Junior British Bouldering Championships (JBBC) 2016

After school on Friday my mum and I drove up to Manchester for the Junior British Boulder Championships 2016 which was being held in the depot. We stayed in a Premier Inn ready for the comp on Saturday. On the way up we realised my Dad had forgotten to register me. But we called Rob and he said we could register on the day.

It was an early start on Saturday. I wanted to be there early so we could register quick and look at the blocs.

I had a Premier Inn breakfast and got to the centre for 7:45. There was already a small queue at the door because the doors weren't open until 8. We shouldn't have arrived so early.

Eventually the doors opened and we went in to register with the wall and the competition. We were due to start climbing at 9 so I started warming up straight away.

The blocs looked really fun and do-able so I felt confident. The last two Boulder comps I have lost to count back so my goal for this comp is to not loose to count back! This means pressures on qualifiers.

The comp was running late so they decided to start it at 9:15 instead of 9:00. After briefing I topped up my warm up and went to the easiest bloc. Here are the qualifiers and how I did them. (Not sure if the numbers correspond to the right bloc though)

Bloc	Description
Qual. 1	In my opinion the hardest bloc and I left it until last. Nobody topped it and the furthest I got was touching the bonus. It had a big first move and then another big move to the arrêt. I am not sure about how the top was meant to be done but the last two holds were blocked!
Qual. 2	This problem was the most overhanging of all the blocs. It looked my style and I was looking forward to it. All the holds looked good and easy to catch. Again I watched a few people first before getting on. The first move was to a good hold, the I jumped to a side pull and held it. The next move was the same and the next hold was a core pinch which was better than it looked. The last two moves were easy and it gave me a lot of confidence topping it.
Qual. 3	I hadn't seen anyone top this bloc. A lot kept missing the top hold. I had a go and the first part was the hardest for me because my foot felt unstable. But I managed to go slowly and keep my balance. The next moves were to an undercut and then to another undercut. The last undercut was a screw-on foot hold and wasn't that good. For the last move I rocked over and popped for the last hold and I held it. I was surprised, I don't usually do well with slabs!
Qual. 4	I didn't watch many people on this, but all I needed to see was someone try the first move. I decided to not use the starting foot hold because it seemed to be stopping people doing the next move. So I did a pull up and chucked my hand out to it. It was decent and I matched it. The next two holds were spaced out and of similar shape. They were slopey holds but good enough. It wasn't as hard as I had expected. I topped it.
Qual. 5	This was just impossible and was one of the problems that if you were taller it was easier. I only heard of one person getting the bonus. I had three attempts but couldn't do get the bonus.
Qual. 6	Definitely the easiest bloc for me. It was the first one I did. I saw many people top it before me. I was confident for it. It took me a bit longer to get the first hold but then the rest was easy.
Qual. 7	A lot of people topped this but lots of people didn't. The starting volume wasn't very good but I moved off it quickly onto a jug. I then rocked over to the bonus (a screw-on foot hold) and stood on the volume. I got ready for the jump and wobbled almost falling but saving it just! I got ready then jumped for the two big volcano shaped holds. They were good and I got the jump just right! I was surprised again because jumps aren't usually my thing. For the last move I put my foot high and pushed up for the top. I got it!
Qual. 8	This was my nightmare climb. First go I completely missed the first move. The second time I got close but fell again. And the last time I went very slow rocking over and I grabbed it. It felt very good because I knew the top was my style. I jumped for the bonus and then to the next hold which was a nice crimp. And finally I grabbed the last hold and went again for the got the finish.

I was happy with my qualifying performance and I got first place meaning I was in the final! And I had completed my goal of not loosing to count back! The last two rounds I lost to count back.

Finals was at 1:00 and Kitty and Holly kindly came to get me because I didn't know we had to be in isolation.

We were only in isolation for 30 mins before we went out for observation. The blocs looked really fun. We had one really hard one and two OK ones.

