World Youth Champs Summary

Because of exams, which finished some weeks ago, I was busy and didn't get around to updating my blog. So here's a summary of the World Youth Champs.

Wednesday 17 August

We had a one and a half hour train ride to a different climbing gym with a ten metre speed wall. When we got there we found out they no longer had the speed holds up on the wall (we found some of them in the boulder room), so we did onsighting instead. After some not great first attempts Ken gave us a team talk about how, after going to the swimming complex the day before, we were in 'holiday mode' and needed to switch into hard climbing mode. After Ken's motivating talk I was putting more effort in and getting further on the climbs.

Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 August: last days in Munich

We had three more days in Munich. We went to the Dachau Memorial Concentration Camp and watched the semi-finals and finals of the Boulder World Cup at the Olympic Stadium. One night we watched as more and more people arrived outside our hostel to film a scene or part of a scene for a movie. On Sunday we caught a coach to Imst, Austria.

Sunday 21 - Wednesday 24 August: Comp prep in Imst

We climbed on the indoor wall on Sunday and Monday (the Comp would be on the outdoor wall) and met some of the other competitors who were also doing some last minute training. On Tuesday we went up to the Alpine Coaster for the third year running but the ride didn't seem worth the money so I sat around instead.

Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 August: The World Youth Champs

My first qualifier went ok but I think I could have got further. The climb was very cool and I enjoyed trying it. The next day on my second qualifier I psyched myself out about a move low down and fell off there. I was very frustrated and disappointed about that climb.

In the speed qualification I did better than last year's time and got under 20 seconds.

The team's results were

Junior Male

Daniel: lead: 54, speed: 26 (16.99)

Youth A Male

Christoph: lead: 34, speed: 27 (18.76)
Sam: lead: 65, speed: 33 (22.08)
J.J. (me): lead: 67, speed: 30 (19.80)

Youth B Male

Josh: lead: 39, speed: 27 (21.23)
Kaze: lead: 46, speed: 32 (33.36)
Peanut: lead: 49, speed: 28 (22.90)

Youth B Female

Tayla: lead: 39, speed: 29 (34.29)
Aiyana: lead: 45, speed: 32 (46.05)
Alex: lead: 61, speed: 31 (45.93)

The next day it was raining. The semi-finals were in the morning and we all went down to watch. I got very cold and wet but I stuck it out to the end. In the afternoon the clouds cleared and the mountains all around were covered in snow. In the evening we watched the finals and then the medal ceremony.

On Sunday, the last day of the competition, we headed down to watch the speed finals and trade some of our team uniform. I ended up with a Swiss hoody and a Singapore singlet. We went to the after party that afternoon but the only countries attending were us, the Ausies, South Africa and Japan.

Monday 29 August - Thursday 1 September: Heading back home

We had another long coach ride back to Munich. In the afternoon we did some shopping and I somehow managed to get left by myself in the climbing shop. Because Glenda told us not to go off on our own I made my way back to the hostel and waited there.

We left Munich the next day and travelled back to Auckland with a short stop in Singapore. We arrived in Auckland at 11:00 at night so there were no domestic flights until the next day. Most of us were met by family but Glenda, Sam, Christoph and I all had to stay the night and fly out the next day.

The next day I arrived in Wellington and Mum, Dad and Tessa were waiting for me. I was Home.

Photos:

1. Peanut on his first Qualifier
2. Josh on his first Qualifier
3. Sam on his second Qualifier