Sunday 28 February 2010

YCS Results + Training

Hey guys what's up?

This Saturday was the first round of the Youth Climbing Series for the Scotland South region. The round was held in the new Stirling wall. I haven't been there but I've heard that it's very vertical. Anyway, my three young padawans Abi, Andrew and Jamie were competing at the weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't be there because I'm selfish i.e. I wanted to train and go to my birthday dinner.

Anyhoo, Saturday I climbed with the on-sight machine known as Niall McNair and the "spare rib" Ross Kirkland. We saw some pretty amazing ascents throughout the day from these characters. Ross completing the white 7c+/8a second go and McNair onsighting everything he touched. It was pleasing to see that by his 12th route of 7b and harder he actually looked slightly tired (he hesitated before moving, something that is rarely seen in his climbing!). I had a couple of burns on my project - the green 8a/9a :P and repeated several 7c+'s and 8a's that I've done before. After 5 or 6 routes I moved onto 3 second locks and the day was done.

I was eager to find out the results of the YCS round so I rang up young padawan number 2, Andrew (Gromit) to find out how it went. I was totally psyched out of my mind to find out that my 3 proteges achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their respective categories. First off, Abi Blunt had a very successful day, achieving 3rd place in under 16 girls. Her competition was fierce and she had to battle for her position. I hear she was a hold off 2nd and a mere clip from topping the hardest route which would have made her equal 1st. The Crimpinator himself (Andrew Barr) achieved 2nd place in under 16 boys. Talking to him and from reading his blog (www.andrewbarr15.blogspot.com) he had to fight hard. It seems the style of problems did not suit him and the pressures of competition held him back slightly, but these are all areas that we can work on to better improve his performance in future competitions. Finally, padawan number 3 (Jamie Drummond) achieved 1st place in under 16 boys. No doubt an extremely impressive performance led to this result. Lets keep it up Jamie!!!

Next week is the Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships held at transition Extreme. I wish the all the best in this event and I've no doubt we'll see more impressive performances by everyone.

Well done to everyone else who competed! Lets get a 1st place in the regional YCS event.

ROBZ OUT

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