Bahrain Speed Climbing Exhibition

So a few days after the European Cup I received an email inviting me to demonstrate speed climbing with multiple world cup winner Edyta Ropek and her coach Arkadiusz Kaminski. Unfortunately I'd been quite stupid and let my passport expire so I phoned up the passport office and after a rather boring day in Peterborough I got it sorted and within a couple days was on a flight to Bahrain!
I spent the first day relaxing and just having a look around the shopping shopping centres there, which are some of the biggest ones I have ever seen. After a look around I went back to the hotel, had a session in the gym then headed outside to the climbing wall which was being built outside the hotel.

A view of the wall

Eventually the wall was finished being built and the holds put up, in the end it was decided not to put the official speed route up as the whole idea was to get people to come and have a go and we realised it might actually be too hard for most people as most the country had never experienced climbing before.

The first evening went by quite quickly, a fair few people showed up to the event and quite a lot of newspaper reporters as well. It was all a bit of a shock to the system being asked for so many interviews, photographs, etc. By the last day I was even asked for my autograph which was just mental! Unfortunately Edyta was still recovering from an operation so she didn't really manage much climbing. Because of this I had the honour of doing most the demonstrations which was quite exciting, as it was just a very easy route I managed to zoom up the wall quite fast leaving the crowd quite excited and wanting to have a go themselves. Eventually one man showed up who wanted a go, and he was quite good and got up the wall with ease. I spoke to him afterwards and found out his name - Omar Summar. And as it turns out he was the 2006 UK BeatBox Champion, so after the band had finished we got him to do a demonstration and honestly it was amazing. Everyone around just stopped what they where doing to watch him, you can see a short video of his performance on Edyta's Youtube Page. 

The next day I went to Martin and Sylvia's (The people behind Sportique88 which has ran the season of sport in Bahrain) home to have lunch and a swim in the pool. During lunch we spoke of different opportunities for climbing in Bahrain which will hopefully take off as a popular sport in the country. That evening we went back to the wall, set up and started letting people have a climb. We were shocked, after the first evenings news reports had gone up a lot more people showed up and were very excited to have a go. By the end we were shattered! But I was pleased to see people I recongnised form the first evening showing up again hoping to have another go, there was definitely a lot on young people who were very keen and had more attempts than I could recall! Afterwards we went back to the hotel and all had a drink together when suddenly we saw a newspaper which just so happened to have me on the front cover!

Me on the front cover of a local newspaper

The next day was a very special day as it was also the last day of the exhibition, we got up early and went on a culture tour which had been organised for us. It started off by visiting a museum which also had an old fort which you could walk around and see, unfortunately as soon as we stepped outside to see the fort I realised it was just too hot for me so I went back to sit in the air conditioned museum while the others had a look around. Next we had a look around a shop selling handcrafted gifts, it was a short but interesting place. Finally we went to see the Grand Mosque, it was a huge and magnificent building. Even the doors where marvelous, reaching heights of up to 20ft and weighing around 1 and a half tones! 

Arkadiusz, Myself, Edyta and my Mum at the Museum

A photo of part of the main prayer hall

We returned to the hotel had lunch and where then picked up by Martin who had a special treat in store for us. He ran the Bahrain International Circuit for many years and was going to take us for a tour around the place. Once we arrived he drove us round the track in his car and then even let us all have a drive too! It was an amazing experience and I still can't believe we where allowed to do it! I guess it pays to know the right people!

Me driving on the Bahrain International Circuit

Finally we finished driving on the track and headed back to the hotel for a short rest before starting the final exhibition. It started off as usual, we set up gave a few demonstrations then let people start climbing! It was so exciting yet again, I saw many familiar faces, took photos, a few interviews and signed my first autograph! Part way through we were stopped so some certificates could be handed out for people from other events of the season of sport and then finally we were given ours, it was an honour to meet the Minister of Culture who was awarding the certificates. He seemed very interested in climbing and quite keen on the possibility of having a climbing center in Bahrain and holding the event again in the future! I'm very excited about the possibility of this and even more so to be part of bringing my sport to the country!

Had to pose for lots of photos! This family was very keen on climbing!

The Minister of Culture and Myself

After the event finished we went to the cafe opposite the wall to have some food and a drink, during this we chatted about all the possibilities this event has created and the future of climbing here. So you can look forward to all the exciting things to come of this.

The next day we got on the plane and on arriving at Heathrow said goodbye to Martin, Sylvia and their daughter Chloe who happened to be on the same flight home as us.  And now I'm home and just trying to process everything which has just happened. I can't believe it all and am very excited about the future possibilities that this event has created!

Martin, Myself, Chloe, Sylvie and my Mum after the final exhibiton

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Martin and Sylvia for inviting me to take part in this amazing event, I can never thank them enough for the life changing trip they have given me. The Ministry of Culture in Bahrain for putting so much into Climb Fever and the rest of the Season of Sport. And finally the many people of Bahrain who showed up and really made the event such a success!

Heres a few links to some news articles and reports of the event -

Bahrain News Agency

Daily Tribune (E-Paper)

Ministry of Culture's report

Psych is High (Two Comps and Training)

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!

Full report by the BMC (Includes links to results)

Fontainebleau Easter 2013

Day 1
The day started off at 6am, we got ready and stuffed all our things into the car leaving the house at about half 7. After a couple hours in the car we arrived at the channel tunnel and met George Morris there who insisted we had our photo taken with the Easter bunny as someone was in a costume giving out free cream eggs. Unfortunately there seemed to be massive delays at the tunnel and we were there for almost two hours! Eventually the train left and we got to France at about 4 then we had the long drive to our gite...

Fontainebleau!

Buildering in the village

Day 2
My first day climbing here, and it was amazing! We went to Apremonte and as soon as I got there I felt overwhelmed, the amount of boulders everywhere, the people climbing and how big it all was. It was so much to take in, so I warmed up and got on some really easy problems then moved onto things that looked a bit harder. I got on a climb, managed to flash it and thought "oh that was hard, what grade is it" so I got a guide out and found out it was about 5b. At that point I was quite worried, if I had to push to do a 5b, how would the rest of the week go? I moved on to a harder looking problem to the left of it called Jiu Jitsu (6a+) I had seen some people working it and thought it looked fun so I asked if I could have a go, and again got worried because it felt so hard. But I pulled on and managed to get to the last few holds, but I couldn't see my feet. So the only natural thing I could think of was to campus it until I could get my feet high enough so i could top out. I flashed it, but felt pretty stupid in the process...
After that we all started working the sit start to Légitimate Adhérance (7a). I had a good flash attempt and almost topped it and after a few more goes I managed to finish it. I felt like I was finally managing to get to grips with the climbing here. Soon after Duncan and George managed it too and we all moved on.
The next climb was quite an odd one, it's called Retablissement (7a) and after some route reading and advice I managed to flash it! I was so happy, but not everyone else was as lucky as me as it had a awkward and scary top out... But after an hour Duncan and George managed it too, which good.
From there we moved to try Le Petit Phoque (7b) this was quite an awkward climb, starting sat on the floor pulling off tiny crimps and a heal hook, then slapping round a corner to more crimps. It took a couple trys but after a while I managed to top it out.
Finally I decided to try Sitting Bull (7c). It goes through a roof off awkward holds and finishing by mantling off terrible slopers. Everyone else decided not to try it after seeing me fail trying to work it out for half an hour. But after two hours I worked out all the beta and managed it! My first 7c outdoors!

Ticks:
Jiu Jitsu 6a+ FLASH
Légitime Adhérance assis 7a
Retablissement 7a FLASH
Le Petit Phoque 7a
Sitting Bull 7c

Day 3
The next day didn't start out great, I couldn't seem to climb anything in the morning and eventually we went to La Canche aux Merciers and I flashed La Grande Marche (7a+). I spent a little while working the 7b extension where you climb the crack then instead of topping out you traverse left across the lip with a series of heel hooks then top out on slopers. But unfortunately, being the boulderer I am, as soon as I got to the crux I was pumped and couldn't pull anymore. Soon after though Tash managed to climb La Grande Marche too which was her first 7a+ so with that fantastic effort we moved Drei Zinnen to work Diversion (7b). As soon as I saw this line I was stoked to send it, it just looked perfect. Small little pockets up a steep wall, it took a while to work out the beta which suited me through the beginning then I had to figure out how I cold top out as I couldn't do it the normal way. In the end I settled with bringing my heel up next to my hand and locking off to reach the final pocket which was basically the end nice from there it was 2 easy moves of what were basically jugs. A little while after Duncan managed to top it too and we both left pretty pleased with ourselves!

Ticks:
La Grande Marche 7a+ FLASH
Diversion 7b

Extensions of La Grande Marche 7b

Day 4
Gorge aux Chats was the destination the next day! After running around to warm up then getting lost in the forest trying to find everyone again since I ran too far I got on some easy stuff. after i felt warm I decided to work Rubis Sur l'Ongle (7b+). I quickly worked out how to do every move but just couldn't manage it, especially since it was getting warmer and warmer. We realised eventually that now it was warmer and the sun was on the rock that I probably won't be possible for us at the time, so we decided to come another day a little bit earlier to get on it before it got hot! So next we all got on Sa Pelle al Logis (7a), Duncan and I quickly flashed it so I moved on to try Opera Tchetchene Raccourci (7a). After one attempt and realising the top out was the crux I tried it again five minutes later and topped it. We left there and went to Bas Cuvier where I quickly flashed Helicoptere (7a), I can understand why it's a bit of a dangerous climb after seeing countless people fall and nearly break their legs! I spent a long time working Carnage (7b+) after that but it just didn't seem to happen! I was so frustrated, I was really loosing my head. Not long after I'd given up hope Duncan managed it and due to my competitive nature this finished me for the day. I was a typical grumpy teenager. So apologies to everyone about that! I left with George to try some other climbs since he was having an equally sucky day but again we had no luck. So finally I tried La Marie Rose (6a), which is probably the hardest 6a going and managed it second go.

Ticks:
Sa Pelle al Logis 7a FLASH
Opera Tchetchene Raccourci 7a
Helicoptere 7a FLASH
La Marie Rose 6a

Day 5
I finally picked up and managed some decent hard stuff, we headed to Buthiers and got on Magic Bus (7b). This really got me psyched, it was a short roof climb involving some sneaky footwork. After one attempt getting to the crux I tried the move in isolation then got on it again from the start. I pulled onto the jugs, reach my right hand to the next big undercut, walked my feet around the wall so I could reach crimp with my left hand then got a sweet double toe hook, locked my left arm then reached and caught the next big undercut. From there I pulled my feet up dead pointed to a big flat hold,whacked a heel hook up then topped out. Sweet. All in about fifteen minutes too! Again a little while after Duncan managed it too, and with the others having no luck we moved on again to Bas Cuvier. This time I was calm, and having no expectations I warmed up again and decided to try Carnage and see if I could get it. I had one attempt and felt strong so I rested, pulled on again and managed it. Just goes to show how much having a clear head can help.

Ticks:
Magic bus 7b
Carnage 7b+

Day 6
Today was the day! I was going to do Rubis Sur l'Ongle, no exceptions. We arrived, warmed up and I practiced the moves just to refresh my mind and body on how it was done. After a couple hours though I still had no luck... I was once again getting stressed out and couldn't cope. I did t get was going wrong! I rested at least five minutes between attempts, I was keeping warm, I just did not understand! To top things off one of my finger tips split and I started to bleed too dried it up tried again and still no luck! And Mother Nature was not on my side either as although it was our first cloudy day the sun started peaking through and warming the climb up too much! I'd had it. I wanted the climb so much, I just couldn't handle it I felt on the verge of tears. After hearing George say something, I can't even remember what it reminded me of the song Hey Ya by Outkast. Before the trip I had been driving my friends nuts playing the song and had even got it on my phone. I checked and the crag was mostly empty to I thought why not, gave him my phone and got the song blasting. I chalked up and pulled on, realising instantly i was smiling. After a short fight I caught the crux hold managed to stick the next few moves after some quite odd power shouting and soon found myself standing on top of the boulder! I can't think of a more hilariously epic movement I've ever had whilst climbing. Again, a fine example of what being calm and generally being happy can do for you.
We moved to Isatis next to try Iceberg (7c) but with my sore skin and weird style of climbing It had I quickly decided it wasn't for me. After a recommendation from Nick to try L'Arrache Coeur (7c) we went t have a look and I realised it was the climb for me. It was like a typical indoor hard pulling climb (although it was a little bit soft...) It only took about four or five goes which was even better! It started on two jugs, I dead pointed to another jug, worked my feet up locked off and caught a crimp with my left hand you then twist your hip into the wall and get an awkward knee bar in and reach round a small roof to another crimp. This move felt massive, and to top it off it was very high and not even the crux! From there you sort your feet out catch another crimp then jump to a sloper round a corner then campus to the jug at the top. I felt fantastic! My second 7c of the trip!