Bloc	Description	Picture
Final 1	This looked the hardest but really fun as it was a massive overhang with lots of pockets. When I went out I was nervous but excited. I pulled on and found that the holds were a lot worse than I thought. But I went slow and tried to get each one perfect. I got to the hold on the volume and couldn't move off it. I tried jumping and a weird heel hook thing but I couldn't get it. I was disappointed I didn't even get the bonus but ready for the slab.
Final 2	The Slab. I was really excited about. I am not that strong with slabs but that day they seemed easier. I pulled in for my first go and slowly found the right part of the volume to stand up on. I got the big sloper and felt around for the right bit. I reached out for the bonus and got it. I then went back to the sloper though, because I needed to put my foot over first. I then tried a stupid method of holding the volume which resulted in me back on the mats. I went straight back on and topped it easy using the splits move. Again a little disappointed.
Final 3	Finally, the easiest problem. I knew I could flash it and that I was strong enough. But I was still nervous. I pulled on and did the first few moves easy and was just going over the roof when my foot slipped off making me fall and ruin my flash. I was so annoyed but forced myself to have a quick breather. I got back on and was determined not to slip. I found the Boulder ok and did it easily compared to my first attempt.

Overall the comp was really fun and the best part was definitely the final blocs. They were amazing!

Thanks to the BMC team for a great comp.

My First Leading European Youth Cup (EYC)

Day 1 - The Journey

On Wednesday 25th my family and I started a 14 hour car journey to a small town in Austria called Imst. The reason we were all going was because the first weekend I was competing in my first ever EYC (European youth cup) for leading. We decided to stay out for the week because the following weekend my little brother was competing in a different competition, The Youth Color Climbing Festival at the same place.

The journey wasn't as bad as it sounds as my brothers and I slept while my parents drove. The only down side was that Germany had a lot of traffic and no free mobile data roaming (😠) resulting in us arriving 2 hours later and a grumpy me!

After arriving in the late afternoon on Thursday I decided to stay with my family for the first night and meet the GB climbing team in their hotel the next day.

Day 2 - The Alpine Rollercoaster!

I met up with the team at 10 and shared a room with Kitty (a good friend on the team) which was really nice. The room was massive! It had a good sized bedroom with two single beds joined. We also had a really nice large bathroom with a living room next door. The living room had a TV and a sofa!

I had all you can eat breakfast before taking a team trip to the local supermarket to buy food for the competition day. I bought rice crackers, Kitkats, bananas, bread and banana flavoured milk.

When I arrived back at the hotel I realised Kitty had the key so Pippa let me use her fridge.

We had a short walk into town but the highlight of the day was definitely the Alpine Roller Coaster! I remembered it from the previous year and it was amazing! First you drive up a long road up the side of a mountain and there is a park and various activities to do. Then you get the chair lift further up the mountain to the top of the track. It is a bit different to your usual roller coaster because you sit in your own car and control you own speed. It is amazing until you get stuck behind some old slow people at the front which is what happened to us when we went on it. On several occasions we ended up in a large queue. But it was still really fun.

We ate at the hotel that night before going to bed early for the competition.

Day 3 - The Comp!

I got up at 6am and I went to breakfast at 7. It was all you can eat again but two croissants was enough for me.

Ian said we needed to get to the wall by 7:30 so we were in the cars by 7, and I was nervous by this point. The night before I checked the running order and I was up 27th so I had a while to read the route before warming up. I was happy about this because I knew for the second route I would be up towards the start.

My first route was a black which went just into the roof. It looked do-able but pumpy. I spent a while warming up in the inside wall as it relaxes me because I have something to concentrate on. I thought the bouldering problems I warmed up on we're really fun and they put my mind in a good place for the route.

After warming up I was psyched to climb and wanted to get it over with. Sitting in the chair and tying in has got to be the worst part of the comp because it is so nerve racking. The climber just before me had topped it so I felt the pressure even more. I pulled on the starting slopers and they weren't as bad as they looked. There were a few of these over the first section of the route but I found them okay and got to the big undercuts which were good but not as amazing as they looked. I did a double clip from them and moved on to the two mini jugs next to a large black volume with another small jug on it. This was a good resting spot but I didn't spend long there I just moved on quickly. I regret this now! I was pumped but I fought through the slopers and got another 2 clips just missing the hold by the next clip because of pump. When I came down I wasn't completely happy as I could have got further if I had rested longer but I got to the average place which put me in jointed 8th with 9 people for this route.

