British Lead (and Speed) Climbing Championships 2016

Last Friday my family and I made the long journey to Sheffield to compete in the British Lead and Speed Climbing Championships. We stayed in the Premier Inn near Awesome Walls because we had an early start on Saturday and I always like to get there early.

After breakfast we drove to Awesome Walls and it had just opened. I registered and got a competition vest and my competitor number - 9. My dad had registered me in his name and in the wrong category! So I had to get a new number printed and was added last onto the list for my category. I was quite happy about this because our first route looked hard.

Qualifier one was a slab type climb. It looked hard and sketchy. It was a black route on my least favourite wall. I read the route with lots of people and watched the demo. At 10 o'clock the climbing started and I had 16 people to watch . This gave me a lot more confidence about it. On the route there was a green cross next to a clip and a hold. This means you have to clip the clip with the green cross from the hold with the green cross. I had seen these before but never had to use one.
It made climbers climb up to the clip, then clip from the right hold but then climb back down and carry on up the route. You would be disqualified if you clipped the clip from the wrong hold. It also means extra climbing up and down. After watching 10 or so people climb I warmed up and sat on the chair ready to tie in.

Kitty was the second last climber so I was drying my liquid chalk while watching her. She did really well and was the first person to top the route! I was confident after seeing a top. I pulled on and did a double clip with the first and second clips and then again with the third and fourth - the fourth being the green cross clip. I rested a bit before climbing down away from the green cross clip and up the rest of the route.The next part was the hardest for me because I had to hold a lot of slopers and move slowly upwards towards a good resting point near the top. I struggled most on the moves to a really bad sloper but I moved quickly on to a good crimp and matched it making it an easy move up to the rest. There was a sloper upside down with a flat volume underneath to lay back on. I made an effort to rest here for a long time as I usually climb straight through really fast and pump out! I was feeling good at this point. The only other move I found difficult about the top was stepping into the undercut. After I got this it was nice crimps to the top. The top was my favourite part! It felt really good clipping the chains being one of only two people in our category that topped it.

I had some food and kept warn for my 50 min rest. I didn't leave quite enough time to warm up as I had wanted because the climbers before me were going pretty fast. Our next route was the red through the main wall. It looked scary and hard but after route reading I was more confident. I was up 8th after Kitty again so I looked out for her tying in.

When I went over to site in the chair and tie in Kitty was just about to climb so I quickly put my liquid chalk on and tied my knot. I started off quickly and all the holds were really good. I climbed as smoothly as I could and had a short rest before doing the big move which made a lot of people fall off. It was a sloper to the really big core volume which had a positive round part at the top or a long slot in the middle. I locked off and pushed over into the slot matching it and resting again on the round part.

The next few moves were awkward but I managed to stay on. I had the joint point with Kitty for both routes so I just needed to get the next move to be in the lead. It took me three attempts to get it!

Eventually I noticed that my foot was too low so when I moved it up I got the hold. I wasted a lot of energy so I was really pumped and I probably should have shaken out for longer and then moved on but for some reason I  just carried on and got 2 clips further. I was too pumped to clip and I knew I hadn't rested for long enough so I fell off. This ended my day and put me into first place for the final. The final was to be held on Sunday along with the speed. Next was the paraclimbing qualifiers. I watched them for a while before going to dinner with my family.

We got a longer lie in on Sunday and had another Premier Inn breakfast before heading down to Awesome Walls. As usual I got there early and started trying to guess my final. I came to the conclusion that it was going to be the orange with the massive jump at the top.

At 12:30 isolation for the finals closed and we were there for half an hour before observation time. At 1:00 we went out to look at the routes. I was surprised to find we had the yellow. First off I was really nervous about it because it looked reachy and had bad holds. But  up close it looked ok. The holds looked better - especially at the start. We had 6 minutes to read it and I think I read with most of the girls in my category which gave me lots of extra beta! Category B (my category) was in the second final along with B boys and the whole of C. So I started warming up just before the veterans in the first final finished. I was really nervous because at the last British lead cup I was feeling really good on the final route and came off putting me 6th (last in final) so I really wanted to prove I could do better.

Eventually, I went over to tie in and then went out to the wall with my belayer. I had one quick look before pulling on. Again, I climbed fast but as efficiently as I could. The first half was ok, it had lots of good holds and I got the sequence right. The last jug was on the red piece of the wall just before the black panel. The next few holds after that were worse. There were a few slopers and a cross over move which I found hard. The next part was the two mini volumes. I first went to the one on the side then straight up to the hold on top of the next volume and then up to a sloper. I then went to the undercut and into a long slot pocket. I was happy with my accuracy on that move!