Ticks:
Rubis Sur l'Ongle 7b+
L'Arrache Coeur 7c

L'Arrache Coeur 7c

Day 7
The final day, we decided to spend the whole day at Bas Cuvier. Started on Duroxamine (6c), it was vile. Apparently a classic. I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and my opinion is it was polished choss. Managed it 2nd go but it was not that enjoyable. We moved on to the man area and Duncan's aim was to do Carnage Assis (7c). I had already wrote it off and thought it wasn't worth my time since the stand felt hard enough, but like I said - I'm competitive. So I couldn't resist. We set to work, sit down, pull on, climb up, fall off, repeat. Eventually we started getting close and eventually Duncan managed it, making it look easy in the process. Good effort. Now I just couldn't leave it. But I'd learnt for the previous days, there's no point getting down! I stayed chilled and just carries on trying, eventually more of my finger tips started to split and at me point I did start to bleed... Not good. I cleaned the holds and tapped up my fingers to stop it happening again. I would not make any friends bleeding over those holds. I realised now I probably wouldn't do it with my tapped up fingers as the pocket was too temperamental. I pulled on and couldn't even hold the pocket. I tried again five minutes later and to my surprise and I'd imagine everyone else's I actually topped it! I was happy now. The rest of the day didn't matter anymore, I'd done the one climb that was on my ticklist that would actually be possible for me! But I ought about it for a while and realised I'd nothing to loose now, why not try everything possibly could? Maybe get some more 7a's even? I searched and tried several until I found La Daube (7a) and after a couple goes it was sent, but it obviously wasn't popular as it had hardly any chalk on it... Next I got on L'Araignee (7a) and quickly sent it. By this point I called it a day, I was tried and happy (Also my fingers couldn't really take any more abuse).

Ticks:
Duroxamine 6c
Carnage Assis 7c
La Daube 7a
L'Araignee 7a

All in all it was a fantastic trip and I loved it. Right now I can't think of a place I'd rather be in the world than the beautiful forest of Fontainebleau. I'm looking forward to another trip there in the summer with another group of friends now, but in the meantime I still need to send Ben's Roof (7c+) at Raven Tor! Next up is the second round of the Junior British Bouldering Championships in Glasgow!

I'd like to say thanks to Duncan Fisher and his parents for taking me with them, Nick Reyner and Debbie Corbett for showing us around and giving us beta and anyone else who I might be missing!

CWIF 2013

Those that know me may well be aware that I am not great at being organised. So the fact that I managed to register for CWIF this year before preregistration closed was a good tick in itself!
And I'm glad that I did register in time because this competition seriously deserves the reputation it has gained. Unfortunately I didn't make the semis but I couldn't realistically expect an astounding result while competing against beasts such as Jakob Schubert, Dave Barrans and more!
The qualifying was good fun, I managed to flash loads of blocs but sadly did mess up a few attempts on others which resulted in second or third attempts... The problems were good fun and well set (you couldn't ask for much more!) And separated everyone really well with a variety of different styles. I scored 210 which I was pleased about, although I am a miffed that my result wasn't posted on the site I think I would have been placed 31st in the seniors and 4th in the juniors (In fact I was put on the qualifying results but somehow I changed to a female junior! I'm not sure how that happened but I'm pretty sure I'm not a girl!)
I'm definitely psyched to return next year but much stronger and hopefully do much better! And after watching the semis and the finals I'm more motivated than ever to push and become as strong as possible! Thanks everyone at The Works for putting on a fantastic event.

In two weeks time I will be heading out to Fontainebleau with a group of friends, I've been counting down the days for quite some time! This will be my first time there, and I'm lucky enough to be going with a good crowd and some strong climbers who know the place really well. So hopefully I won't be running around from problem to problem like a child in a toy store! I've got my ticklist ready (Although it does seem a bit adventurous!) and I'm psyched for a great trip!

Finally I'd like to say thanks to Beyond Hope who will now be supporting me with Evolv, PrAna and Metolius! They really are great guys!

Hard Pulling

This year I got into it again as quick as possible. This involved going to Burbage on the 1st of January with Tom, Billy and Will. We were under the impression it was meant to be good weather and got pretty psyched, once we arrived we met up with Will and tried to get into the swing of things. Unfortunately the weather turned pretty grim and the day didn't go too well and I only managed  Definitive 5.12 (6c) and Banana Finger (6a) This was pretty disappointing to say the least, towards the end we moved over to Burbage West and go stuck into Westside Story (7b+) I think it was only at this point around 3pm that we all felt good again, but unfortunately none of us topped.
Before we left we made the decision that after 4 hours sleep and a whole days worth of climbing like punters that it would be a fantastic idea to go back to Billy's house and have a training session on his amazing home wall. This turned out to be great fun and we ended up climbing for hours until we just couldn't continue.

Will on the articulated systems board

The next week I got a text from Will quite late on Tuesday evening saying he was going back to Burbage the next day and did I want to go? Well the simple answer was yes. I had unfinished business with Westside Story and I knew I had to get it done at all costs. So the next day I was up nice and early, met Will then headed off for a day in the Peak! It was fantastic conditions all day, not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining and it was around 7 degrees. Couldn't of asked for a better day. The day started with a relatively quick accent of The Nose (7a) and from there we moved on to Westside Story. Hours passed and still neither of us had done it, eventually I spotted another little feature to use as a foot hold and tried the climb that way and nearly did the crux move static. After a few more tries I eventually did it. I found it was quite a personal climb, because almost everyone I've seen do it does it differently, some people obviously are tall enough and can just reach up to the jug, others have to full on dyno and quite a few people use different footholds. Since the climb puts you in such an awkward position on poor holds you cant really do much, so the main crux really is just trying to position yourself right!
I was quite pleased getting a 7b+ done, especially since it was a highball problem so anything else I did was just a bonus. We moved on to try Breakfast (7a) which was quite awkward, but very satisfying once complete. After both topping that we tried Famous Grouse (7b+) This took a little while, frustratingly I wasn't even coming off the crux, I got past that and kept falling off the move just above which is basically the finish. I was really psyched to try the sit start to it which gets 7c but in the end decided I'd be more pleased just to get it done then do the sit start another day.


Two days later I went to The Climbing Station without much of a plan on what to do. After a suggestion from someone that I try and do the 8a on the Circuit Board I figured that would be my goal for the session. I warmed up, read the route and chalked up. I walked to the first hold and held it for a second, breathing, relaxing my body and mind, then looked at the other holds near me... Straight away I was drawn to the black holds, which happened to be 8b. I had tried it a few weeks before and did all the moves but couldn't link it, so I figured why not? I read the climb then pulled on, breathing the whole way through, keeping myself calm and relaxed. I passed my previous best, a slightly awkward move down bringing your hand to your foot. But when I got there I didn't think about it I just did what felt natural, got into an Egyptian position and cruised it. I continued on climbing and before I knew it I was at the last hold and stepped off...
I went back again 2 days later with the intention of repeating it to prove to myself that it wasn't a fluke and I really did just do an 8b for virtually no preparation. After a really good warm up I pulled on and managed it all the way round again. I sat down and thought what to do next and almost instantly I knew. I was going to repeat it as many time possible. I rested between 5-10 minutes then pulled on again and finished it. Rest, repeat, rest, repeat. After my fourth time finishing it I was over the moon, I finished my rest and pulled on again. Unfortunately this was the end to my glory and I lost some body tension and fell, instantly I pulled back on and got to the end. I tried one more time but by this point my body had, had it and I failed again. But really, it didn't matter. I climbed an 8b four times in one session and that was something I could be proud of.

Finally the next day I went to The Tower and worked with my coach to develop a short training plan to run up to ROCfest on the 2nd of February which I'm quite excited to get started with and to put pieces together for a plan to run me up to the next bouldering team selection. To end the session I managed to get the third accent of a classic feature only problem on the bouldering wall there. To those who haven't been to the Tower the wall is entirely covered in features, It's almost like your climbing on real rock sometimes. So if you ever go this particular problem has been up since forever and always will be up. It's labelled by some blue chalk circling the features with a number 15 next to each hold. Good Luck.

Youth Open and Christmas Crush!

For the past few months my main focus has been bouldering so I could hopefully get selected for the GB Team during the selection event over a week ago now. The run up to the event was torture, I started having lots of problems with my mental attitude towards the competition going from feeling incredibly psyched and strong to feeling terrified and weak. I had several sessions at different climbing centers a couple weeks before the event to get some variety in and had such a mix of emotions about it all I just couldn't understand what was going on. First of all I was flashing several V8+'s in a row then suddenly I was coming off of a simple V6. In the end I put it down to route reading and not being focused enough. Because of that I decided they were things that had to be worked on before the event.

