The Climbing Works International Festival was a big, fun event once again. I found having the 30 qualifier problems on a different day to the semi and final much nicer as I have never been one for stamina/endurance, although I am improving.
The quails were hard once again. The problems were quite ‘droppable’ and there were several that I did drop. I worked through the problems with Katy P in the morning session. We all but raced around as there was not much time per bloc. I topped less than half and was a little concerned that I was having a really bad day. I knew my lock was lacking as I have had some persistent back knots. I remained optimistic that I had done enough to qualify – it’s best to wait and see how everyone else has done, so I waited for hours! The am and pm session finished at 12.30 and 18.30 respectively. I passed the time by having my back knots attacked (and getting a blue avatar face to boot from the massage table – amazing dressing up btw), icing the attacked areas, refuelling, and snoozing. I qualified in 5th place. I was really pleased with this.
The semis were good. I was somewhat surprised to latch the last hold on the first bloc - popping for a jug from an unlikely position on a slab. Luckily I didn’t let go in surprise and got a flash. I tired myself out on the second bloc bouncing around to gain the top on my 3rd attempt. I then found that I didn’t have enough static lock on the 3rd bloc which is a bit of a reverse of fortune for me. Although I was tantalisingly close to what I think was the key move. I did enough; I just scraped into the final. The vocal crowd helped spur me on.
I refuelled on chicken and rice whilst my shoulder curled up in shock (that’s what it felt like anyway). It still functioned but was very tender. I don’t think it was much of a hindrance in the final. My main problem was being tired and dappy once again. I missed the, with hindsight, obvious ways to progress problems 1 and 4 and feel I should have done better on these. Problem 2 was really scary and I’m very pleased with myself for topping it, nay, starting it. Comps are great for pushing the comfort zone and achieving unexpected things. I came 6th, by far my best CWIF to date 
