I was ready to go at 07.30 in the morning with some lack of sleep. I was suppose to go to Hilversum to tag along to Groningen with Pascal Heger and Mirthe van Liere. Unfortunately I just missed my bus and got delayed with an extra 30 minutes. I cancelled my ride and tried to get to the venue by public transport.

When I was on board in the train, there was more bad news. There were suicides going on on my track. The police had to stop the trains and I got stuck in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, at 1 P.M. I finally arrived at Groningen. Yes, with the same travel time I could have been at Fontaine Bleau!

I was 30 minutes late for the competition, however I was lucky enough to join the competition. I signed up before and paid my entrance in advance. I thought about my tactics during my train ride and was exploring around for hard problems. I was curious about which problems would be repeated a lot and which problems are worth lots of points. The competition wall was full of hard problems and some are spread out on the other walls. I liked that!

I had till 6 P.M. to complete 6 difficult problems. I started to warm up with some easy boulders and then I got distracted by the competition wall. There were so many people, enjoying and climbing. I just had to stand between them.

I was going for a nice black 7c problem. It required a kneebar on sandpaper. I managed to send the problem on my 4th go. My first artificial 7c was in the pocket yeah!

Then I saw Marijn Janmaat working out a red problem on the same wall. I was lucky enough to flash this beauty 7b. Later on Jesse van der Werf suggested me to climb a white 7b problem. It was set on the competition wall with big jugs, big moves and easy to score points. I managed to flash that problem as well!

I was already half way with my score and started to explore the cave for more problems.

My eyes were focussed on an orange 7b problem with again great big holds. Jesse was working in that one. After 2 attempts, I was just unable to reach the end hold due to a bad slopy pocket. In my 3rd attempt I figured another sequence. I matched a pinch before the end and used the pocket as intermediate to the end hold. It turned out great!

Then I saw Wolter Westdijk working out a green problem. It was a 7c with lots of movements on the same wall. The moves looked quite easy, perhaps it was rated hard because of the length. Anyway, I managed to flash this nice 7c problem. It was quite easy though and it was great that this problem was good for my score.

I went outside and looked into Hans Busker’s list. He pointed a green 7b problem on the Polsar Kip wall. Big hold and a technical problem. I liked that. It took me quite some toehooks, tension and campus skills to send it. Eventually I sent the problem with my own sequence.

Next I was checking out big boss Ferdinand Schulte’s list. He was wearing his down jacket and observed the venue. I was convinced that he had send the most difficult problems. At first he didn’t say anything about his score but eventually he couldn’t resist my awesome questions. With four 7c’s and two 7b’s I was quite amazed about his performance. Meanwhile Hans had the same score as Ferdinand. I had only two 7c’s and I really wanted to score another 7c to catch up and make sure that I was in the finals.

I was looking around for another 7c, my last one. On the Torenzijde I spotted a nice green 7c problem. It went around the corner, then a few moves up and back around the corner for the final move. I tried to cut off this great problem by going straight up. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to realise it! After a few attempts I sent the problem, yeah!

After that I tried some fun problems. My qualification was done and I could finally take some rest. It was only 4 P.M. Time to digest a delicious sandwich!

I changed my clothes and walked around like a boss, just like Ferdinand. Hans and I set up our tent while it was still day light.

Next we tried to figure out who was advanced to the finals. We’re surprised about the results though, 9 men seem to be in the finals instead of the usual 6! Later Sven Verhoeven signed out and only 8 finalists were left.

My assumption was correct, I was happy I had send more than two 7c’s and four 7b’s to get in the finals. I was lucky with my score!

The routesetters started to set the finals.

Just before the evening the youth and 40+ competitors started their finals. While the barbeque got prepared, the youth climbers were climbing really hard in the cold weather.

I noticed that these kids use lots of tape. Some even ripped a big piece of skin off their hands and fragile fingers got taped. What a pity! They didn’t gave up though, respect for that.

Meanwhile I was standing at the end of a long line for the barbeque, supporting youth climbers. It was worth a plate of pasta / salad / meat / sauce.