The last day that I climbed for the event was great practice because I managed to fit so much into one day without actually straining myself at all. First of all I spent several hours helping with the route setting at the Tower, it's always great fun route setting seeing what sort of weird and wonderful creations you can come up with. Lately I've managed to get a fair bit of route setting done and during this time I think I've really improved and (hopefully) starting to set some decent climbs! Route setting as a whole has always helped me with route reading, you start to learn the tricks of the trade and think about climbs a lot more so when it comes to actually climbing you feel like you understand what your meant to be doing so much more. After we finished the setting I had a try at a few of the climbs to see if they were alright, but didn't really try too hard because I was going to be competing in the Climbing Stations winter bouldering league the same night!
The bouldering went by very uneventful I managed to flash most the problems, made some silly mistakes and climbed some hard things. It gave me time to think about what I had done in the end and really plan my whole day through for the youth open.

On the day I got warmed up and felt really strong, but most of all calm. I generally struggle to stay calm at events like these, I get nervous and when ever I come of something I get frustrated and cross. That day was not one of those days, I stayed calm and clear headed, because of this managed to climb pretty well! I pulled onto the first climb and flashed it with ease. I eyed up my next problem, Starts on a jug, has an undercutting volume to the right and a big round volume just above. I pulled on, reached to the undercut and realised I was in a horrible position. Whilst reading it I could have sworn the move was a dyno, so I got back to the start hold and jumped. This was a silly mistake and I slipped right of the volume. I had a sit down, looked at it and realised I should have heal hooked the first hold and I would have done it straight away. I got back on and did it. The next problem I got on was up an overhanging wall, it looked pretty steady the only bit that concerned me was right at the end where you have to slap your hands up some aretes to hold yourself in, turns out it was pretty simple moves, just quite powerful but I managed flashed it. There was one problem in the qualifying round which really stood out to me. And I hated it, for one reason. I could not do it... I got on it time and time again getting through all the technical bits at the start which most other people I saw come off at. I was getting to a side pull volume, from there you had a big deadpoint to the finishing hold which was quite flat. But every time I went for the hold I got it and barndoored right off! I just couldn't hold it, and it frustrated me a lot but I was pleased because I got so far on it. In the end I qualified for the finals in 2nd place, we went to isolation and were told we had around an hour and a half before we could view our final problems... For reasons unknown to me we ended up in isolation for a grand total of 5 and a half hours! We only got to view our problems about 4 or so hours into it... Unfortunately this didn't help my focus at all, I lost all my psych and felt pretty scared. After viewing the climbs I felt like I regained some psych but after being trapped in such a small space with about 20 other people I wasn't calm about it... I pulled onto the first climb, a techy one on a slab and flashed it with ease. The next climb I couldn't do, I got to the bonus hold first time and every go after but couldn't make the move just after, I tried all sorts of different foot placements but just couldn't hold myself in. The final climb I didn't do either I got to a big flat hold and from there had to do a big move to quite a flat hold which I just couldn't manage. In the end only one person topped all the finals and the rest of us all got the same score more or less so it went back to our qualifying results! Which meant I finished in 2nd overall.

The next day they had released the names of the people they had selected for the team and unfortunately I didn't make it. I was quite down about this, but in the end I guess it's because I wasn't good enough so I've got to step it up another notch.

I wont go into too much detail about the Christmas Crush, but it was a fantastic bouldering event held at Birmingham Bouldering center. It was a small little center but was pretty cool, it had a nice style of walls. There were 25 qualifying problems and you had about 3 hours to give them all a go. With some fantastic prizes loads of the top climbers showed up and with no junior category just male and female category's I felt out of my depth at first! Luckily I showed up a couple hours before the competition got started so I gave myself plenty of time to read every single problem at least 3 times. And when it actually came to climbing I climbed them all exactly as I read them, flashing nearly everything I climbed! There were only 3 problems I didn't do in the end, but that was enough to put me through to the finals in a solid 2nd place! Right behind Jon Partridge. There where 5 problems in the finals they all looked pretty tough, I started to get worried! But as it turns out I climbed pretty well! I flashed the first three climbs, came off on the last hold of the fourth and got to the same place as almost everyone else on the fifth. It was a fantastic day and I finished in 2nd (AGAIN.)

But what I learnt from the past two weekends has effected me quite a lot in such a small space of time, no matter how good you think you are there can always be someone better. And if you sit down long enough and think over what's been happening you can spot those little details that went wrong and really try to improve on them so next time you can be ready.

