The Training Diary of Nathan Phillips and Garry Cummings. Part 3.

Link Below!!

http://vimeo.com/54616249

Training Diary Episode 2

Get psyched!! link below

http://vimeo.com/52213040

Video Training Diary No.1

http://vimeo.com/50444409

New BMX Edit!!

EYBC - L'Argentiere - France - 2012

Three weeks ago the last round of the European Youth Bouldering Championships was drawing near and it was time to start packing. Between the last one and this; I had upped my training because I knew I needed to get stronger. So when it came to the comp I was feeling pretty good.

The comp was held in L’Argentiere France where I had been twice before. It helped a lot to know the area and to know where the supermarkets were. It was boiling the whole time we were there and I wasn’t complaining as I love the heat. On the day of the qualifiers I managed 3 tops and was close to 3 or 4 others. Only me and one other managed to get all the bonuses which made me feel a bit better about my result. I ended up in 13^th place. I thought I could have done a bit better but after seeing my overall European Junior ranking at 10^th, I thought that was pretty good. It was nice to see Dave Barrans and Ellie Howard cheering me on in the crowd.

Whilst at the comp we met some really nice people who put us up for a night on our last day there. The final was really good to watch however much I wanted to be doing it. Hopefully next year it won’t be just me going from Britain.

BBC's 2012

I’ve had about 12 months of solid indoor training, leading up to the BBC’s and the Euro’s and last weekend it was finally time for the BBC’s. This year they had decided to go with the official IFSC European age categories; meaning I was back in the junior category (born 1994 and 1993) which gave me 2 more years in this category. And after getting on the podium 3 years in a row in the junior category in previous years, I was hoping to finally win.

Cliffhanger had been called off the night before by the council but the comp was still to take place. I’d had a bit of a problem with my knee for a few weeks leading up to the comp but I had a few sessions with the team chiropractor and it seemed to be feeling alright on the day. I love big comps like this, where you get to climb with everyone you haven’t seen for a while and loads of other great climbers.

So the comp kicked off and I got straight on a pretty hard problem with a dyno and flashed it. This put me in a great mindset for the rest of the comp. In the end I managed to get 7 of the 10 problems with a score of 67 and 8 bonuses putting me in joint 9^th position; 1 place out of the senior final. Gaz parry just snook in and took the 8^th spot by 1 bonus hold. While I was a bit disappointed I was so close to making the final, I was really pleased with my performance. I took the junior title by a full 10 points. So I’m now the new Junior British Bouldering Champion.

It was a great comp with some good technical problems; just what I like. The final was great to watch, with Britain’s top climbers competing against each other it can only be a good thing. Hopefully next year I won’t be watching.

European Youth Bouldering Champs 2012 - Grindelwald

I have decided to write an update for each day of the trip and post them up when I get home on Monday night.

Friday Morning:

So I'm in Switzerland. We landed last night at about 10 local time. The flight was delayed by an hour but it wasn't too bad. It was really warm and it took us a while to find our hotel. I had a bit of trouble sleeping cause of the heat but eventually got there.

I am currently on a double decker train to Grindelwald via Bern and Interlaken, where the comp is taking place. The route goes all along the side of a huge lake with the mountains beyond, what a great way to start the trip!

Friday Evening:

Today has dragged on a bit since we arrived in Grindelwald. We got to the hostel that we are staying at with no problem. The changeover times between trains were amazing; the hostel is really nice with a great view of the Eiger from the bedroom window. It also has free Wi-Fi… Yes!!!

We had to wait around in the center of town for about 3 hours, which felt like all day.. Whilst waiting I had a good quick look at some of the problems and they look very technical; my sort of thing! I can’t wait to get on them tomorrow.

Sunday Evening:

Sorry guys, I forgot to write something up yesterday. I was tired and stayed up to watch the world cup final in Vail which finished at 3:30 am here.

So yesterday morning I was feeling pretty confident seen as a few of the problems looked like they might favour me. We arrived early enough to watch the male youth A qualification which ended up having some similar problems to ours. After warming up I went straight out and got on problem 2 first and flashed it. After that I had a few attempts at some of the others and got very close to the hardest problem 8, but didn’t succeed. I then proceeded to flash 2 other problems; a slab and a volume problem. In the end I got 3 tops and 6 bonuses which put me in 9^th place. I'm pretty happy with my result as I have moved up an age category this year and only dropped one place from last year.
 

 

Dom Burns on youth B final problem 3

This morning we got up and went down to watch the finals and the climbing was great. One of the junior problems was not topped but other than that it was an exciting final. Dom Burns from Ireland came 1^st in the youth B category; an amazing effort from all the climbers. I tried the junior problems which I would have been climbing on if I had made the final after the competition had ended and managed to get one of them. It was a crazy sideways dyno to an undercut and a weird stretched out last move where you could either static it or leap and hope for the best.

Overall this weekend has been great! I always love competition, the bigger and more important the better. I won't bore you with the details of tomorrow's trip home and I can't wait for the final round in L’Argentiere in a few weeks time.



spot the difference...



Spring BMX Edit

A tad late but there you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6AhprwEvwA

December/January Update

Sponsorship ROKT ON!

The big news is that I have another sponsor and it’s ROKT Climbing Gym. ROKT is a new facility in Brighouse and it is my local wall. It’s great already but the plans they have for development are nothing short of amazing. There is going to be bouldering there, the like of which has never been seen before. " The Penthouse" it's going to be awesome. The roped climbing is also very impressive. On top of that they are about to start building an indoor Parkour area and there’s nothing like that in the UK. Parkour is one of my other sports, and it helps with strength and agility for climbing. I cannot wait!

Click on the link to see a video of Ian Vickers setting the comp wall at ROKT, including the “roktagon bauble” and then me climbing on it afterwards.

http://vimeo.com/33443841

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Ben Meeks and Martin Smith at City Bloc for all they have done for me as a junior climber and I hope that we will remain good friends in the years to come.

British Team



That's me on the right next to Dave Barrans

I have also been training with the British Team and my profile is up on the British Team Website. http://www.gbclimbingteam.co.uk/gb-bouldering-team/member-profiles

Lakeland climbing wall was the location for the first team training. I had never been there before and didn’t know what to expect. It was quite an interesting place with a cool matted route wall for training stamina. It was all good fun and we practiced different methods for training strength.

The second team training was at The Climbing Works and I met a few more members of the team. We set off climbing a set of powerful comp style problems followed by a power training workshop, and then met the team sponsor, 5 Finger Thing who provides us with GB Team Kit.

I am now currently in a power phase and getting in the training room at ROKT quite often. This room is proving really useful, as up until now; the nearest proper training room to me is in Leeds. There is a great set of hard problems and other training facilities for me to use.

Scarpa

Everything’s going well with Scarpa at the moment; I just got a new pair of instinct slippers down another size, they’re great!

Comps

Comps also are going well and I am currently leading the Boulder Leeds and Climbing Works Boulder League overall after the first three rounds of each.  I am still classed as a junior at the Climbing Works so that looks especially good. I am also currently second in the Northern Indoor Boulder League.