My first qualifier on the Saturday did not go to plan, as my hand ripped off about three quarters of the way up the route. This meant that I had to top my next route to guarantee I made the final. Both Jim Pope and Peter Dawson topped both the first route and then the second, so the pressure was really on. However, by managing to top the second qualifier I went through to the final in 4th place.
Our final route was around 8b/8b+ which went through the longest and hardest section of the wall. Three boys categories were on this route (so Youth B, A and Juniors.) Youth B climbed first, as we were the youngest. I had a good climb and managed to get into the roof, where I realised that I had misread the sequence. I managed to quickly correct myself, but this left me very pumped, so I was able to make a couple more moves before falling off. I wasn't sure if this would be enough to make the podium as there was still 3 more GB team members to climb - Angus Davidson, Jim Pope and Peter Dawson. However, it turned out that across all categories everyone had misread the roof sequence and I was the only one to get past that point, meaning I had won Youth B and got further than the older boys too!
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| Youth B Podium - looking smart! |
On Sunday I entered the British Junior Speed Climbing Championship for fun. This was a good day with a great atmosphere and I climbed well getting into the final and posting a personal best of 10.90s in the semi-final. In the final round I was up against my brother, Alexander. We both found the pressure got to us and had slips and mistakes all the way up the route! In the end Alexander hung on to win and I had to settle for 2nd. We did speak to each other on the way home - honest!
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| Junior Speed Podium |
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