I had a week off before starting Uni and I think I climbed every day of it to make up for lost time, which i'm pretty sure caused this achiness in my elbows. I'm managing to control it by climbing a bit less now and doing loads of theraband things so hopefully it will be all good for CWIF.
The comps came pretty soon after exams and I struggled a bit. Rocfest qualifiers went pretty well, I think I did all the problems I could have, though it took me a few too many goes to get a dyno problem. Semis didn't go as well. They were hard problems and I found it hard to get stuck in, I finished 7th for the 3rd year running, missing out on finals by a bonus. But it was a good comp and a much needed kick up the arse to learn how to try hard again. Unfortunately Superbloc the week after in London went quite similarly. It was straight into semis format and my head let me down. I really struggled keeping calm and just getting on with climbing. On a happier note it was awesome to meet Tim from Chia Charge at the outdoor show and stock up on flapjacks and their new protein bars. (If you got to try a sample and loved it use the code JWC10 to get a 10% discount off all their products online).
Another week and another comp. This time it was BUCS the national universities championships. I was pretty excited for this as I thought it would be a lot more low key and just what I needed to get back into comps. It was very busy and I was manically running round the problems the whole time but the problems were cool and I managed to get up quite a few of them. I actually finished early as well, which never happens! I was really happy to find out I had qualified in 2nd behind Micheala but surprisingly for me I was way happier to see Sheffield Uni team had smashed it! It was great to climb as a team for a change and I really got into it, it felt great to want to do well for the team instead of just worrying about my own position.
Finals were a pretty serious affair compared to last years circuit problem. We had 3 blocs on the comp wall and the normal 4+ format. I knew the two girls before me had topped the first problem when I went out so really wanted to flash it. But I was spat off by the smallest hold I have ever seen, after warming my hands up a bit I managed to get it second go. The same happened on the second problem so again i went out really needing to flash and I actually did, I did a dyno ! It was 9.30pm when i pulled on to the last problem in the roof (I'm normally snuggled up in bed at this point watching Broadchurch or something) but I fought through to the last couple of moves but was too tired to top.
I ended up in 2nd after Micheala breezed up the last problem. I'm really happy with how I did mainly because I was actually relaxed and enjoyed every problem. In the boys Joe won and Connor was third so Sheffield Uni really did own it, hopefully we can go to Poland for the European Universities Championships in August.
I'm now in training for CWIF in this weekend and trying to sort my elbows out properly.
All Photos by James Mcillveen
