EYS Edinburgh 2011

Saturday was the first round of the European Youth Series, it was held in Edinburgh. On Friday night I was told I was climbing 28Th. I was happy about that because it gave me plenty time to get warmed up and could watch some of the good competitors in youth A. As I was warming up I pulled a muscle in my back which did not affect my climbing but was sore.

The first climb was on the old competition wall (the white one), and i managed to get 23rd position as it was a hard move onto the second volume. The second climb was up the center of the new completion wall (the big orange one). It was a supper pumpy route and i got flash pump then fell off, but manged to get 24th position.

I got 24th position in Youth A Lead this year, I am kinda happy but i could have done better. for my next competition i am going to work on my endurance so i don't get flash pumped again.

8A, Done!

(Photo by Will Carroll)

Another weekend in Ratho. I went down to Ratho for a fun boulder competition, and finished 3rd. It was a awesome fun enjoyable boulder competition, all of the problems were awesome and I really appreciated them all.

After I finished the competition I wanted to go and try an 8a on the hanger wall I was on before, I was phyched for the route. I got on it and topped it out. I was pleased as this was my first 8a I had completed.

Awesome training day!

After a few months of training at my local wall and my 45 board, I have been feeling that my training has not really been improving my performance, but when I was at Ratho today I was proven wrong. I was at Ratho with the HYCC and I was doing on site climbing, I attempted 4 routes at my limit:

• 8A - Managed to climb past the 7c+ lower off and fell at the last section.
• 7c - Flashed
• 8A+ - Fail! It was on the long lead wall, and at the moves were really technical. The route was not my style.

After feeling so strong when I was climbing today I am now proper phyched for training. Woow bring on the comps!

EICA Ratho

Today I travelled down to Edinburgh to climb at the fantastic EICA Ratho. As its still winter Ratho was soo much colder than my local heated wall, and I found it harder to get warmed up and stay warm. The main overhanging wall at Ratho has been re-set and there is some fantastic new routes up.

My trip to Ratho today has showing me that I really do need to train on my stamina, soo all that 4x4s I hate doing, I must keep it up!

EYC Selection Day

On Friday after school I travelled down to Edinburgh and camped at Ratho camp site, for the European Youth Series Selection Day on Saturday. We had to be at Ratho by 8.00am for a warm up and to be given your number (I was number 51). We were giving a route demo for the first two routes but not a route demo for the final, the route demoing started at 9.45am and climbing at 10am, I was climbing 6th in my group. Our first route was a 7a which went up the new comp wall it was really pumpy but I managed to get to the top.


Our second route was 7a+ to the right of the comp wall but only went 3/4 of the way up, I managed to get to the last clip came off on a small crimp going to a under cut. After completing the two routed it put me into 7th place meaning that I could climb in the finals. Two hours later we got out of isolation and got 5min to read the route then back into isolation. I was out 4th to climb.


Our final route was about 7b+ , I managed to get about half way up the route because I was hanging on a small crimp and had to make a small dyno move to get to the next hold but I only managed to slap the hold not hold it. After climbing in the final I finished in 6th place which means that I have a chance that I might be picked for the European Youth Climbing Championships in September.

The full results can be found here: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmcNews/media/u_content/File/competitions/EYS_Selection_Day_Results.pdf

BRYCS Final

Yesterday was the BRYCS final and I came 6th. As my group was split into two, my first climb of the day was our second route, which I made a silly mistake on popping off 4 holds from the top...Aagghh.
Dylan fought his way to joint first place with a very badly sprained toe, his highlight of the day was getting a lift home in the back of an ambulance!!!!!!!!

All the results can be found here: