So this is my first blog, hence the title!
Now I have some actual sponsorship from Prana and Metolius (big thanks to
Beyond Hope!), I thought I would join the rest of the athletes and do my share
of blogging to update and hopefully entertain fellow climbers, friends and
family!
This summer I wanted to get fit and get
back in to route climbing without the additional pressure of having to train
for bouldering comps and instead it has been nice to just ‘go climbing’ and not
worry that I haven’t pulled on plastic for a few days. It felt good to work on
my overall endurance and climb some classic British routes during the hot spell.
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| Brachiation Dance 7b+, The Cornice |
In July I entered the British Bouldering
Championships and I was pretty open minded about it and went with a relaxed approach
as I knew there was lots of young fresh talent ready to kick my old ass! Surprisingly,
I held my own and rolled through to the final, finishing in 5th
place (4th Brit) and was pretty chuffed with my best British result
to date. Big thanks to Ali & Ian Hydes for their homemade signs and
attempts and burning ‘Peet’ in to sausages!
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| Peet the Meat fan club |
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| In action in the final at the BBC's |
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| Peet the Meat merchandise |
With some new found psyche, I kept up the
plastic training ready for the only 2 international comps I had decided to do
this year which was the last round of the World Cups in Munich and the European
Championships in Eindhoven. My training mainly consisted of loads of core work,
pull ups, making up hard blocs, traversing and gardening!
The Munich comp came around pretty quick
and in previous years, I was a bag of nerves at comps and usually came out,
climbed crap and took the next flight home scratching my head wondering why I
had bothered. I knew I had to work on the mental preparation for comps and so
with help from my friend Orla, I managed to feel more relaxed and overcome the
negative thoughts. This year, was totally different, I knew I wanted to compete
and enjoy the climbing, I wanted to represent my country in a sport I love and most
of all I wanted to climb well to be a role model for the young people I coach
in Preston. Thankfully, I did just that and I was overwhelmed with my 23rd
place, missing out on the semi final by 2 places in my group.
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| Powerful bloc 2 in Munich |
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| It's all about the gurn! |
Last weekend was the European Championships in Eindhoven and I
went with the same relaxed approach with no expectations. The night before the
comp I only managed 4 hours sleep due to a noisy bunch of Dutch people directly
above our room who decided to party most of the evening. I couldn’t believe my
luck, why me? I woke up at 6.30am to be in isolation for 7am, I was so tiered
and my lack of sleep turned me in to an angry lady! After a cup of tea and some
advice from Ian to get over it and try hard, I managed to compose myself and do
just that. The comp was not my favourite, the blocs were too hard and I didn’t
top any. I finished my last problem and walked off feeling pretty hacked off at
the level of difficulty. Turns out, that not many people topped much either and
I was surprised to find myself 11th in my group just from tickling
bonuses and so I came 21st overall, missing out on the semi’s for
the second week running!
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| The final burly bloc in Eindhoven |
So, all in all it has been a successful
summer, I’ve managed to climb outdoors, do loads of routes and perform the best
I have at an international level. For now, myself and Ian will be looking
forward to an October trip for some more sport climbing action.
Thanks for reading, stayed tuned!
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