The results are in from the Rendezvous and the SSF Finale! Congratulations to everyone!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

WMCC Rendezvous – Farley Ledge, Farley, MA   Results

Summer Sweat Fest Fall Finale – The Hub, Markham, ON   Results
Qual/Scramble photos by Rachel Reed
Qual/Scramble photos by Stephen Oung
Finals photos by Kendra Boyles

I was at Summer Sweat Fest this weekend and had a great time. The comp went really well, although that certainly wasn’t a given. My caddy/husband was able to make the trip with me this time, so that was a start in the right direction, but things didn’t really go our way after that. We left later than intended in the morning, but still had plenty of time to make it to the gym before the comp started.

Border crossing wasn’t too bad. (I’m going to a climbing competition. Yes, it’s really a thing. Yes, it’s really what I do all the time. No, you can’t make a lot of money that way. And I can’t tell you how much these little inquisitions boost my spirit.) Then we hit somewhere outside of Toronto…and that’s where traffic appears…literally out of nowhere. We’re truckin’ along at 100kmh and all of the sudden, BOOM, brake lights! We go 15kmh for seems like forever and then we all start picking up the pace. This happens several times before we actually reach our destination. We have yet to figure out why it happens. And it happens every time I come to Toronto. Time of day, day of the week and location seem to have little ability to predict these crawling sections. I seriously don’t know how Canadians deal with this maddening phenomenon and still manage to be so friendly.

We did, finally, make it to The Hub. I was so excited to check out this new gym and climb on those walls. It lived up to the hype. It was big, bright and open. There was a brief orientation and then I could start warming up. That goes well until some nice lady overhears me talking to my caddy and informs me that she is pretty sure open climbing ends at 5pm, not 6pm. I check my watch, 3:58pm, and run to verify this info at the front desk. Sure enough, I only have until 5pm to complete my 90 minutes of climbing. For those of you quick at math, that means I don’t actually have 90 minutes left, so really I have what ends up being about 54 minutes of climbing time. Gee, that’s not stressful at all.

The story has a happy ending though! I sent 4 of the 5 qualifying problems which secured me 3rd place going into finals. The caddy and I braved the wind and grabbed a bite to eat. I headed into iso and prepped for finals. I sent all 4 of the finals problems, including 2 flashes! I was very happy with my performance and 2nd place finish on a countback to qualifiers.

Thank you to all the gyms that participated in SSF (Rock Oasis, Climber’s Rock, True North, Boulderz and The Hub), the setters, who out-did themselves this season, and all the volunteers. An especially big thank you to my fellow competitors, you have all made me feel so welcome and included and I learned so much from you this summer!