My next qualifier was the yellow on the right of the wall with all the pinches. I had a while before the climbers on the first route had finished and so the obvious thing to do would be to route read the second route but they didn't announce it until route one was over leaving me with less time than anyone else to read it as I was up 5th. I didn't mind to much though because I didn't have much time to think about it. I just warmed up and watched the other girls. My dad and brothers came down to the wall to watch me and I am so glad they did because I forgot my liquid chalk and if I didn't have it I would have been so nervous! But my brother ran to get it for me as he knew I'd do the same for him. He passed it to me while I was tying in and sitting on the chair waiting to climb.

I was confident that I could do enough for finals. I looked for the judges go ahead and then pulled on. The start was easyish with some nice big pinches and a few crimps. I worked my way through the section not knowing that I was climbing really fast again and not taking time to shake out. I got the the middle section and really enjoyed it as it had lots of crimps and fun moves. I should have rested on a really incut crimp because I ended up wasting loads of energy clipping from a bad sloper! The next move was to the volume where I held a big undercut and moved over the volume. After this I did a horrible move to a big sloper on the last volume very close to the top and I got it, I threw for the undercut around the side and then up for some disgusting slopers which I shook on quickly before going out for the next pinch which I didn't quite hold and fell off.

I was disappointed and hoped I could scrape into finals. But now I could relax and wait for the results. I didn't end up doing that though, my dad worked out who had to fall of where in order for me to get through. It was very stressful!

In the end I watched the last person I needed to fall off fall off and knew I was in! I was so happy but wanted to get official results before I told anyone!

Soon after this the comp finished and the official results were up. I was through in joint 9th! The other team GB members who made it to were, Hamish boys B (also his first EYC) , Molly  girls Junior and William boys Junior. The two youngest and two oldest competitors!

We then went back to our cars and my car were waiting for ages for Ian. But when we went down to check what he was doing he was sorting an appeal against me. One of the other competitors appealed me into 10th which was still in finals but officially last! I didn't mind all that much though.

We went back to the hotel for a while, and then to the pizza place down the road. It was so nice. Hamish and I had an early start again because the Youth B finals were first at 8 o'clock.

Day 4 - the final!

Got up at 6:15 and needed to take all my bags as we wouldn't be back to the hotel in time to checkout later. I met Hamish and Ian down at breakfast at 7 and we drove down to the wall for 7:30.

I was really excited to see the routes but we had to go straight to isolation. But from the top of the hill all I could see was giant blue and yellow blobs!

I got a new number at the desk still 27 but not as a scrumpled as the first one. I decided to keep it as a souvenir. There was a table with a massive barrel of celebration chocolates which I got very excited about and also some water and energy bars.

We started warming up straight away and I felt good. It was nice to have Hamish to talk to and we weren't competing against each other too!

Soon Molly and William arrived and Ellie (GB team coach). I want to thank Ellie because she helped me warm up when she came and I think it really helped.

We walked down for viewing at 8:45 and up close as well as a far all I could see well big holds and volumes! It was amazing and it looked so fun. Another thank you to Molly for helping me with the route read and going through the moves with me. It made a big difference. I felt my route read went well and I knew what to do. So after the 6 mins was up I got my bag and went straight around the back of the wall to tie in. It was cold back there and I was nervous getting everything ready.

It was a while before they let me out and I was so nervous when they did. Honestly, I thought I was going to cry, but I held it together mostly. I got out and I didn't know whether to start or wait because nobody told me but the youth B boy was already on so I got on too.

The start section of the final was very slopey and probably the hardest part. I went quickly and I wasn't really aware of what was happening so I hardly remember it. I was on the middle section soon enough and I didn't take any rests on the better holds which I again regret now. I just powered through clipping then going. Until, I reached two slopers which I hated but were new and at their most grippy stage. I pulled in to clip and got it in. I then moved on to two big pinches and then onto some nice crimps. I clipped again and went for a good volume and my foot was to low and it slipped off! I wasn't aware of this at the time but after watching the video it was clear.

At first I was disappointed but after speaking to Ian and my family I started to see that I had done really well for my first EYC. I watched our other finalists with the team under a big tarpaulin. Credits to Duncan (Kitty's dad) for making an awesome shelter.

At the end of the finals I got my stuff out of the hire car and went back to the campsite with my family.