This was the final section of the route. I had the hold after the slot which was a sloper. I shuffled across to the two identical roundish holds that I guppied and got a long rest on! The rest was really good and I tried to relax. I looked around and saw everyone looking up at all of us climbing. When I got enough energy back I matched the right had sloper and put my foot down low and held the undercut. I then slowly edged over towards a small pocket which I just got and quickly spinned over to a layback which I could rest on again. I tried once going up to the next hold but I was too pumped and I came back down to carry on shaking.

Being only three holds from the top I wanted to top it so much and I thought I could. When I thought I was ready I stepped up and got the next hold matching it and going over to for the pocket which I got my fingers in but couldn't hold. I should have shaken out for longer on the layback. But I was happy with my climbing and my position on the route. It just would have been great to top it but I guess that's what you say after every climb! I was told after it was enough for 1st place which was amazing! I was so happy. Also, after the A girls climbed (they had the same final route), I still had the high point!


The final for the seniors were after A and then the speed championships started. So many more people entered this year probably because of the Olympics and also a lot of the boulderers came over for the lead. It was really good to see so many people enter as for the last few years there has been 5 or 6 in our category. Everyone had a practise then 2 qualifiers - this took so long! It seemed like forever until the semi's as all the categories had to do this. Both my qualifying times were under 15 sec and I was through to the last 16 where it turned into a knockout format. To get to the last 16 you had to get in the top 16 fastest times.

In the last 16 I was against Robin Casey and I managed to get though to the next round. with a time of 15.84s. I got through to the quarters and then to the semis against Emma Davidson in 14.10 sec. This put me through to the final. Hannah Slaney had also got through so I was against her in the head to head final! I had already set my fastest official time so I just needed to beat it again. This year felt like a real speed competition because there were so many more people. I was nervous and really wanted to do the double and get both the lead and speed titles.

I went as smoothly was I possibly could and got a winning time of 14:00 sec. I really enjoyed doing it as well, its always so exciting to do but also to watch.

I am so happy with my results from the weekend and I have had a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. The routes were amazing!! Especially the final yellow.

Also, a few months ago I was selected to go to the Junior World Championships in China which is only 30 days away. I will be competing in all 3 disciplines. Only a few were selected and I feel privileged to be going and I am so excited!

British Lead Climbing Championships / Cup Round 3 & British Speed Climbing Championships

Friday - Travelling 

After school on Friday 2nd October my parents and I drove up to Sheffield for the last round of the Junior Lead Cup / British Lead Climbing Championship and the British Speed Climbing Championships. It took about 4 hours to get to the Premier Inn which wasn't bad, and we arrived at eight to watch the rugby and have a quick look at the routes in Awesome Walls.

Saturday - British Lead Climbing Championships / Cup Round 3

My Dad set his alarm too late so we had rush a bit! We had breakfast in the Premier Inn as usual before going to Awesome Walls. Registration was at 8:00am and we arrived at 8:10am so I registered straight away getting Number 16 and a vest. I picked the smallest one which was too big but I couldn't tie it up because the straps were to small so I got the biggest vest and tied it up which worked very well although it looked a bit weird!

I then went over to read my first route. It hadn't changed from last night. It was the fluorescent yellow on the more vertical wall. At first it looked really hard but through my binoculars most of the holds looked ok. I was up sixteenth to climb so I watched the first few people climbing. Most of them topped it which made me a little less nervous.

It felt like forever waiting to climb but when the 10th person was climbing I decided to warm up. I did all my climbing in the bouldering area as I don't like to lead for warming up. I went to sit in the chair while Kirsten (number 15) was climbing and I tied in and put my shoes on. My shoes at the moment have holes in and I was hoping they would last for one last comp!

I was feeling confident before I started as half the people who had climbed had topped it so I had a good chance. As I had thought the start of the climb was easy with lots of positive crimps. It started to get harder when I got to the black strip. There was a bigger move to an ok hold on the volume which I managed to clip off. There was then a couple of easy moves before a move which I found quite awkward. There was an undercut which I had to turn around on but I didn't think I would make it so I spent a bit of time sorting myself out so I could make it. After this I was relieved and found the rest of the route ok except for the last move. I had to clip the chains before I went for the top move as I was doubting myself too much to go for it. Once the clip was in I made the move anyway! It felt great to top my first qualifier and it made me more confident for the next.






Later on I found out that my second qualifier had changed from Category B's first qualifier to Category A's first qualifier the red next to the massive overhang. First off it again looked really hard and only Molly from Group A/Junior had topped it!  I read it with my Dad and some of the girls which made me
feel more confident.

As I was near the bottom of the running order last time I was 6th up this time which meant I could get  it done quickly but also there wasn't much time left to warm up. I went straight to the bouldering room to warm up. I was feeling good. My Dad got my shoes and told me when to come out from the room to climb.

