CWIF

A couple of weekends ago was the Climbing Works International Festival (CWIF). Last year I had been really ill on the Friday and still made it into semis but this year the competition looked much harder! There were many more climbers from other countries, especially in the womens, but fortunately this year I was ill on the Sunday before instead. I was still a lot lighter than normal for the qualifiers on Saturday but after a massive breakfast at the Premier Inn I wasn't feeling too bad. I was climbing in the morning session for the first time because of being in Sheffield now which suited me a lot better. I am definitely a morning person and I find it easier to sort out my nutrition in the mornings.
The qualifiers didn't go very well at all. I made a lot of mistakes from being nervous and failed to flash some of the easier problems. I did a couple I was pleased with and I really enjoyed the climbs but I have never not been in the semi-final of CWIF since I started doing it a couple of years ago and I really wanted to make it again but was very aware of how hard it was going to be.
After qualifiers I decided I probably hadn't made it and went for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. I didn't even go back to the works to check the results after the pm session. While we were eating dinner though, I got a text showing the picture of the provisional results and I was in 19th! (20 make it into semis). I still didn't think i would be in the semis, I thought that was far to close to trust the provisional results. I checked the climbing works website about every 5 minutes for 3 hours waiting to see if I had definitely made it. When the results were eventually finalized I was in 20th, by 1 point. I wasn't too fussed about only just making it in, I much prefer the format of the semi-finals and have always struggled in the free for all 30 problem format.

Qualifiers. Photos by Dom Worrall

On the Sunday morning I went off to isolation. It was pretty cool to be warming up with loads of climbers I had only watched climb on the World Cup live-stream.
The first problem was pretty hard compared to last years first problem. I felt pretty rubbish on my first few goes, trying to go slowly and in control when i needed to just launch my leg out. I realized this on my 5th go and got the bonus and was moving up for the penultimate hold. I may have got further if i wasn't so stupid on my first 4 goes but then a lot of climbers better than me didn't get this bloc either.
I couldn't work out the second problem when i was on it, I probably just needed to be bendier.

Photo by Dom Worrall

And basically I embarrassed myself on the 3rd problem, reading the sequence wrong. The 5 minutes before the last problem I started very miserable, I have always improved my position loads in semis and I had only moved up 1 spot this year. By the end of the 5 minutes i was feeling determined, hoping to finish the comp well. And the wall was vertical, which is in my favorite range of wall angles. On my second go I was flinging myself at the last hold but my foot slipped. On my 4th go I held the last hold with one hand and couldn't match. By my fifth go I had about 15 seconds, I managed to grab the last hold with one hand with about 2 seconds to go and desperately swung for the match and managed to stick it! I have never been so surprised to top a boulder in my life! (this was quite obvious too).

                     

the last boulder

I ended up in 15th (or 16th behind Molly, the results have changed since I last looked). Anyway I was really pleased to do the last boulder and improve my position a lot.
Obviously I stayed to watch the finals, which was awesome as always. Well done to all the finalists!

In the week following CWIF the bouldering team had the chance to climb with the Slovenian and Dutch team as they had come over for CWIF. There were loads of world cup blocs set around the works for us to try. I struggled a lot, I felt too weak for some of the climbs but noticed big improvements on my dynos which I have been working on a lot. It was a great experience and got me pretty psyched despite being shut down on the day. I'm now training hard getting ready for my first ever world cup in Azerbaijan in 5 weeks !!

As well as training i also went climbing outside yesterday !!! I still hardly ever get outside but I'd love to do it a lot more because every time I go out i'm surprised by how much i enjoy it.
We went to Rubicon and i flashed A Bigger Prize 7a and got Kudos 7b. Good day considering I'm such a punter outdoors.

Next week is Varsity too ! Should be a fun comp and a nice way to end what feels like such a long term. And hopefully Sheffield Uni will win!
Go Hard or Go Hallam !

Then next weekend I'm off to Mallorca with the family for a rest and some sport climbing :)