HAPPY CLIMBING!

Youth Open Bouldering Results

Christmas Crush Results

European Championships and Battle of Britain

Following my success from the British Speed Climbing Championships about a month ago I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the European Speed Climbing Championships in Gemozac.

After a series of rather odd gym sessions I felt physically ready for the event. My main problem though is that living in the Midlands I am no where near the only speed wall in the UK, so I was at quite a big disadvantage and had to make do with watching countless videos of the route and mapping the sequence out in my mind and on paper.

The flight to France and the drive to our hotel was fairly uneventful, we made good time even after following the Sat-Nav sent us down wrong roads several times. When we arrived we all went of to our rooms unpacked and connected to the internet.

Buster finding the internet at the hotel.

Saturday came and everyone went to the wall, having never been to compete abroad before this is quite a strange experience for me. I wasn't to compete in the lead event because I hadn't done well enough to be selected for the team, so I just got to watch and take it all in. The wall was massive, just by looking you could tell it was made for competitions. It had great big intimidating overhangs, spicy looking slabs and many strange shapes. I would have loved to have the opportunity to climb on it just for the experience, but by this point I noticed the speed wall and my focus changed.

Having never watched a European lead event before I didn't know what sort of results to expect from the Team, but seeing Molly (5th) and Alex (7th) qualify and compete in the finals was amazing. It was a fantastic event to watch. But it really got me thinking about what I want to do with my climbing, do I want to focus on the speed climbing? Am I going to continue to push my bouldering so I can attempt to make the new Junior Bouldering Team? Or will I keep pushing my lead climbing so I could compete in an event like this? It sometimes became hard to watch because I know leading is not my strong point but it would have been nice to compete in the event. But watching this event gave me a decision and when we arrived back at our hotel I rang my parents and told them I would not be competing in the Lead Open Youth Event coming this December  because I wanted to push myself as far as I can physically manage in the bouldering event.

Sunday came and it was finally time for me to compete in the speed event. We had two practice attempts at the speed route (Which was only 10m high, not the usual 15m) and I felt like I climbed pretty well, my only problem I felt I had at the time was that I couldn't quite get my technique right while bringing my legs up and this led to a rather painful incident involving my knee and a hold later on...
My first qualifier went alright and I climbed the route in 7.81 seconds, which I later found it averaged out on the full 15m wall would have beaten my current best. My seconds qualifier didn't got too well. On one of the first moves I banged my knee on a hold and stopped moving altogether, this cost me a good 2 seconds. I pushed on up the route and managed about 9 seconds, I never found out for sure because as soon as I got back to the ground I realised my knee was quite a bit worse than I first thought. I limped away and sat down, instantly going dizzy and feeling very faint. I had some antiseptic spray on it then a bandage put on to stop me from getting blood everywhere. Once we got back to the hotel, I took the bandage off and rinsed my leg off in the shower. I was quite disappointing really, because it was so painful when it happened and it completely soaked the bandage in blood. I was hoping for a real war wound! But in the end it turned out to be just a little cut!

The Climbing Center

All in all though it was a good event and I finished 19th, I may have been able to manage better had I not hurt myself but will never know. Next time.

Less than a week after arriving home I decided to travel up to Leeds to compete in the Battle of Britain bouldering competition they hold every year. This was my first time competing in this and I was quite excited about competing with all the big guns in the senior category! It was such a fun event and involved 30 qualifying problems and then the top 5 go into the finals. I scored 267 in the end, flashing all of my problems but one which I got second go then 3 which I just didn't manage. For the problem I did second go I should have done better, I had a poor lapse in judgement and decided to be more dynamic than static which doing the move, this led to me falling and just looking plain stupid. I got on it again not long after, locked off for the crux move and topped it. Easy.
I finished joint 9th in the end. Not bad for one of the youngest competitors in a group of 84! And a massive well done to Molly who won the junior category in qualifying but gave up her title to compete in the senior female finals and finished in an impressive 3rd!
It was a great experience to compete with some of the strongest boulderers around and see what sort of level I need to be at to achieve in future years and I really look forward to when that time comes.

I'd like to say a big well done to Tara Hayes who I train with regularly for come 12th in the Europeans, she was so close and climbed amazingly! And a thank you to the GB Team for letting me compete in the speed event!

I'm hoping to go outside and do some bouldering quite soon with some friends, but if that doesn't happen next up is the final selection for the GB Junior Bouldering Team in December!

Psyched.