There was quite a gap between the Vienna and Eindhoven comps. This allowed some time to top up on the training and try and maintain form. The Rockover Climbing Summer ROC Fest helped with this. It was a warm day in a packed wall, with over 240 competitors battling on 30 qualifier problems. I qualified 3rd and was pleased to hold on to this position in the final to finish behind Shauna and Mina.
Katy found some excellent apartments in Eindhoven a short walk from the venue. It’s good to be in an apartment rather than a hotel as you can fix food and drink as you please with a kitchen. Also, there’s no room invasion each day to have the bed tied in knots that have to be undone before you can get in, and no towels wastefully replaced with clean ones each day despite hanging them up. Despite being comfy I slept badly the few nights before the comp. This is annoying as my sleep has generally improved recently.
I had built myself up a bit for this competition as I had placed 15th the last two years. I felt unstoppable in warm up - catching jumps first time and everything. I hoped I hadn’t won isolation' to the detriment of the comp!
I felt pretty good whilst competing and I have good endurance at the moment. I got 2 tops, all the bonuses and some impressive ‘grit stone rash’ forearm grazes from grappling with a big volumes. I felt that I should have topped at least one more problem and was capable of more, however small errors in position I believe were my downfall. Positioning a knee bar on top of my hand was more than foolish for example. I maybe needed more concentration. My general problem reading was ok - I need to work out the finer details of the problems. Here’s a few photos including the ‘grit ball’ that needed to be hugged, then sat on and leg clamped to finish with a hand match on a blank patch of wall above.
It's frustrating knowing that I haven't achieved my potential so far this year, mainly due to small errors of judgement. I was pleased to do enough to get my best result of the season, 26th, but was also disappointed. I really really want to be making semi-finals as I know I have it in me. I just needed one more top.
The semi-final and finals were plagued with heavy showers, but they didn’t dampen the spirit of the crowd. Great Britain’s Dave Barrans thrived once again in the moist conditions to make 6th place in the final – awesome.
