hard task, I hadn't even tried the route since the European Championships last year and my previous best time was 12.19 seconds I think. As I had moved up into the junior category I really had to push since I need 10.5 seconds to qualify. This was no easy task.
I had a few goes just feeling the holds remembering what it was like to climb it, then I spent some time trying to improve my sequence as I knew it wasn't the best. After all this I just threw myself at the wall over and over again trying harder and harder to get that time. Almost every time I improved knocking fractions of a second each time until eventually I was consistently hitting around 10.6 seconds. At this point I knew it would take planning to improve so I took my time, rested more and started to really focus. Eventually I got down 10.54 seconds. But we had already stayed over an hour later than we were meant to and as it is around a 6 hour drive home and I had gotten a lift with a friend I couldn't make them wait any longer and we left.
Fortunately after contacting the Bmc they agreed to let me enter the Comp! I was ecstatic, the only down side was that because technically I was over the qualifying time still I wouldn't be aloud to enter and other internationals abroad. After speaking to my mum about it all she made what I can imagine was a very hard decision and decided to take me up to Ratho again so I could practice more before the event so I could improve and maybe become fast enough to enter other events. As we aren't the richest family in the world unfortunately this meant she wouldn't be able to come up again 2 weeks later to watch me compete in the event, and I can never thank her enough for making that choice because that weekend of practicing on the speed wall made the world of a difference. I found a new sequence that made me much quicker and improved my time to 10.09 seconds!
The days passed, the training continued and eventually I was in the car with my dad driving up to Ratho to enter the European Cup. The first day was given over to the ridiculously talented lead climbers from all over Europe. With over 200 competitors it was going to be a long day, but eventually they finished their qualifiers and results had been posted and GB had 3 climbers in the finals!
From half four in the afternoon though the climbing was given over to the speed climbers we had our practice runs then qualification started. To say I was nervous was an understatement, I knew I would be up against people who constantly trained on the route and knew it like the back of their hand and all I had was one wall 6 hours away from where I live! But I managed a decent time of 10.34 and fortunately was through to the finals in 7th place! Much better than I could have ever hoped for!
The next day the finals for the lead climbing started and we all watched intently waiting for our team mates to come out. William Bosi was out first and had a fantastic performance but just slipped one hold from the highest point and finished in 2nd place overall in youth B! Fair play to him as he fully believes he could have done loads better! Next out was Buster Martin, I imagine he was already really happy with his result as it was the first time he has made a final in a European! He climbed fantastically but out of the blue just slipped whilst clipping, in the end he finished in a respectable 8th place in youth A. Finally out was Molly Thompson-Smith who had an awful morning and had been really quite ill so no matter where she came it would have been an achievement. As it turns out she did really well and finished in 5th in youth A. So a massive well done to all of them and the rest of the team.
Finally it was the finals for the speed climbing, my first race went amazingly and I won posting a new personal best as well at 9.98 seconds! Next was the semi finals and unfortunately I slipped almost straight away and lost. But really I didn't mind too much I had guaranteed at least 4th place and still had a shot at 3rd place. I had my final race, it started out okay I made a minor fumble but it didn't slow me down too much and we were head to head up until the last move, where tragically I missed my foothold and almost fell off. I had lost, but I made the last move hit the pad and was lowered off. So in the end I finished in 4th place, I'm so pleased though because I did better than expected and possibly more importantly got a new personal best time as well! Finally well done to Alexander Bosi for finishing 7th in youth A and getting a new PB as well and Pete Dawson for entering only to take William's place as he dropped out and having never really done it much before managed 4th in youth B!
Needless to say I'm psyched more than ever and ready to keep on pushing to improve! Next up is the Senior British Bouldering championships and then providing I get a new passport in time the European Championships in Imst!
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