Round two took place at the WestWay climbing centre in London. Myself, Tony, Mark and Milly teamed up with some of the junior academy to make our way to the competition. The kids had the perfect chance to warm up, by seeing who could hold on the longest on the train bars, which provided some early entertainment for the parents and coaches too.
With a labyrinth of impressive 13.5 meter walls the competition routes became clear. The routes looked very fair. As the aretes weren’t taped, we weren’t sure if they were in or out, which was a little confusing and there were some colours that were very similar e.g. yellow next to yellow, which required taping off.
After spending some time with the academy looking at all the routes, we headed up stairs to do a mass warm up. The briefing started promptly at 10am for category D and E, then they were off, quickly queuing to climb their first route of the day.
Midway through the competition I got roped into belaying for one of the routes, the next few hours were a blur as I was focused on the job at hand. Being a belayer in the competition, with each kid giving it everything they had, my focus turned to each competitor and spurring them on to get their best possible outcome. Something I’ve noticed about the climbing community is that it’s not so much about your team winning, but more about pushing the boundaries on what you think you can do.
A huge thank you to the WestWay and the BMC for hosting the event, also to all the parents that either helped to judge or belay all day!’
An incredible four podiums, a fantastic way to finish the day off.
1st Female cat E -Daisy Best
3rd Male cat B -Mathew Savin
1st Female cat A -Ella Moffat
2nd Male cat D -Ethan Jamison
Big thank you Westway and the BMC for organising the event.
Author: Sam Peett; RCC Coach & Development Manager