Day one: Leading.
I was up third up and after a rushed warm up I stepped onto
qualifier one; a technical climb with a small overhang at the top, a style
perfectly suited to me. I felt calm, composed and psyched. Luke Tilley had
demoed our climb effortlessly and being my brother went through the route with
me afterwards, telling me to just ‘accept the bad holds’, great, thanks, really
useful ;). Working my way up I kept breathing deep and climbing smoothly, staying
relaxed. Totally absorbed in the climb I suddenly found myself a few moves from
the top. ‘Just keep calm, carry on’. One more move to the top. One more pull. No
more oomph . I fell, my fingers millimetres from the last hold. I reached the
bottom happy with my performance but I was most pleased with my head. I had
proved I could control it, keep its anxiety on a leash.
My second qualifier was up the main wall which was a barrel:
an S shape. The climb started off more or less vertical, getting steeper and
steeper then near the top reducing back to a vertical. This time, I was 10th
up, I was ready to go and once again psyched. It looked good, steep with
good(ish) holds and a massive side wall big enough to bridge all you liked on.
I started well, climbing strong and fluent and calm. I was getting into the
steeper section of the barrel; I was in full flow but my mind and consequently
my sequence missed the clip; I got the next hold, remembered the clip, tried to
clip, failed to clip! I got the next hold, try to clip again, but would have
fallen off. OK, well let’s try the next hold then, oh no, my arms aren’t that
long. New plan, let’s climb down, energy is draining, still can’t clip, lets
climb back up again, the clip is still failing me. The clip had won. I had
fallen.
I knew it was over. I had made the mistake. I had messed up
this important competition. My remaining energy was used up crying, tears
pouring down my cheeks. I was angry at the error I made. Irritated because the
climb looked so good. Frustrated because I hadn’t found the climbing hard.
Cross because I knew I would have topped it. Distraught because I knew the
competition was so tight I would loose my place on the GB Team.
Luke, as always, came to the rescue. He sat with me calming
me back down, trying to staunch the flow of water falling down my cheeks. He
explained the problem and told me solutions and amazingly got me psyched once
again. However, being a girl and being, it seems, very emotional; every time
the subject was raised a new set of tears would find their way back into my eyes,
revealing my distress again.
Because of my determination I couldn’t let this climb slip
by, so after the award ceremony, I whipped my harness back on, re-warmed up and
stormed up the route. I clipped ‘the clip’ with ease and climbed past with no
problem. The cruxy move at the top where I witnessed many climbers come off
didn’t stand in my way. I was on a rampage. I was at the last move before long:
a big powerful move from a tiny crimp to a massive jug. The pressure to finish
the climb wasn’t there: I had proved myself right about th climb being well
within my ability and the tears had drained most of my energy. I fell, ‘my
fingers millimetres from the last hold.’
Day 2, bouldering. After debating long and hard on Saturday
evening I had decided to compete in the first Open Youth bouldering
competition. We had 8 boulder problems
to complete in two hours with 5 attempts at each. Then 3 problems with 4 minutes
to complete each individual climb for the finals. The climbs looked hard but
good. I had put no pressure on myself as I wasn’t too psyched to actually try
to get a place on the bouldering team, as, if you know me, I really am not a
boulderer. The standard is high, I took
this purely for fun. It turns out I didn’t do too badly considering, finishing
7th, against Tara Hayes, Molly Thompson-Smith, Gracie Martin, Rachel
Carr and Tash Allcock. And Tash only beating me by getting to a bonus hold 3 attempts
quicker. This left me just outside a qualifying place. An awesome well done to
Gracie as well for getting a place on the bouldering team after a sick effort
in the final, finishing 4th due to count back!!
So that was my weekend. Not really the outcome I was hoping
for. I made a costly mistake on a climb and consequently lost my position on
the team. Not great, but that wont stop me training, getting psyched and proving
myself in July at the next Youth Open. Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll practise
remembering to clip too!