Editors note: Dan is currently lost in a whiteout somewhere in Scotland, so this latest report comes courtesy of Gracie Martin and Billy Ridal.
The second round of the BMC Youth Climbing Series, held at The Foundry on Saturday 5th February, had another good turn out with a lot of good climbers competing from across the region. Nottingham Climbing Team, aka Team Crush, were there in force.
In the 11 - 13 boys, Nottingham was represented by Alfie Elliott-Anderson, Alex Cogdon and Joe Czubkowski . There were a lot of other strong climbers coming through which made the battle for first place all the harder. Alfie climbed well and was flawless on the boulders, and lost very few points on his top ropes. Because of this he did really well and came third. After Alfie’s fantastic performance at Nottingham 2 weeks earlier, he is currently in second place overall. Alex and Joe took a straight 4th and 5th, which put them a good way up this impressive field.
Billy Ridal was in the Boys 14-16 (surprisingly the smallest of all the groups) which had just 3 competitors. This didn’t stop Billy crushing everything first time, meaning that there was a sure win in the bag!!!!!!
The Nottingham team girls put in some very strong performances and got some awesome results!!! In the 11 -13 category, Georgia was climbing brilliantly and was winning up until a slip on the second route which cost her two places, but she still finished a solid 3rd!!!! Also in the 11 -13 category was Ella who finished in a respectable 7th place.
The Girls 14 - 16 category saw lots of action and changes in overall positions. Gracie Martin maintained her hold on 1st place, topping everything. Flo Tilley climbed like a beast on the final route and continued her awesomeness into the boulders which left her with an excellent 2nd place!! Naomi was slightly disappointed with 3rd, however this was still enough to leave her in 2nd overall!!! Nat came 4th, Beth H 5th, Ailsa 7th and Beth G 8th respectively.
Full results can be found on the BMC website.
A big thanks to the team at the Foundry for a range of well set comp routes for all three age categories. Everyone climbed really well and we look forward to the next round at the Edge on the 5th March. A big thanks must also go to the demonstrators Tom Bonnert and Sarah Pashley who are both members of the GB team. They had to climb all day under high expectations without falling off a single demo. (No wait actually Sarah fell of the girl’s 8-10s easiest top rope!) Thanks must also go to the parents who take their children to these competitions as it wouldn’t happen without them.
The Nottingham team can be found training at Nottingham climbing centre on Saturdays. If you are interested in joining please contact Dan Bradley (who is our hero)!!!!