Hi everyone!
I am writing this blog in a very, very happy mood! I am fresh off of winning my first professional competition… EVER!
This weekend I competed at the Mesa Rim Pro-Am in San Diego, CA, the second National Cup of the season. I’ll give you a quick breakdown on how the weekend went and share some videos of the boulders as well.
Qualifiers took place on Friday evening with a large number of competitors, over 40 women and 100 men competed in this incredible event. With so many people I worried about the redpoint round being too crowded, but it actually worked out quite well for the women.
I climbed 8 of the 10 qualifier boulders, putting me in a solid 4th place. It was difficult to tell exactly how I was doing during the qualifying round, but I knew that I had climbed my absolute best.
I spent Saturday morning relaxing with a quick trip to the beach and then my standard pre-comp nap. I felt great going into finals but really didn’t have any expectations. Just making it into finals is such a feat that I focus on having fun and trying to give my best effort on each boulder problem.
The first boulder was a delicate slab that I nearly timed out on. I spent the majority of my time at the top of the boulder where I tried to match the top with my finger tips. I was just a little short of achieving the finger tip match, so I had to jump with one hand to reach the finish. This boulder took me almost the entire time to complete, but it was well worth the wait! I was lucky to walk away with a flash on this boulder.
The second boulder didn’t go quite as well as the first. I tried hard, but I ultimately got stuck at zone 5. The boulder was straight forward, powerful, and just simply hard.
The third boulder began with a run across jump, to a delicate crimp section, then a jump for the finish hold. I was proud of myself for sticking the run across (this is something I have been working on in training), so sending the boulder was the icing on the cake!
The fourth boulder was a definite power boulder. The boulder began with a jump to a large hold, then you had to work your way through holds in the roof to reach the top section. Having this boulder as the last boulder in the competition was definitely taxing, but I had a good burn on it and reached zone 10.
After completing my fourth boulder I knew that 4th was the worst place I could finish. I was definitely happy with that result, but I was also crossing my fingers that I would make a podium finish!
I had absolutely no idea I would walk away with 1st place until about 10 minutes after I finished competing. I literally did not believe my dad when he told me that I most likely won.
Once I found out I officially had won I proceeded to run around the gym and hug everyone I knew. I have never won a professional competition before, so this moment felt incredibly surreal for me. It still feels surreal to me as I write this blog.
All in all, this weekend was AWESOME. I had a great time climbing with my friends and winning this comp is a dream come true.
Up next on the agenda is a training camp in San Diego, which I am also very excited to attend! I love climbing with so many strong women during the comps and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to train with these strong women this week!
Onto the next adventure…
<3 SBC