Saturday, 22 March 2014

It's been a while

It's been a while since my last post, but honestly it's been hard to top what I talked about in my last one. It truly was a great moment.


Since then, a lot of things have happened. A Font trip, a hell of a lot of training, World Cup Selection and The CWIF. I have actually gone from strength to strength since Laval. I managed another 8a in font (Salle Gosse assis) and another one back in the UK (The Joker) at Stanage Plantation. I won the GB Team World Cup Selection event at the Castle in London, meaning I am now competing in the full World Cup season along with The World Championships a bit later on in the year.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5UqHboI3t9I

Video from the last font trip.


Last weekend was the annual Climbing Works International Festival. this year a huge amount of international strong men and women had signed up including the likes of Rustam Gelmanov (RUS) and Jernej Kruder (SLO). I knew this would be a good tester to see how I will perform in the world cups to come.


Qualifying was made up of 30 blocs that were truly awesome. Super techy with only a couple of slightly burly ones. I think everyone who competed would agree it was set to perfection. I was really happy with my qualifying score of 291 which put me in joint 3rd with Gabriele Moroni (ITA), only beaten by Alex Megos (GER) and Stewart Watson (GBR) who both scored a very impressive 300. A full house.




The next day we went into isolation for semi's. I used this time to mingle with some of the other athletes who will also be doing some of the world cups this year (It's always good to have friends), and of course to warm up.


Because of my qualifying score I went out near the end. I decided to try some relaxation methods to calm any nerves I had about the competition. As I sat on the mat waiting to turn around and head towards my first problem. I closed my eyes and imagined myself laying on a beach on a really hot sunny day taking in the rays. This seemed to really help.


The first problem was a pull hard or go home kind of problem and I only managed to gain the bonus. After, I looked at the second and knew straight away I was going to send this problem. It was a ninja kick! (Anyone who knows me will know that this is my favourite kind of move), I flashed the problem with relative ease. The third, again I only managed the bonus but still felt pretty good. The last was a really balancy slab. I took my time to look at and prepare all the holds. It felt like I was on the wall for ages, but I pushed through and managed another flash!


                                            Me sending the ninja kick problem!


I was really happy with my performance at the weekend and I now know I can hold my own against some of the worlds best. Following last weekend, I have also had the opportunity to have 2 training sessions run by the Slovenian coach along with the Slovenian and Deutsch teams and Rustam as well. These were really good fun and I really had to try hard throughout.


So, as I write this at 1:30am, I am currently wedged like a Tetris piece in the back seat of a car driving down to Fontainebleau yet again along with some of my good friends. I will post this as soon as I get some wifi which may be a couple of days from now. I'll keep you informed on how it goes with a full report of the trip and we will also be making a video so keep an eye out!


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