Weekend Review: Mar 8

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Sue Brumm

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Coefficients of Friction – Hosted by MIT @ Central Rock Gym, Watertown, MA   Results

Eastern Boulder Regionals – Altitude Gym, Gatineau, QC   Results

I had so much fun at Regionals this weekend.  It brought out lots of the big names and they delivered some great climbing. The blocs were really fun.  There was a lot of variation, but I thought the overall focus was very technical. (Which is one of the reasons I love competing up in Canada.) I got to do some really awesome moves, a couple of which I have never done in competition before.  The route setters did a great job of forcing movement.

I finished 9th after qualifiers, just outside the group going to finals, so I decided to throw my hat in the ring for the citizens comp. I got there late, so I only climbed for 2 out of the 3 hours. One of the cool things about this round was that they left all the qualifiers problems up to be part of the citizens round which meant everyone could try the problems they saw the open competitors working on earlier. I was psyched to have a chance to try the men’s problems. They had looked fun too and I’m always jealous when there are problems that other people get to work on! I finished 1st in the citizens comp, after leaving it all on the wall (effort, sweat, most of the skin on my knees and elbows…) Finals were super fun to watch. Congratulations to all the climbers!!!

Small side note: I apologize to everyone who spoke to me in French and got an extremely confused “What?” in response. While I know that almost everyone there spoke French and that everything had been announced in both French and English all day, somehow when someone spoke in French to me it didn’t register. You’d think my brain would hear French and think “oh we don’t speak that, better let them know.” Nope! I guess my brain just heard sounds that it didn’t understand. So I just kept saying “what?” to everyone, as if the second time it would make more sense. I blame getting up at 5:30am and getting to iso before 7:00am. (Which is a personal record, I’m hoping stands forever, as the earliest iso I’ve been in.) Luckily everyone else was quicker than me and when repeating themselves automatically switched to English. Merci!

Thanks to everyone at Regionals for making me feel so welcome and cheering me on. I really had a great time. I can’t wait to see what you guys do for Nationals!

Posted in Comp Results, Tour de Bloc | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Weekend Preview: Mar 8

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Sue Brumm

Only a couple of comps going on this weekend. Which one are you going to?

Saturday, March 8, 2014

3/8/14 – Eastern Boulder Regional – Altitude, Gatineau, QC
Cost: $45 pre-registration only
Climbing: Open: 8:15am – 2:00pm, Elite, Exp, Rec, Youth: 2:45pm – 5:45pm, Open Finals: 6:45pm – 9:15pm
Categories: Open, Elite (for Open competitors not in Finals), Experienced, Recreational, Youth

The Tour de Bloc is getting serious now!  Regionals here is the East (and out in the West) will be the last chance to show your stuff before Nationals at the end of March. Open category climbers will be competing in an isolation format, on-sight comp for both qualifiers and finals.

3/8/14 – Coefficients of Friction – MIT Comp @ Central Rock Gym, Watertown, MA
Cost: $20 ($5 for MIT students) pre-registered, $25 ($10 for MIT students) day of
Climbing: Redpoint (all categories): 1:00pm – 4:30pm, Open Finals: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Categories: Beg, Int, Adv, Open

This year the annual MIT bouldering comp will be held at Central Rock Gym in Watertown. Prizes and swag!

I signed up for Regionals, so I’m off to Altitude Gym to test myself against the best climbers in Eastern Canada. Excited to see a new city!

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ABS 15 National Championships

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Sue Brumm

What a wild and crazy couple of weekends in Colorado Springs! Here are all the results.

ABS15 W Quali Results   ABS15 W Semi Results   ABS15 W Final Results
Women’s Video Highlights

ABS15 M Quali Results   ABS15 M Semi Results   ABS15 M Final Results
Men’s Video Highlights

ABS15 Citizens & Para Results   Citizens Pics

ABS15 FJR Quali Results    ABS15 FJR Semi Results    ABS15 FJR Final Results
ABS15 FYA Quali Results    ABS15 FYA Semi Results   ABS15 FYA Final Results
ABS15 FYB Quali Results    ABS15 FYB Semi Results   ABS15 FYB Final Results
ABS15 FYC Quali Results    ABS15 FYC Semi Results   ABS15 FYC Final Results
ABS15 FYD Quali Results    ABS15 FYD Semi Results   ABS15 FYD Final Results

ABS15 MJR Quali Results   ABS15 MJR Semi Results     ABS15 MJR Final Results
ABS15 MYA Quali Results   ABS15 MYA Semi Results   ABS15 MYA Final Results
ABS15 MYB Quali Results   ABS15 MYB Semi Results    ABS15 MYB Final Results
ABS15 MYC Quali Results   ABS15 MYC Semi Results    ABS15 MYC Final Results
ABS15 MYD Quali Results   ABS15 MYD Semi Results    ABS15 MYD Final Results

I had by far the most fun at this year’s ABS Open National Championships than I have had at any other.

Some of the highlights for me:
*Having fellow East Coasters in iso with me! Since ABS Nats have been in CO for the past 4 years, I’m usually surrounded by a bunch of people I don’t know.
*Having Colt with me!  Last year was really tough, since I made the trip alone.  I need my caddy:)
*Getting a seat on the floor for semis and finals.  Great view of the action!
*Total win on the lodging.  We rented a “suite” in a house for a very reasonable price.  Made it feel more like home than a hotel and we were within walking distance of the venue.

Some of the lowlights:
*Getting grounded due to a plane with a broken de-icer, not being able to rebook because the entire United computer system crashed, our rental car reservation being cancelled because we apparently, despite prepaying, “reserved a class of car and not an actual car thus it could not be held due to flight delays,” arriving in DC for our layover just in time to get maybe 5 hours sleep, and finally arriving in Denver 20 hours later than originally scheduled
*The dry climate of Colorado. There isn’t enough water, lotion or chapstick to make me feel like I’m not going to crack apart.
*Missing a climb due to the aforementioned travel nonsense.  Feeling sore, tired and pumpy at my only climb session in CO.  And still feeling pumpy in iso. (And in case you’re wondering, no those quals problems did not help my pumpy-ness.)
*Not really sleeping the night before quals. I can’t even begin to explain how much this affects my climbing and thinking.
*Not buying Colt a ticket for semis & finals ahead of time.  They sold out and we missed out, which meant Colt flew all they way to CO and had to watch the live stream 5 blocks away. (Selling out is, of course, a big YAY for climbing, but man we were bummed.)

The quals problems were fun and varied. And they certainly had aesthetic appeal for the spectators. I had a technical on Problem 1, but it was resolved quickly and the rest of my time went smoothly. One of the biggest disappointments of Nationals is knowing that you’ll never see or get to try those problems ever again. 4 minutes is far too short a time to spend on such excellent and admirable problems.

The announcers at the Nats venue teased us with the information that there would be a big announcement regarding next year’s venue. They didn’t tell us when the announcement would be, but I guessed during finals.  I was there for all of semis and finals, but never heard an announcement. The curiosity was driving me crazy! I thought maybe they made the announcement on the live stream, so I watched part of it later and found out that next year ABS Nats will be in Madison, WI. Psyched to hear that! I’m excited to see a new city (I’ve never been to Madison). I’m excited to compete at Open Nats, the biggest comp of the year, not at altitude. I’m excited to drive, instead of fly, and have my car with me. (I love my car.) And I think it is amazing and important to bring the excitement and talent of Nationals to another region of the country. And, in a small aside, did they forget to announce it to the live crowd or choose not to?

Congratulations to everyone who participated in Nationals.  See you next year in Madison!

Posted in Bouldering (former ABS), Comp Results, Pro Climbing | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments