European Boulder Comp, Munich 2011
On the 17th and 18th of September I competed in the second ever European youth bouldering championships that were held in the Boulderwelt, Munich which is the biggest bouldering gym in the world.
Eddie and I flew out early on the Friday morning from Dublin to Munich. Once we landed we drove straight to the Boulderwelt to register.
The next day excitement was in the air as everyone was anxious to climb all of the amazing problems that Jacky Godoffe (the route setter) had set for us. In the qualifying round we had to climb 12 problems and had 5 attempts at each. The problems were very different from what I was used to as they mostly forced you into strange shapes and unusual positions, despite this many of them suited my style of climbing. At the end of qualifying I had 8 tops and 11 bonus holds, which put me in 6th place (which qualified me for the finals). However I didn’t know that until after I had nearly tired myself out on the campus boards!
The next day we went down early to watch the girls final and then went into isolation where we stayed for 2 hours while the final 4 problems were being set. Once they were finished we had 2 minutes to observe each problem and figure out how to climb them.
The final. The first problem I hadn’t a clue what to do so I went out to a volume that you weren’t supposed to go to. The second problem suited me very well and I found a way to statically reach what was supposed to be a dyno move. I got further than everyone else and was the only one to get a bonus hold on that problem. The third problem was a bit different as you had to, rock up onto a volume, then lean off a different volume to catch a slopey side-pull and then to dead point to a two finger sideways pocket. Unfortunately I fell off on the last move as I didn’t get my fingers in the pocket correctly. The fourth problem was all about power, which was bad for me as I wasn’t very strong, compared to the others in the final and unfortunately I only got another bonus hold.
I was really pleased to come 6th overall and I think Eddie was too!
It was a very eventful weekend as it was my first European final and as the final was delayed we missed our flight and had to fly home on the Monday.
Also 5/8 of my fingers were bleeding from all the climbing!
Dominic
Yes, I was delighted, Dominic climbed brilliantly to become the first young Irish climber to ever make a European Final!!! eddie
(click on individual photos for better view).
