My journey started at the beginning of 2016,
when the training and hard work started. I was selected for the World’s in
September at the European Youth Championships in Mitterdorf, Austria, where although
qualifying for the semi-finals in 6th place I dropped to 13th
after an annoying mistake - upsetting at the time but it has improved and
widened my competition experience.
 |
| The temple we visited. |
I
was one of five from Great Britain selected for the lead event and was super
psyched to be selected for such an amazing experience!
China…
at least Guangzhou, was so cool and a trip I will never forget. We had a couple
of days to explore and get used to the heat and climate before the comp started
and took the time to get to see a bit of China as a country. We went to a
temple, used the metro and looked around a zoo.
 |
| My 'Try-Hard' face on route1. |
I was climbing eighth on Qualifier
1, which meant I was unable to watch any of the other climbers so went out to
the climb with a fresh and positive mindset. The route was technical at the
bottom and powerful at the top, separated with a hard and awkward move. I
managed to get to about a clip off the top before falling, after a hard fight
up the route. I came off happy with my performance knowing that I had tried
hard and done the best I could of - not knowing how the people before me had
done. After watching more and more of my competitors fall below me I was
psyched that by the end of the day I had placed joint 6th with two
others.
The
next day I was climbing later and knew that it would be hotter so to prepare I
told myself that the conditions wouldn’t be the best but that they were what I
would have and that all I could do was DON’T LET GO! On the second Qualifier I
finished 10th. This meant I was through to semi’s in 8th.
The
semi-finals were a disappointment for me as my reading of the route meant that
I tired myself at the bottom, which meant I had less endurance for the top of
the route, nevertheless I tried super hard, but it wasn’t quite enough this
time. I ended my 2016 World Championships with a 13th place in the
lead event and a 30th place in the speed climbing discipline – (this
is something I hadn’t done much of before but took the opportunity to give it a
shot- as next year I hope to do the combined event in the World’s, which will
be held in Innsbruck, Austria. The combined event is when your scores from
Lead, Speed and Boulder are added together to give you an overall ranking).
 |
| A little fingerboard session in the park. |
 |
| Exploring the city on bike (and tandems). |
Although
I was disappointed with my performance in the semi’s I am pleased to see my
improvement from last year and surprised myself with my ability to perform on
the World Stage.
I
can’t wait for the 2017 season and for what I hope is an even more successful year
J
Thank
you to everyone that made the 2016 season possible for me, especially my coach
Ellie Howard- who puts up with me and is incredible at what she does.
P.S.: Sorry this blog is a bit late but now
I have done it I’m glad.