A few hours later Roelien van de Vrie told me that we all had to climb at the same time in the finals. The format was changed as well. In stead of 3 attempts, we got 4 minutes per boulder. This competition would took a while to end! 4 problems, 4 minutes per climber, you do the math. The audience seemed to get used to the cold weather.

In the isolation area we’re requested to join a climbers research. After each problem we had to fill in a form about our thoughts. The data will be used for a graduation project. After the briefing we’re send outdoors. It was so cold! We’re introduced one by one and then our prep time started. 8 minutes for 4 problems, that shouldn’t be too difficult!

Alright, back in the isolation it was time to warm up proper. Due to the major temperature difference, I felt a light headach and my muscles started to cramp away. I filled my bottle of water and tried to stretch my muscles. I didn’t feel relaxed, more or less warm. I got my nerves under control though.

It was my turn for problem number 1. I walked to the wall and turned off some of my emotions. Problem 1 felt easy though. I like the fact that we were able to start easy. The most fun part of this problem was when you face into the audience during the problem and had to move your feet. Putting my foot on this foothold wasn’t easy but I didn’t give up and managed to send it in my first attempt!

Problem number 2 was somewhat harder. I just failed before the end. I wasn’t able to pinch the hold before the end. I knew I could send it in my second attempt. I tried to cheer up the audience and they encouraged me to send it! It went smooth enough and I was going for the final holds. Yes I got it and I won’t let go! I thank the audience for their support and run back into the isolation.

Back in the isolation I heard the ladies talking a lot about their problems. We didn’t speak a word about the problems. Did you send it? Ehm, raise shoulders and I don’t know…was the standard reply. It was so funny. Boss Ferdinand put his purlple headphones on his head whereas Jesse seemed to die every time he got back from the competition wall. Marijn got lost in thoughts. Hans was unsatisfied about his zippers in the 2nd problem and the rest was just sitting around.

During the 3rd problem I had a vague idea about what to do. I wanted to use the sandpaper to go up on the side but it felt hard in my first attempt. I changed thoughts and went straight up to a triangle module! It didn’t seem to work either. I switched back to my first thoughts and tried to conduct it. I had to put my right foot as high as possible. There, my heel was on the first hold and here we go! Yeah I managed to grab the next hold on the corner and swing around to grab the next hold on the module. I keep swinging and place my left heel on my left hand hold. From here it was okay and a few seconds later I’m hanging on the final hold! Top on problem number 3!

I wasted too many attempts in this problem. My goal was to climb with precision, but I failed. I felt like climbing the final problem! It got big holds and it was set on 2 walls. You had to use this hanging element which was quite fun. I underestimated the 3rd hold, it seemed further away than I had imagined. I fell out of the problem there, too soon, noooo! Later on I managed to get the 3rd hold because I jumped from a lower foothold. On to the hanging element! Big jugs were set in this element, awesome!
I was hanging on one arm, I might as well chalk my other hand. I lowered myself on this element and again chalked my other hand. I was just hanging there in front of the audience, chalking my hands haha! Now I had to get back up and I didn’t want to campus my way up. Perhaps I can place my feet behind the next hold, ooooh I put my foot between my arms and yay I managed to pull a figure of four! It was easy and efficient this way. Now I had to get to the second wall, but I didn’t get even close. I tried to push myself away from the wall, hanging on to this element. It seemed to work and I managed to get closer to the wall. I could grab the next hold, placed my right foot on the foothold and went for the final hold! Yeah I just sent all problems!

The final problems weren’t so difficult. It was required to send it in the first attempt, every other attempt felt like a punishment. It seemed correct that Ferdinand had won this event, Bruno needed 2 attempts less than I. He got 2nd while I was on the 3rd place with 4 tops in 8 attempts. I wasn’t unsatisfied, however I was happy to be in the finals. There is a really nice compilation video, created by Mirthe and you can check it out here.

Video: Final problems – edited by Jeroen Jager

The ladies needed a super final because the problems were too easy. Roelien managed to send the problem and won this event, Mirthe got the 2nd place and Elena ended up 3rd.

The rest of the results can be found here. After the price ceremony, it was time to celebrate my win. Just like any other year, it was nice to sit at the bonfire where we talked hours about the final problems.

Despite the cold windy weather, I enjoyed this super event! Thank you all for organising.