A good few months!

This was the wall.

Deep Water Soloing Competition, Exeter
To start with, I think I should fill in: The Deep Water Soloing Competition down in Exeter at the Quay was AMAZING!

I travelled on the Thursday down to Exeter from my cousins (that live in Wales) and spent the Friday having a look around, and I had a little climb in the Quay Climbing Centre. I also had my first glimpse of the wall. (as you can see the wall looked really exiting and I was psyched to get on the wall!) That night Sierra Blair Coyle did a talk about her experiences and chasing your dreams... I was pretty tired after that so it was definitely time for me to hit the hay! 

Saturday

I woke up nervous but mostly exited, buzzing to get on the wall. I walked to the Quay from the hotel we were staying in and I got a bit of a shock as the crowd and the number of competitors came in to my view, their where lots of people! 

I went and signed in, I was number 4... that meant I was out on the first boat. (The way it worked was that you did one climb then you had 6 minutes rest then the next, 6 minutes and the final qualifier.)

I got taken out on a boat and the competition was off! 

Me on the 2nd qualifier

The first qualifier was quite easy and I toped out over the top. the second route was quite simple up until the three last moves, where the jugs turned into slopers, this was a shock as they were worse than I had expected! I did a very sketchy move and it was over, I matched it and topped out once again :) Then 3rd qualifier looked okay up to the end of the mini roof. It started with some big, volume looking holds and then went on to a juggy section and then all the holds got smaller. The fist holds were better than I thought and the roof section was okay, then as I thought all the holds did get VERY small! I reached up onto the small triangular volume and pinched a small ragged crimp that wasn't really nice. The next few moves I can't really remember them and I think that's down to the fact that I was so focused on getting to the top! The last move was big, but the hold was good.. I got hold of it, matched and then.. SPLASH! I was in, I was not allowd to top out on the last one and I think that the brilliant people that made the wall wanted some entertainment!😜 I made semi-finals in joint 1st.

At the end of the day Neil Gresham made an amazing talk about deep water soloing and that was really good to listen to and inspired me to do some more DWS, the pictures were the icing on the cake!

Sunday

When I arrived in the morning I wasn't as nervous, but I did get butterflies in the end. I looked at the semi-final routes and they looked okay, the first two looked topable but just as much droppable and the 3rd route looked hard and I thought I would get to the move going over the lip. My time came and I pulled onto my first route of the day, they were all good holds and I got to the top quite quickly. The second one was harder and at points I thought I was coming off but I managed to stay on and make it over the top. The third route I was nervous because every move looked droppable and one silly mistake could cost me😐 I pulled on and then I was off, the first few holds were good and the holds on the mini roof where holdable, about three moves in to the roof there was a big move where you had to go for a hold with good and bad bits (as I soon found out😞). Of course I went for the wrong bit and fell off there, I was disappointed in myself as I knew I could of got much higher. I went and sorted myself out and got my head back in gear and then went back out to watch all the other competitors. I watched for a bit and then got pretty tired, my Dad took me to a shady spot under a tree and I soon fell asleep. My dad says I had a good "power nap" but really I was just sleeping👍

When I woke up I went back to watch some more climbers and tried to stay out the sun! The sheet was up telling us who had got through to the finals and I was surprised to see my name on it, I thought that my performance wouldn't of been enough to get through but I was plesantly surprised.😃 Isolation opened and closed and it was time to warm up. I got warm and then viewing came along and it was a new experience for me, we viewed the route from a moving boat.. That was fun! As I only just scraped into the finals I was out first to climb and therefore started the finals off - no pressure😛

I really enjoyed climbing the final route, just like I had all the others. I got to a move that was quite big and I hade to move across off a crimp to a big hold. As the other competitors in my category came out Eugenie got one move further than me, Emily got to the same place and Hannah got 4 moves further.. So I had figured out that I had come 4th on count back, well that wasn't the case and it went to time. I still thought I was 4th because I faffed about trying to place my foot.. So you can imagine how surprised (in a good way) I was when I got called up to stand on the podium in third place, at first I thought there had been a mistake but after I got it explained to me and I then understood. Well done to everyone that competed!🏆 

Training

After that I was back to training super duper hard, ready for the BLCCs that were to be hosted in Sheffield. I trained hard and I think it payed off!



Me at the National Academy

BLCCs

On the Friday me and my Dad travelled down to Sheffield and stayed in a Premier Inn overnight. In the morning my pre-comp breakfast was 2 hash browns and a sausage and then we set off for Awesome Walls. We arrived and I soon got a look at my first route, it was a sketchy route in the corner next to the speed wall and looked okay. The start looked juggy, the roof section didn't look too bad and then it got onto some slopers followed by a crimpy section at the top with a long last move. I was pretty nervous about the route and I was shaking as I pulled on but I managed to top and that felt good. I then had to wait for the rest of my category to finish on the route and then we found out what our second route was going to be. Our second qualifier was the same as the Youth B girls first route and it looked a fun climb. There were a few holds on it that I didn't know and it would be my first time holding them on the route. One move I was worrying about was a move off a sloper that some of the Youth B girls had been struggling with. Soon it was my go and I was psyched to get on the wall and do some climbing. The route was really nice and the move off the sloper wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I got to the last section and I held the hold that I didn't know then it was a few moves on some small crimps and then a good top jug. I flashed this too and when I got down I was pretty chuffed:) Overall 6 girls made the final all in joint first!

Me on my final route

When we got taken out of isolation for viewing of the final route, I found that my last route was an orange with slopers and a crimpy section at the top. The route looked topable and I was excited to get on it. I was 2nd climber out which meant it was soon my go. I was taken out by my belayer and got a quick look at the route before I started to climb. The first few holds were good and the moves were nice, soon I got to a section on a volume where you had to cross over on some slopey crimps. I spent quite a while on this move because I didn't really like the holds but managed to lock out onto the next hold round the corner. For the next move you had to go up onto a big sloper and this was a really awkward clip for me because I was really bunched up, I got the clip and then it was another move to some small crimps and yet another big sloper. By now I was only 2 clips off the top and I was determined not to fall off now! The last move was big but you had to go statically (lock it) to the hold. I grabbed it, clipped, matched and jumped, I was one happy bunny!

On the final route

Me and Radzi

When I got down I was told that the girl before me hadn't managed it which meant that I was in 1st place... so far. The rest of the girls came out and 2 more people topped the route. Because 3 of us had topped it I was wondering how they were going to split us. It could have been split on the time or we would have to have a super final. I found out just before the last climber came out that they were going to split it on time which meant that I was still in 1st place. As you could probably imagine I was pretty anxious as the last competitor was climbing. I had my eye on the clock for the whole time watching as she sped up the wall and got to the last few moves but then she was off and it was all over - I was the best Youth C Girl lead climber and boulderer in GB 2014!



On the Podium

Just to top my day of I got my prize and medal presented to me by Radzi - A BluePeter Presenter!



The comp was really well organised and you could tell! Thank you to Awsome Walls Sheffiled for being a great host. Also I want to say a massive thank you to Inglesports and Alan Steel, who has supported me and I am SO grateful☺️



Me and Ellie, my coach

Hamish, Jim and me

Finally thanks Ellie Howard for being my amazing coach and getting me to this point- now for the hard work to begin! Not forgetting my Dad and family who have supported me from the start.

Well done if you managed to read all of it and sorry its quite so long!