I sat in the chair again and watched Kirsten climbing while I tied in and put my shoes on! At this point I was getting nervous. I walked up and had one last read of the route before I pulled on. All the competitors before me made the start look easy and I felt the same it wasn't too bad. On the roof I got both clips clipped and managed to do the big move over the lip and clip off that hold. I then moved over to the crimps which I held ok. Then I went to an undercut and tried to move down onto the other foot hold but I couldn't so I had to fuss around to find the best way of doing it. I eventually stepped down using another hold and clipped. This was the hardest move done. I then used a few crimps to get to a ribbed sloper which I clipped off. I then moved to the slot and jumped for a big sloper which made me really pumped. But I only had three more moves so I pushed on to the last crimps and through for the top hold and caught it! I was so happy and got the clip in easily!

I knew I had qualified! So I had couple of hours to relax before the finals. We went out of the centre and to a Pub called The Harlequin where we ate lunch until 2:15pm and then drove back to the centre for half past so I had half an hour before isolation opened at 3:00pm.

As usual the comp was running late so isolation didn't open until 4:00pm! At 3:55 I went into isolation and put all my stuff in a pile. We had a briefing and then Rob told us observation would start at 4:30pm and it would start with Veterans then C then B then A then Junior.

At 4:30 Rob came and told us it would be another half an hour. Finally we were allowed to go out. So I made sure I had my binoculars ready. I was pretty sure I was on the Black so when Rob told us to go out I went straight to it and I was right. We had 6 minutes to read it and I think I had the sequence right when I had finished. It looked hard but do-able and most of the holds looked ok so I was less nervous.

Back in isolation I was warming up and getting ready to climb. After all the Veterans I was getting nervous. As I had qualified first I was out last so I watched each person walk out and listened to them climb knowing none of them had topped it.

When I went to tie in I was psyched to climb. I put my shoes on and covers over them and then walked out. I felt confident. The first part of the route just passed the lip was fine. After this it got quite reachy and I had to bridge a lot. The holds were pretty positive but the moves were so long.

I found the mini slopers hard to hold. I had to cut loose on them to bring my foot up. I didn't get too pumped until the very top about 3 clips away. Here the moves got easier but the holds weren't amazing. I managed to pull through and get to the last quickdraw and keep going to the last move where I had to shake out before going to the sloppy sloper and clipping. I knew even if someone else topped it I would win on count back. So I was really happy.





I watched the rest of the competitors before the presentations.

At the presentations I won a medal and a plate and a DMM flight bag - something I have been wanting for a while!

Sunday - British Speed Climbing Champs

I had a lie in and had breakfast again in the hotel before getting to the centre by 1:30pm so I had time to watch some of the Seniors and the Para-climbers. I registered for the speed at 2:00pm and I was the first to register. At first not many people signed up but by the end of registration there were five in my category.

At 4:00pm I was warmed up and ready for my trial run. As we are the youngest we went first we all went in pairs but I was the odd one out as so I went on my own! I didn't go a fast as I could I just tried to go smoothly.

On my first real run I was against Pippa and I managed to beat her which made me feel a lot more confident. It was not a knock out at this point it was just on time. I next raced Abbie and I was looking forward to it as even if this run was bad they use your best time so I would be ok. I still went my fastest and won. I was happy to make the semi's. Because there was five of us only one was knocked out so we didn't need quarter finals.

I had a long wait after this as all the other groups had quarter finals to run so I had a break to warm up a little more.

The semi finals were knock out so I was a bit less confident. I was against Kathrine just after Pippa beat Abbie. I climbed this round quite well and didn't slip at all so I got to the top first beating Katherine meaning I was at least second! As Pippa won her race I was racing her in the final.

I then had another long wait for the rest of the semi's to finish and then for the 3rd place races for each group the finish before the finals started.

I was psyched for the finals and really wanted to win. I stood clipped in and waited for the
on-your-marks. I felt fast going up the route and tried to keep going as smooth as possible. I was that little bit faster half the way up the wall and I managed to keep my lead and win the final! It felt so good. I was very happy to win both comps over the weekend.

I watched the other group finals and got my prize and medal at the presentations as a prize I won a DMM Zenith bag (red)!

In conclusion I loved the comp and it ran pretty smoothly. The best part of the comp was the setting, it was awesome, and I really enjoyed climbing the routes. Maybe a bit harder next time though! Thanks to DMM for the amazing bags - they are great! Finally, thanks to the BMC, Rob Adie and all the volunteers for a fun comp!

I have uploaded videos of my climbs to my YouTube channel here,
You can see the results here

Time-lapse video of the Junior Lead Cup 2015 - Round 1

Here is a link to the time-lapse my Dad did of the Junior lead cup. He spent a lot of time cutting out peoples heads and arms that went in front of the camera.