Overall I was pleased with my performance under the pressure and I'm happy with my first EYC result. A big thanks to all the GB team coaches and to Molly for helping me out. Thanks for the support from my family, especially to my parents for driving all the way down there and to my brothers for putting up with being pulled out to loads of climbing comps (although you did get to miss school and go to Austria this time!)!

A week later ......

My brother competed in the Imst Youth Color Climbing festival. He topped all 6 of his routes on the first day, qualifying in joint first place with 17 others. On the second day he competed in the final and finished 10th! Very Proud!

Demoing at YCS Grand Final 2016

On Saturday 23 April 2016 we were in Edinburgh, Scotland for the grand final of the Youth Climbing Series 2016. After breakfast at McDonalds we went to EICA Ratho to register my brother for the comp. I wasn't competing as I am on the GB climbing team, I was demoing instead.

I was demoing for girls D and I had to do 6 demos all together. My first one was at 10:00 girls D route 1. When I started I tried to climb it well and I was concentrating to hard because I slipped off half way up! I got back on quickly and finished the route. It was quite embarrassing considering it was the first route as well.

Shortly after this I had to do the same demo again for the other half of girls D. This time I just climbed normally and topped it easily!

By this time my brother (Oscar) had flashed all his boulders and his first route.

I had lunch after watching him. There was a long wait before I had to do anymore demoing.

Eventually I demoed the 2nd route. I wasn't nervous and found it very fun to climb. I hope it looked ok. It was the blue route by the Sardinian Piller. The crux was towards the top because it had some bad slopers and lots of the B girls came off it.

Next I got on the yellow (girls D route 3), it had a very sketchy finish and I was worried I might fall off again. I had practiced this route the day before so I knew what to do, I just didn't like it! I found the start fine and I enjoyed it. At the slopers section I went slow and managed to top it. I don’t think I made it look very easy though.

I had another long break next so I played football outside with my brothers and some other kids. Which was fun because I didn't have to worry about route reading or doing well because I wasn't competing. Although I would have much preferred to competing. Sometimes I quite like the pressure because it makes me climb better and I can climb harder grades.



Just as Oscar was getting on his 3rd route I had to go and do a demo but it was directly opposite his climb so I watch him while tying in. He held the top with one hand and then swung off! But still currently second. I did the demo of the yellow again. This time I wasn't as worried. I went up quite quickly because the other half of group D were waiting for me to demo the blue again for them. I topped the yellow and ran over to the other side of the arena and got on the blue route again. It was much easier this time and I felt a lot more confident. My friend Gwen was climbing next so I stayed and watched her. She topped it and looked very confident.

This ended my day of demoing so I went to cheer my brother on his last climb. If he topped it he would be joint first. He got to a reachy move and slipped off it. This ended his competition and put him back five places into 6th. He was very disappointed.



We stayed to watch the presentations and then went back to the hotel to eat as it was quite late.
Overall I enjoyed demoing and I now know how boring it can get for parents. I definitely prefer competing!

New GB team kit!

At the competition last weekend I picked up my bag of new GB climbing team kit. This year the kit was sponsored by Berghaus! It looks very smart and is really nice to wear.

I got a really cool bag with my name on, with the kit inside! Here are some photos of the kit we got:

• x2 comp vests 
• x1 t-shirt 
• x1 soft shell jacket 
• x1 warm puffy jacket 
• x1 bobble hat 
• x1 rucksack 

Photo from GB team website 

Open Youth Bouldering March 2016 - The Depot Manchester

Another early start and a drive over to Manchester from Liverpool. The bouldering competition was in my new favourite centre The Depot. It is a really nice centre, very new. It has every type of angle and it looks really professional. When we arrived I registered and went straight to look at he blocs.

There were 8 qualifying routes and only a few looked really horrible. Climbing started at 9am so I warmed up as soon as I had looked at all the routes. The centre wasn't too cold which was nice and made warming up a lot easier. I warmed up next to my categories blocs so I could read them at the same time.

Bloc number one. I tried this one after I had topped a few as it looked quite hard. I watched a few people on it first. The start move was way harder than I expected but I used momentum to get to the next hold which was an undercut. I then threw my plan out of the window and I jumped for a slopey hold which I almost stuck but not quite. On my second attempt I followed my  plan and managed to top it.

