Posts Tagged ‘France’

2nd Worldcup of this year is in France. Check it out now, it’s being broadcasted live!

At 7 P.M. the finals will start! Find more information about timetables, semis, finals, etc, click here.

Update:

Finals:

GuiGui knows how to send hard problems. He has been visiting Fontaine Bleau, the boulder forest of France!

This video contains the following problems:

Check out his sends and first edit by himself.

It’s been a few days that I’m back home again. Last Thursday was my climbing day and I’m going to tell you all about it.

I had to wake up early. According to the climbing schedule, I had to climb 4th in my second route.

In the morning I was having breakfast with Tom. It was only 7 AM and I got a nice mini croissant with tea. After breakfast we left to the arena. Our hotel was nearby the arena, took us 15 minutes by foot. It was nice to walk outside and really wake up.

When I arrived at the arena, I had to show my pass to get in. I took a quick look at the wall to check the routes. I saw Jorg Verhoeven as well. He informed me about the blue routes. There were 4 routes set in the wall. I had to focus on the blue routes.

Behind the wall was the warm up zone. It wasn’t big nor high. I always find it difficult to warm up on a small boulder wall though and then climb a hard route. Perhaps I should standardise my training this way to get the feeling of it.

Anyway, I was placed in group B which had a total of 51 climbers. Group A also had 51 climbers. I’m not used to compete against so many climbers though.

I changed my clothes and started to warm up. When I felt a bit pumpy, I focused on the flash route. It was recorded on video behind the wall and repeated over and over.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to the route, just the sequence. I knew where the holds were set and took a look in front of the wall. I was visualizing how the movements would feel like when I will climb the route.

It was almost time to climb. I didn’t feel nervous yet. I was putting on my climbingshoes backstage and prepared myself to climb. I had to wait until it was my turn. The first part of the route went really well. I expected this route to be much harder. The holds were nice however the clipping the quickdraws wasn’t nice. Anyway, no hard moves so far which could have scared me off. At that moment I was believing in myself, enjoying the climb and I could could hear my team members supporting me. I can’t remember the music or anything else. The route was really nice.

Although I didn’t climb all the way to the top, but I was kind of surprised when I fell out of the route. From a sidepull I had to cross over with my right hand and grabbed an undercling with my left hand. I can remember this guy placed his foot on a far foothold and so did I. The next hold was meant for my right hand and as I went towards the hold I felt I didn’t get my fingers properly on the hold. It was small though, but that was the moment I fell out of the route. I wasn’t too happy about that but also I wasn’t too disatisfied about it. The climb went okay I suppose. I just wished I didn’t fall out at that spot. My left arm was starting to get pumpy but I wasn’t tired yet.

My second route was much later. I was placed 29th in the first route. I had to wait 2 hours, which gave me the opportunity to watch other climbers in the routes. From this point of view it looked like the 1st route was set harder than the route I had just climbed. Once in while I was walking backstage to traverse on the wall. Usually it feels easy to stay warm after one route. I memorized the route and was ready to climb.

Just before it was my turn, Michiel and Hans showed up. They were just in time to watch me climb. When I started my second route, I heard them supporting me. Actually I only heard my team cheering for me and nothing else. The moves looked hard but once again I expected it to be hard but it was all okay.

The roof had good holds and getting out of the roof was a crux for me. I knew it was hard to go to this sloper. I placed my left heel behind on the module and I knew I had to cross over with my left hand. It didn’t feel right though, so I went with my right hand to this sloper.

I wasn’t even close to this hold! Perhaps because of my feet placement it didn’t feel right and therefore I got punished.

I knew right away this score wasn’t enough to advance to the semis. I ended up 51st from 102 lead competitors. Just in the middle, what can I say about that? I’ll leave that to you.

I had a brief feedback session with Wouter after my climb. It was good to talk about it and listen to his point of view. I enjoyed climbing though! To be here for a whole week was great. Walking among the best climbers gives such positive energy. The semis and finals were great. The tickets were all sold out which means there were about 6000 spectators to see the best climbers in the world in action!

Below you can see a few photos from the whole event.

I didn’t stay at the arena all the time though, but also went sightseeing with my team. We went to Blocbuster for a few hours and had dinner together.

The other days I have visited Bastille, Les Arches, Arc de Triomphe, Pompidou, Notre Dame and many more venues.

Today I had a restday.

I was up in the morning to work on my blog.

As you can see, I have selected just a few photos.

Anyway, this morning I bought breakfast in a bakery shop.

I picked some nice pain aux raisins. I love those, especially when they’re still warm.

At the arena I explored a the different areas. The boulder area was quite small compared to the lead area. Of course lead climbing is way more fun than bouldering. My first impression of the wall was the hidden overhang. It looks huge, but actually it’s about 20 meters high.

Nikki climbed her first route in the afternoon. Her second route was about 2 hours later. I took a few photos of her second route. She climbed really well. She ended up in the semi final, so we’ll see her in action again on Friday!

The Dutch boulderteam was there as well. The problems looked hard with many sloper holds. Not my cup of tea though. Such a pity none of the men advanced to the semis.

After the competition we went back to our hotel. I got a leg massage from Tom, cause I felt a bit sore from the long walk. It felt good!

In the evening we went out for dinner. We searched for several restaurants but none of those met our standards.

Eventually after half an hour of walking we ended up in a nice restaurant.

