The 7th and 8th of Demeber saw the return of the bouldering and leading weekend. The bouldering was to be on Saturday, much to my delight.
I travelled up with Hannah and her dad, and after a slightly chaotic journey to say the least, we somehow managed to arrive at Jury's inn. I was pleasently surprised to find an ice dispenser as I have a small obsession with ice cubes.
Saturday morning I got up before Hannah as Youth B start earlier. I arrived at the works and checked out the problems. We had 8 to do in 2 hours and a half. As expected, they looked so good, and really funky as well.
After a bit of socialising, route reading, and warming up we got started. I stepped onto the mats feeling slightly more nervous than usual. There was a lot at stake; this could be the last time I wear the GB kit. I tried to forget everything and focus on one thing: crush.
I felt my warm up was really thorough so I didn't need to queue for the easiest one as my first problem. I jumped on a few medium-grade ones and bagged a few flashes. Moving on to slightly harder ones, I managed to dispatch a dynamic/campusy bloc, but dropped the slab. I decided to have a break as we still had about an hour and half left. Feeling fresh again, I went on to try the hardest problem, which was shared with the boys so the queue was gradually increasing. After a lot of faffing about I got my act together and secured the bonus, but the last move proved to be challenging. I knew it was doable, so I got back on soon after. I couldn't figure out that last move, so I chose to save my last attempt for later. I went back to the slab and it felt so much easier this time, knowing the right beta. I managed to top it and I was so happy! Only one left now!
Half an hour left and that queue was getting really long. I put my scorecard in and had time to cool down, rest, and re warm up again. Stepping on the bloc I felt so strong and confident that I would top this. Falling off was not even an option. When it came to the last move I positioned my feet, pounced and caught the hold! That was when I realised something - if I had doubted my ability and thought I might fall off, I wouldn't have gotten the problem. But since I knew I could, I did. Simple as.
- photo Peter Wuensche
- photo Nick Pope
I had finished qualifications with 8 tops in 11 attempts, making finals in 2nd just behind Catrin, who secured 8 tops in 10 attempts. Effort to her who isn't even a boulderer :)
So off to isolation we went.
The finals were to be in 4+ format. So 4 minutes to do the problem but if we are still on the problem when the clock runs down we can continue. The warm up area was satisfactory so I felt strong when going out for my first problem. Looking at it, I thought I could do it. However, the holds were in fact slopers which amplified the difficulty. The move which had thrown off the other competitors was proving to be challenging - a pop to a sloper which you had to stick but I kept cutting loose and swinging off. I wasn't getting pumped so I could pile on attempts to figure out the move. At 30 seconds I jumped on, stuck the move, slipped in my heel, but it popped and I came down. I had time for one last attempt. I couldn't latch the sloper and I swung off. Nobody managed to top it. I got the bonus first attempt, so I was relatively pleased.
- Photo Peter Wuensche
Swing! Photo - Sandy Carr
The second problem was techy and pumpy. Going for the wrong hold on my first attempt threw me off but I corrected this in my 2nd and achieved the top. I didn't know this yet, but if I had flashed this I would have won.
Me and Tommy on bloc 2 , photo Peter Wuensche
Third problem was perfect. Balancey, volumey, slaby. I was happy to get this first attempt even though the last move saw me barn door like mad! Not proud of that but pleased to achieve the top.
My efforts put me into 2nd place. I am of course delighted with this position, but for the first time ever, I was disappointed not to have won. It was so close. Separated by one attempt. If I had just known the avoid the undercut. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles and if somebody had to beat me I'm over the moon it was fellow Westway climber Becky Whaley. She made the team, a dream of hers since a long time. I also made the team and I'm soooo psyched for 2014! Gonna be a sick year :D
Interesting face on the podium.. Photo - Nick Pope
I'll post up another blog for the lead event the next day sometime soon :)