Bloc two was the first one I tried. It had lots of nice crimps and my style so I managed to top it.

Bloc three was a slab and looked harder than it was. I saw one of the other competitors complete it and this gave me the beta I needed to top it first go.


Bloc four required a lot of pushing strength which is not something I am usually good at. My first attempt I got passed the first hard pushing move but I failed the second. I had another go and matched a sloppy crimp on the left wall and got a high foot on the ridged sloper. I twisted into the wall and pushed really hard standing up onto the top of the two holds. At this point the judge stopped me to confirm something with the chief judge. Luckily I was in a bridge position and could easily hang around. I then continued with the climb and topped it.

Bloc five was the red next to number four. This was one of the first bloc’s that I tried as it was one of the easier ones. It was quite straight forward with one move which required a lot of pushing but I managed to finish it on my first attempt.

Bloc six was around the corner from this and the last bloc I tried. In my opinion it was the hardest of all. On all my attempts, I failed to get the bonus.

Bloc seven was the slab and really balancey. I watched a lot of people try it and everyone was doing the same thing. First I tried getting my foot up high and swapping feet but couldn't swap them without pinging off. I went back down to the start holds and put my other foot up so I wouldn't have to swap. I then moved my foot onto a small foot hold out wide and falling into an undercut at the same time. The rest of the route was easy with a nice pocket and a good finish hold.

The eighth bloc I named ‘disks’. Three of the holds were in disk shapes. It looked like my type of route because it was mostly about strength. On my first attempt I got to the last hold but couldn't quite match it. On my second attempt I slipped off low down because my heel slipped off a chalky hold. My last go I managed to grab the top hold for a second but it wasn't long enough for a top.

As soon as I finished I handed my score card in and some time after the results came out. I had qualified in third place for the finals behind Holly and Kitty.

It was soon time for isolation but were weren’t in there for long before we came out for observation. Our three blocs looked ok. Our first one looked really easy, the second one looked harder but doable and the third looked hard and was all about balance.

When I came out for my first route, I was nervous but confident I could do it. Before I got on I was a bit confused how to start it. Before I went on I made sure I knew what to do. I worked out that you need to put your face against the wall so you can’t see anything and then turn around to grab the hold. Apart from this move the route was ok and I manage to top it quite easily.

The second climb looked a bit harder but more my style. When I went out I had a quick read before getting on. I climbed carefully making sure not to go for anything too quickly. I got the bonus and liked the crimps at the top. The pocket was also good and the top was a good jug.

The last climb was really hard. I found one of the hardest parts was actually getting ono the wall and then after that bridging across the wall required a lot of tension. On my first go I slipped off after the bonus but on my second I got past the bonus and up to the second last hold. I then threw for the top hold grabbing it but not quite holding it. I was really disappointed. I had a few more goes after this but didn't get the top hold.

I was really disappointed as I knew the only way I could win was by topping the route. In the end I finished third the same as qualifying.

Thanks to the BMC for another great comp.

Open Youth Lead March 2016 - Awesome Walls Liverpool

We drove over to Awesome Walls Liverpool and registered at the desk. I got number 33, my lucky number! The comp started at 10 so I went to warm up and look at the routes.

My first route was the grey. It was on the vertical wall and had some long moves. I watched some of the other girls in my category climb it. Some of the short people did really well. This gave me some confidence for my turn. We shared the grey as our first qualifier with Boys B. I was up 21st as we alternated boy/girl to try out the route. The first two clips were easy and after the third it started to get a little reach and the holds were smaller. I climber quite quickly and got to the roof. It got harder again in the roof but I found it really fun. I was getting a little bit pumped at this point so I clipped quickly and carried on over the lip. The next two moves were really big and the holds were not good. I made the first one and clipped before popping to the second last hold. I did an inside flag and went for the top. I was pleased to top it.