Our toast went out to Nikki and her awesome performance today. I had a nice duck fillet with Orangina and some crepe du Nutella as desert. It was so delicious, makes me feel good yeah.

Now I’m back at the hotel. Once again updating blog, working on photos and catch up on the Dutch elections. By the way, I tweeted it before but I’ll repeat it here again. Tomorrow I’ll start climbing 4th in my second route and 29th in my first route, which means I’ll be climbing at approximately 09:10. I don’t feel the World championship climbing tension yet though, I feel quite relaxed.

It was good to check out the wall today. I was impressed by the paraclimbers though. Some were blind or missing a leg or arm but nonetheless they managed to top the route!

Anyway, check out the live stream tomorrow!

I just set my alarm clock: 06.30 AM on my phone. I’m going to brush my teeth, take a shower and get some sleep. I wish you goodnight from Paris. Bonnuit!

I was busy packing my luggage at night. I just started but felt like continuing the next morning. For now it was important to get some sleep as it was 1 AM midnight.

A few hours later I had company from a few mosquito’s. Fortunately I didn’t get bitten despite the annoying sound next to my ear. I set my alarm at 07.30 AM in the morning. The vibrations woke me up and I stared out of my window. The sun was present and it was the start of a new day for me.

I continued to pack my stuff. I looked into my suitcase and I had packed shoes, harness and a chalkbag. I only need to find the rest, sort it on category and press some shirts and trousers. I need to check everything one more time. I noticed I had space left and figured to add my pillow as well because you never know what kind of pillow you’ll get abroad!

My suitcase is zipped and I went to the supermarket to get myself some breakfast. I bought grapes, sandwiches and some beverage for my journey.

At the station I run into Elko. We’re meeting at half past 9, an early train in case we get delayed. I received a text message from Vera, who went by train an hour earlier and travels among the boulderteam. She warnes us for some delay on the road but I wasn’t worrying. Everything will be fine Vera.

At Roosendaal we run into Nikki and Tom in the train. We all sit close to each other despite the rush hour. At Brussels-south we have 20 minutes left and we stopped at this nice sandwich bakery. While I was paying attention to our luggage, Tom was getting a sandwich Italiano for himself and a sandwich Tourist for me. It’s a really nice sandwich with mayonnaise!

In our next train to Paris-North we have separate places. Tom and I are sitting trainnumber 8 and Nikki and Elko in 5. When I look outside my window, everything seems to go so fast and the sun is shining at times. It feels like we’re going 220 km per hour. It took us one hour and fifteen minutes to get to Paris. 3 metrostops away was our hotel, at station Gare de Lyon.

We rested for an hour and then went to the venue. We received our tickets and had dinner together.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. I figured I wanted to see more of Paris. I will have to start on Thursday which means I don’t have to go to bed early. Elko and I went out to explore Paris at night. We’ve seen people dancing at parks near the water, lots of homeless people (some even had kids), impressive buildings and bars and cafes full of people.

It seems like the nightlife in Paris never stops. I had fun! It was time to get some sleep. Tomorrow the journey will continue!

I’ve been flying under the radar lately. I have been quite busy training but I have an announcement to share!

This week the world championship sportsclimbing will be held in the prestigious Bercy Arena in France.

I’ll be there among the Dutch lead team: Jorg Verhoeven, Elko Schellingerhout, Nikki van Bergen and me. The Dutch boulderteam will be represented by: Vera Zijlstra, Nicky de Leeuw, Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen and Hans Busker. Coach Wouter Jongeneelen and physio Tom Mooij will support us during the whole week. Check out the rest of the competitors here.

Here is a short teaser about the competition.

What else? Here are some nice numbers. Did you know that there are:
• 85 000 licence holders
• 55 000m² arena space
• 15 000 expected spectators
• 500 athletes
• 200 volunteers
• 50 countries
• 15 judges
• 5 magical days of climbing in Paris
• 2 full days of finals
• 1 international sport arena
• 4335 facebook fans (and climbing…)
• The area looks like:

Provisional program:

Wednesday 12th September
09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN BOULDER
12:00 – 18:00 Qualification WOMEN LEAD

Thursday 13th September
12:00 – 18:00 Qualification WOMEN BOULDER
09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN LEAD

Friday 14th September
09:00 – 13:00 Practice time MEN & WOMEN SPEED
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final MEN BOULDER
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final WOMEN LEAD
14:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN & WOMEN SPEED

Saturday 15th September
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final WOMEN BOULDER
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final MEN LEAD
18:00 – 18:30 Opening Ceremony
18:30 – 20:00 Final MEN BOULDER
20:00 – 20:30 Final PARACLIMBING (male blind1)
20:30 – 20:45 Awarding ceremony
Entract
21:15 – 22:15 Final WOMEN LEAD
22:15 – 23:00 Final WOMEN SPEED
23:00 – 23:15 Awarding ceremony

Sunday 16th September
13:00 – 14:30 Final WOMEN BOULDER
14:30 – 15:00 Final PARACLIMBING (male one leg amputee)
15:00 – 15:15 Awarding ceremony
Entract
15:45 – 16:45 Final MEN LEAD
16:45 – 17:30 Final MEN SPEED
17:30 – 17:50 Awarding ceremony
17:50 – 18:05 Closing ceremony

According to this program, I’ll start on Thursday 13th September (09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN LEAD)!
You can follow the World Championship live. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more updates!