The European Championships last year in France was my first international and is still the best I've climbed in Europe; because I had no expectations or pressure. In the first European youth series of this year in Ratho I felt I really underperformed because my training was going so well I put too much pressure on myself (and we had a car crash on the way), so before the European Championships in Imst, Austria I did a lot of bouldering and just a few route and circuit sessions to keep my endurance up. This seemed to work really well, I was feeling fit leading up to the comp but also relaxed as I hadn't been obsessing over it.
The whole of the lead team and the three speed climbers headed out to Imst on Wednesday so we would have plenty of time to settle in before the comp on Saturday.
It really felt like we were on holiday with it being 40 degrees and going swimming and riding the alpine coaster- a really cool ride down the side of a mountain.
 |
| Alpine coaster |
We then had the opening ceremony, all 28 countries walked down the hill to their national anthems in a thunder storm ! Me and Charlotte carried the flag on to the stage then watched a really weird display of what may have been a form of martial arts, still not sure.
By the evening I'd almost forgotten I had to climb, which I was sure would help.
On Saturday morning the whole team went down to the wall at about 7.45. I was out pretty late on the first route and just before Charlotte so we read the route together then headed indoors for a sweaty warm up.
I feel like I'm still learning at every comp, and this was my first international I really sorted out my warm up and rest time. I was getting ready to climb at about 10.30, by which time it was already 35 degrees.
The first route was long and crimpy and didn't look too hard till near the top. I got into the climb quite quickly after a slightly nervous start, but as soon as I got slightly pumped I became pretty negative and worried and did some silly clips which made it worse. I came off a bit before the steep section knowing I could have done much better if I'd just fought a little. I was 25th on this route so was determined to do better on the next one.
I was pleased the next one looked much harder with a really sketchy vertical start and a powerful top section. I prefer routes with the harder moves low down.
When I got on the route it was much more technical that it looked with tiny hand holds and awkward feet. I felt pretty comfortable though, I was enjoying the harder moves more than the endurancy style on the previous route. But then my foot popped and I was off.
I was really gutted and annoyed that there was nothing obvious to just go and train for the next comp. I just need to do more of them. I finished in 27th.
The rest of the day was fun though, watching all the youth B boys crush as usual (especially Jim Pope who qualified for his first international final) and playing beach volleyball. I was soon feeling a lot better and excited about training for Norway in September.
My family had come up to Imst on Saturday to watch me climb so on Sunday, after watching William and Jim in the final , I started another holiday with them.
We went on loads of walks and I took them on the alpine coaster. I went back to the wall on Monday and Tuesday as well.
I went back on the outdoor wall on Tuesday to get back on the comp routes. I got pretty shut down.
All the routes were really hard, I was only close to topping the youth B girls route, but had fun trying hard on the boys final route.
I got back on my second comp route and was pleased to do much better but was a bit frustrated by my first comp route and ended up staying at the wall till it was too dark to climb.
It was nice to be back at MCC today on a more familiar style of climbing.
Next comp is this Saturday, the final round of the Junior British Bouldering, and the Youth open the following day.
I'm well psyched !
Thanks Nicola (my sister) for all the photos :)
