McGeek Coaching

The next day I had a great session with McGeek. My elbow was a bit sore again and so Neil told me not to do any bouldering for a while and to have a rest over the next few days. We did lots of lead climbing and then Neil showed me how to tie my rope up and he tied me to the pillar in the bouldering room!

YCS Round 1 Stirling

The first round of the YCS was held in Stirling at the Peak Wall. This week I have been to Benmore with my school and had a great time. I really enjoyed gorge walking. My teacher applied ice to my elbow in the morning and at night so it felt much better by Friday, but I had it x-rayed and scanned on the Friday afternoon because if it had been something serious I would not be able to compete today. The doctor decided there was no serious damage but said I probably shouldn't compete and he referred me for physiotherapy. I didn't sleep very well last night but when I woke up I really wanted to compete. I decided I would climb but if I felt my elbow sore at any time I would stop. I made a promise to m mum and I was determined I would do this. The first climb and couple of boulders were fine and my elbow was fine. The second route was only difficult because I had to think all of the time not to stand on the blue holds. The last route looked really hard. I had planned it and I watched everyone in front of me climb and noticed where everyone was coming off. I decided to do it slightly differently. I was really psyched for this climb, the holds were horrible and it involved a lot of moving my weight and core strength. I climbed as well as I could and got to the same place as Angus ( the demonstrator) had got too. I was really pleased with my climb. The last boulder was tricky, involving wedging yourself in the tunnel. I had a great day and came first which was a bonus when at the beginning of the day I hadn't known if I would be able to climb.

BMC Talented Climbers Day Newcastle

The Bosi family gave us a lift down to Newcastle for the BMC Talented Climbers Day. I have had a sore elbow over the past week, but I was hoping it would go away. I don't think the bouldering competition had helped. When we arrived at the wall at Newcastle Ian Dunn talked to us about what was going to happen across the day and then we went to warm up. When we were warming up my elbow felt very sore so I decided to stop. I spoke to my mum and then Ian told me not to climb and not to compete in the YCS 1st round the following Saturday. I was really disappointed. I played some games with my mum for the rest of the day, using one arm, but I couldn't join in with everyone. I was very worried I wouldn't be able to compete in the YCS series this year.

Dundee Bouldering Comp

This year I decided to go in for the Winter Bouldering comps held at Dundee. There were four competitions and the best score out of three counted towards winning. We drove up to Dundee on the Friday after school and once I had finished the 20 boulder problems, we drove straight home so that I wasnt too late for getting up for training the next day. I missed one of the comps but we stayed late for the last one and I won £30. I really enjoyed the problems that were set, they were all very different and it was good fun bouldering at a different wall.