Taming the beast

Hurrah I won a beastmaker courtesy of the CragX pull-up comp.

I discovered last year at Cliffhanger that given a good rest after the BBC I was still pretty warm and could do more pullups than I've ever done before in one go, only to be beaten by Suzie D a short time later.

I returned to the challenge this year to see how I would fair. I pulled out 27 in 45 seconds to top the women's table.

The beastmaker is going to take pride of place above the lounge door. Unfortunately I won't be able to see the tv whilst dangling, but who cares, there's no other space and it is after all meant to turn me into a beast.

Now it's time to stop being silly and fix myself before training for 2010.

Cliffhanger

The British Bouldering Championships 2009 did not disappoint. Both the men's and women's finals were cliffhangers once again with the top spots closely contested. Nice one Ned clinching first place with the last moves of the day.

I was really pleased to be climbing quite well and very lucky that most of the problems did not involve moves I cannot do due to my poorly arm. I only had to amend my tactics on one problem to compensate. The first 3 problems went ok and then I felt short on the 4th, unable to pop up into a barely balanced wide press. I was behind on attempts and was also missing a bonus.

The last problem was going well. A long problem with big moves.

Unfortunately my left hand just plain slipped as I was placing a heel hook with 2 moves to go. I was gutted to have slipped but was excited as I knew I could do the problem. Foolishly I got back on too soon and did not have enough in the tank to top the problem.

I came 3rd. Leah won and Katy was 2nd by a bonus. I needed the final top to have won, but was very pleased to podium.

Thanks to Kate from Godsrock Clothing for the photos.

China World Champs - The Comp

The comp venue was impressive. Chinese Blind Massage is very good. Dave crushed to put GB on the podium for the 1st time in a World Championships.

I sucked, but enjoyed my trip. I had a poorly arm from Eindhoven and had lost my lock among other things.

The parks and comp venue had interesting exercise apparatus. The market vendors were unlikely to ever run out of stock.

I travelled half way back to the UK on the same flights as the Russians and an Indian and a chap I met in Beijing airport who was from where I grew up. The usual small world scenario.

China Road Trip

The roads in China were exciting. Here's some photos from a fairly quiet day. We mostly stayed on the right side of the road and only stopped 3 lanes of traffic by turning stright in front of them once each trip...

China World Champs - Base

I went to China for the World Championships. I received a warm welcome at the airport along with many other competitors that arrived on the same flight. After my long flight via Dubai it was a relief to be ferried to the accommodation and training base by the hosts rather than battle the unknown.

The base had a boundary wall and guards on the gates, but we could come and go as we pleased.

We were fed and sometimes watered, but mostly sprited/tea'd. The base at 2200m altitude was also used for the Olympics and is now used by many athletes for training. Some serious training could be had going up the steep hill behind the base.

The hills were all terraced and cultivated. There were some goat-sheep at the top, the ones that could be either. One was doing a good impression of a skull.

It was good to be in the same place as all the other competitors.

Godsrock Clothing

Good news - Godsrock is coming to Sheffield. There will be a stall at Cliffhanger this weekend.