BBC

British Bouldering Championships 2004/2005

Round 4 - Outdoor Adventure Show, Olympia, London - 19 February 2005
Report by Callum Harris

Series Information | R1 Results | Round 2 Gallery | Round 4 Gallery | R2 Results | R3 Results | R4 Results | Round 5 Results

My alarm clock woke me up at 5:00…woohoo! I had successfully managed to have five hours sleep. After having a cold shower to wake me up I went to wait for Nathan in the freezing cold. Apparently he couldn't be bothered to get up so I had to wait for ages just because of him…grrr!!! Anyway, we arrived at school by 6:15 and set off towards Olympia, picking up Matt on the way. The journey took a couple of hours and I spent the time listening to music mostly. When we arrived at Olympia we were all suddenly very silent. All we could see were three big glass roofs and it all looked very scary. After parking the car we went into the building and registered, before taking a few minutes to look at the climbing wall, become scared and wet ourselves. And that was the just the revolving wall, the comp wall was much worse! Everything was very overhanging, though I thought that was good because I perform better on overhangs. We went round the back of the wall to put down our bags and discovered a couple of overhanging flat walls, presumably for warming up on. We went back round the front to study the climbs a bit better and discovered that people were now beginning to arrive. The climbs this round looked a little harder than those at Preston but still looked possible. Having studied the climbs closely, we went round the back again to warm up, often falling down a large hole in the matts. Me and Tony decided to go to the toilet and got shouted at by a nasty man for walking down the stairs safely. A short while later it was time to start the comp. I gave my slippers to Michaela because she was unable to climb and discovered that she could occupy herself by rubbing the slippers on the floor and touching people, thus giving them static shocks. This was funny for a while but soon got annoying. In the comp I got off to a good start by flashing five climbs and doing one second attempt. That's about as far as I got though, although I did get nine bonuses. Tony flashed six climbs, also getting nine bonuses. Matt and Nathan flashed five climbs and Nathan got six bonuses whilst Matt got five. I spent the last half an hour or so taking photographs (which are now in my album) of various people and just generally supporting everybody. Tony and I had both qualified for the final and I was very pleased to be joined by Deb and Richard Field. They both climbed really well in the qualifiers. I was also very pleased to see Charlie in the final. She too had climbed very well. Isolation was really fun today. When the girls were there I spent most of the time talking to them and attempting to retrieve my misshapen hat from Beth. However, once all the girls had gone the boys decided to be immature as usual. We invented a game which involved throwing balls at each other. We also set a few climbs and did them, nothing too strenuous though. After a few hours the first boy, Deb, was called up to climb. Then Declan was called up, followed by Richard Field and Adam Watson. After Adam it was finally my turn to climb. The last six minutes spent waiting to be called up to climb are the most nerve-racking six minutes of isolation. I stepped out of the door and noticed the billions of people who were sat watching the final. However they don't affect me. In fact I think I climb better with all those eyes on me because the encouragement is so good and I feel like I have lots of people to prove myself to. Climb number one in the final was a relatively simple problem which wasn't dissimilar to number six in the qualifiers. I finished the climb without much problem and then went and sat down for what seemed like ages. I later learned that Tony had also done this climb first attempt but had missed out two holds, making it incredibly difficult for himself. He did it though so that's ok. One of the nicest things about the final is the people that follow the competitors around encouraging them…hearing their voices definitely made me want to do well! Thanks guys! The second climb was also a variation to an earlier problem but this climb was much better than the original. Again it wasn't particularly hard and I flashed it, as did Tyler, Tony and Richard Winters. At this point we were all tying first place. Climb three was a monstrous looking thing that involved hundreds of volumes! It looked really awkward. I knew I had to do this climb first time because otherwise I'd be too tired to do it again. I looked at Mr A and he signalled to me to do it first time. As I stepped off the ground I could hear everyone encouraging me and it was really nice. I got to the bonus relatively easily and then looked at the next few moves and decided to do it. The next section was alright but then I nearly fell off trying to get to the volume. I held on with all my might and matched the greasy lump protruding from the wall. The last move was a small hop and as I latched the last hold, everybody cheered and I got a funny feeling in my stomach, I knew I'd done something really good. I walked over to the edge of the matts and sat down feeling so happy. Whilst sitting down it became apparent that Tony had fallen from the third route. Though it was very annoying from one respect because I hate to see team mates failing, or anybody failing for that matter, it was also good because it meant I was ahead of him so far. The lights shining on the climbing area were very annoying and they made the place so warm and uncomfortable. Nevertheless it was soon time for problem four and this one didn't look at all friendly. It was a very long climb that went over a big blue bulge! I took a short while to plan my route and then began to climb. Realising I had planned the route incorrectly I was forced to change tactics mid climb. However, I reached the bonus and then fell off. That was alright though, I was happy with that. The very last climb I was ever going to do in the junior BBCs was another long climb. It began under a roof and then traversed to an arête before traversing across the face above the roof. This also looked hard and this proved to be the case, with me and everyone else only managing to reach the bonus. I walked off feeling very happy with my performance and set about trying to find out how everyone else had done. It turned out that Tyler had done climb three third attempt and climb four first whilst Tony and Richard had both done climbs one and two, as had Tyler. That meant that the final placings were as follows: Richard was fourth, Tony was third, I was second and Tyler won. Overall Tony was fourth, me and Richard tied second and Tyler was the series champion, completing the BRYCS, BICCs, BBCs triple. Congratulations to him. In the girls Beth was fourth, Leah Crane was third, Katy Whittaker was second and Nat was first. Overall that meant that Leah finished fourth, Katy was third, Hazel was second and Nat won, adding another title to her BICC victory earlier in the year. About an hour or so later, I said goodbye to Beth and Charlie whilst the other Margate Massive guys got posters, which they were showing off about all the way home because I didn't get any, oh no…big loss!!! They also wouldn't talk to me for some reason. But I didn't care because it gave me time to contemplate on what turned out to be an awesome day. I think everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was a brilliant comp with fantastic climbs. I would just like to say a massive congratulations to all the competitors and in particular the prize winners. Well done everybody, keep cranking. Peace!!! P.S. Joel we missed ya!!!