There was a short break before we moved on to our second route. It was the green on the right of the main over hang. I was up third. I watched the first two climbers whilst tying into the rope, I felt confident as a lot of the holds looked really good. The start move was like a small section of a bouldering problem, and I thought this was really cool. I started the climb well, climbing fast but carefully. The steepest part of the barrel was really fun but then I had to slow down at the top because the holds got worse. I didn’t want to pop off so I used the side wall to bridge. At one point my feet were almost at the same point as my head. I was soon over the most overhanging part of the climb and onto the more vertical part. At this point there were lots of crimps which I liked. When I was near the top I had a quick rest on a jug and then climbed to the second last hold then jumped for the last hold. I was really happy to have assured myself a place in the final. 

We decided to go out for lunch as there was a lot of time before the final. We went to a pub and I had gravy and chips. When we got back to the centre I hung around and waited for isolation to close. In the last five minutes I went to the basement of the centre, which was a bouldering room. We didn’t have long in isolation so I started warming up straight away. There wasn’t much space to do this but it was good enough. After about half an hour we went out for observation. We had the white route on the barrel wall which I was excited about. When I was reading it, it looked ok I read it with Rebecca from Group A. Her route reading skills gave me the confidence I needed.



We went back to isolation and the first climber went out straight away. I was second to last to go out so I carried on warming up. After Izzy had gone to climb, I was called to tie in. I was nervous but excited to try the route.

The first part of the route was fine and I found it quite easy. The roof section was a bit harder as there were a few big moves. When I got around to the more vertical part of the climb I wasn’t very pumped. I went round to some good crimps and clipped the third to top clip. For this next move I got a high foot and threw for a good crimp. I touched the hold but couldn’t grab it and I fell off. I didn’t know what I had done wrong until I watched the video again. I saw that my foot was way too high and there was a better foot hold that I could have used. I was really annoyed as this put in me in sixth place overall and could lose me a place going to Imst for the European Cup as only the top three were guaranteed a place. I felt sad.


Thanks to everyone who helped cheer me up especially to all my friends who supported me. Overall I had a fun day climbing. It is just a shame that I messed up my final climb.

Update: I received an email from Jack (a GB team coach) congratulating me on being selected to go to the EYC in IMST! I am very lucky to get a place.

GB Team Inaugural meeting 2016

After school on Friday we travelled by car up to Sheffield for the GB team inaugural meeting. We stayed in a Premier Inn.



Day 1

The next morning we had breakfast in the premier inn and then went to AWCC. As always it was very cold. When we arrived everyone including parents were called upstairs to a conference room. Here Ellie (the GB senior team coach) told us about a new plan for the team. It was called Long term athlete development plan or LTAD. Their plan was to create a big profile of each of us and work out what we need to work on to improve. So after the meeting we were split into two groups and tested.

First we were measured. Height and weight. They measured my seated height, standing height and weight. Then we were split into a further two groups and went over to the training boards and did some core exercises. One of the exercises was push ups. We had to do push ups to a metronome at 60 or 1min. So the maximum amount of push ups we could do was 30. I am not very good at push ups so  I was a bit nervous. I was struggling at 15 but I pushed on at got a final score of 27 out of 30. This was really hard. We had a few more tests before lunch.

Once lunch was over we finished the tests and exercises and completed some boulders to show what other skills we had. I worked out that I needed to do more heel hooks. After this we went back to the hotel.




Day 2

The second day started at 10. We had another meeting upstairs with again both teams. They told us how this last day was going to run.

We got split into lead and boulder. I went with the lead team because the bouldering team were waiting for their team meeting. John led the training. He told us he had been watching us warm up and that we were all not good. So he went through a perfect warm up with us. In the middle of this my Dad came to get me as I had forgotten about the bouldering meeting. I rushed upstairs and listened to the rest of the meeting. They said that the results of  our profiles and competition results would decide which  competitions we go to. There are stages to move up before you can get to world cups.

Next I went into the other room and had my one to one with Ian and Tony.

It was around lunch time so I went to get the lunch from the car. We had an hour to eat before the lead team meeting.

At the meeting we again discussed a plan for the future and the new training and profiling plan just like the bouldering meeting.

Soon after this meeting I had to go to my FMS screening. This was to help the coaches know if we were likely to be injured soon or in the future. This took an hour and I got mainly 2's out of 3's so I think I did ok.

By this time  we needed to get back to pick up my brothers  so we said bye to everyone and made our way home.

Overall the weekend was good and I am psyched to see how the new LTAD will work.