Sunday 12th of October marked the date of my first ever EYC.
On the Thursday before, Molly, Alex and I travelled up to Manchester airport where we met the rest of the team. We then flew to Paris Charles de Gaulle and waited (a rather long time) for the rental cars. We finally set off and I was lucky enough to be in the spacious car, along with Jen and Tara. After finally escaping the horrendous Parisian traffic we stopped at a service station and had dinner. This gave people an opportunity to practise their French. We then headed back in the cars, and drove to Laval. The journey took over 4 hours, but with the many games of Candy Crush, time flew by.
We arrived at the hotel at about 11 pm absolutely shattered. Thank goodness none of us had to climb the day after. We organized the rooms and went straight to bed.
Friday saw us visiting the town. First stop was the chocolate shop. I had to help Pete a little bit though... But we finally managed to buy the chocolates and continued our little tour. The town was very old and the roads very steep and winding. A massive difference compared to London! Afterwards we had the technical meeting and the opening ceremony. It was so cool to see Nathan hold up the British flag alongside the other nations. I felt a little sorry for him though, because he had to stand on the stage for about 20 minutes while all the speeches we said (in French).
So Saturday finally rolled around. When we arrived at the arena, we were mind blown. Four blocs were built on the stage of a colossal auditorium. The psyche levels were rising...
We watched the Junior and Youth A girls crush these sick problems, and then the Youth A boys. Hamish had to pull out because of his back about half and hour in. He finished 8th, and it goes without saying he would have probably made the finals if it weren't for his injury.
The last category of the day was the Junior boys. Everybody was psyched for this, as Nathan had good chances of making finals. After cranking, the results came and he qualified in 5th place! The Youth B category was climbing the next day so we went to a restaurant to get a proper meal. After many conversations about haggis we headed back to the arena to watch Nathan in the final. He absolutely crushed, making the team so proud. We watched the last few climbers of his category together, already celebrating that he had come 2nd. But then the shocker of the night, the Italian guy who had supposedly won couldn't top the last problem, which meant Nathan had won!!!! It was the best moment of the entire weekend, even if the Italian team now hate us.
I was so psyched to climb now.
Sunday arrived and Sid, Michelle, Claire and I were up bright and early to go to the center. We climbed in a different place to the other categories, which was strange and slightly disappointing. But this place looked sick too and I was too psyched to care.
After a really good warm up Sid and I started our problems. I got on a bloc which looked like it would suit me perfectly. A pressy/bridgy start into a big rockover. I completely misinterpreted it, as it turned out to be a dyno. I had 2 gos on it then considered it as time wasting. I then flashed 3 problems, including one that had thrown off a few Italians. Now really confident, I moved on a pink one. It consisted of basically two massive core holds, and you had to press to the top. I held the hold wrong on my first attempt and dropped it. I consulted Claire about it and she gave me the beta. I then got it 2nd attempt. The next problem I tried was a weird volumy one. After seeing the French try it with some crazy heel hook beta I decided I would do it the normal way. It worked, and I achieved another flash. Next I tried something a bit more burly. A white problem with big throwy moves. Quite confident I could top it, I tried it. I didn't latch the hold of the first move and came off. This happened four times. I left it and went to the slab. I had 5 minutes left and queue was so long. My turn came and the clock showed one minute left. It's fine, I thought, if I'm on the wall I've got all the time I need. So I got on and wrong footed myself. This resulted in an awkward swap feet and I slipped off the first hold. That was absolutely gutting, because I knew I could have gotten the problem. I had one last try on the whites but didn't get any further. So my final result was 5 tops in 6 attempts, putting me into 7th place! I was soooo happy with this result, and even though I was one top from the final, I don't think I am ready to climb in and international final quite yet. And anyway, I am still in Youth B next year!
The last category of the weekend was the Youth B boys. We shared a few problems, but the setters had made them a lot harder. All of the team climbed so well; Will and Pete even made finals! Watching them in the finals later on was amazing, it was so good to see them both enjoy themselves and smile throughout. The other competitors were all so serious about winning and got terribly demoralised when they fell off. In the end our team's good spirits (and Pete's crowd raiser) payed off: Pete came 5th and Will came third! The best ending possible to the weekend!
That evening we had a mini party with cake celebrating Nathan's victory and thanking him for being team captain for an amazing year. I was introduced to the crazy game of jungle speed which I am so buying.
It was such an awesome event. Bouldering in an EYC is completely different to british comps. European style suits me so well, I loved climbing on it so much! being alongside the continent's best boulderers is a weird and wonderful experience. Seeing their countries on their vests, and best of all climbing with my country on my vest is exhilarating.
I would also like to say thank you to the team for cheering so loudly because it helps so much knowing that you've got massive support. We achieved our goal of being the loudest team by far, and the commentator loves us for it :) And I think Ed, James and Pete have enriched French vocab now!
Next blog will be about Winer Youth Open and 2014 Team Selection!
Thanks Molly Thompson-Smith and Sandy Carr for photos!
