British Team Trials, Liverpool

The team trials were held at Awesome Wall, Liverpool on Sat 27th November.
At the competition I felt very nervous, I didn’t feel very confident because I felt it had been ages since I had done any lead climbing because I had been sent home from school on Monday and had been in bed ever since then. I was seventh to climb on my first route which was a slab. I route planned and watched the demo and then watched 3 climbers climb and then warmed up again and then came up to watch another climber and then it was me. I spotted where the crux was and watched climbers struggling to get past it. I worked out exactly what to do but when I started climbing I felt I had no energy and when I got to the crux I couldn’t do what I had planned. The hold was really horrible and I couldn’t get my right foot high enough. I tried a few times and then asked to come down. I was really disappointed with myself, that I had not gone for it and had asked to come down. I just wanted to go home.
I pulled myself together and got quite psyched for the second route although I was shocked to find out I was first on it. Again I watched the demo, but I had been watching the older category doing it earlier. I felt I climbed this well, I tried really hard but came off about a third of the way up. I was pleased with my effort but thought I must have been the worst in the group. I decided to go and eat lunch. I was 8th in the group at the end of the two climbs. I got joint third highest on the second climb which was better than I thought. I then found out the top ten climbers go into the final and I wished I hadn’t eaten my lunch. I guessed it would be the pink route and so I had a good look at it. We all had to go into the bouldering area downstairs and wait. We then got to come out and look at our route. I was right it was the pink and so I planned it again. We then had to go downstairs and wait to be called. I was quite nervous but really ready to go for it. When I came out I saw that the second clip was moving but no others were above it. I found the climb quite tricky but okay , but the wall was quite steep. I got to the triangle but couldn’t get over it and came off. I felt I had done okay. It ended up only 2 other climbers got beyond this point and a couple to the same hold. I didn’t feel my day was good at the beginning but by the end I feel I had gained lots of experience, including being in isolation. All the climbers above me were a year older so hopefully I will do better next year.

The results for other climbers were, Angus 1st, Rachel 2nd, me 6th, Ross 7th, Calum 9th, Megan 11th, Alexander 17th.