Posts Tagged ‘national’
Today I woke up early to finish my Berdorf story. It takes quite some effort to create a movie and write a nice story about it. I just like to write about my adventures though!
Anyway, I just published my story and had to leave right away to be on time for the 2nd lead competition which was at Bergschenhoek. At Eindhoven I caught the train towards Utrecht along with a bunch of Ajax soccer supporters who felt like drinking beer in the morning and sang songs during the whole ride. After an hour I was relieved to leave this train and joined Pim Cattenstart in his car.
We had to drive a different way to Bergschenhoek because the ring of Rotterdam was closed. Our ride took a tad longer than an hour but we arrived on time.
I signed up at the bar and received a competition number.
First I needed to digest some sandwiches before I was going to climb. Rens sponsored me some cheese because I forgot to fix my sandwiches. I was in a hurry this morning! Next I warmed up with Pim and just a few routes later we had to leave the climbing gym.
The semis was about to start and we had to wait outdoor in a tent. I don’t know who’s idea this was to put us outdoor but none of us were happy about this decision. The wind was cold though.
Anyway, we’re informed by the jury about the semis. 6 Minutes time to prepare the route.
I was cooling down too much after sitting 20 minutes outside. I figured it would be nicer to sit inside.
It was my turn to climb. I didn’t feel like competing in a competition at all. My mind was somewhere else, I believe I was thinking too much about Berdorf. The route went okay until I arrived at the roof.
Then I didn’t rest anymore and grabbed this wall structure which wasn’t very good. I tried to go to the next hold with my left hand but my boy was too close to the wall. I bumped into a quickdraw and fell out of the route. My score seemed just about enough to advance to the finals. I was number 6th.
During the finals I climbed on safe mode again until I arrived at this undercling and started to think too much. Why am I missing footholds here? It’s always the same story, far movements which I could barely reach!
Fine, it was time to change my mindset. Time to rock! With this thought I continued in the route and tried to hurry up and yet stay calm. More or less I just managed to grab the next hold but I won’t let go. I was fighting through this route. Not many people have seen me climbing in this style before though. When I arrive at this sloper triangle I get drained and pumpy. I won’t give up and continue even when I’m pumped.
I was focussing on the next holds and manage to link 6 movements in a row before I fall out of the route. Daaamnnn, I’m so drained and pumpy. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone to Berdorf to save my energy but it’s so fun!
I think it was a nice final route however a tad morpho. My compliments to the routesetters! For the first time in a long time I felt like giving everything during a competition. The height I have reached makes me end up 3rd and receive a bronze medal. I also received a bottle of beer which I lost in the climbing gym after 10 minutes. Pim ended up 4th just behind me. The rest of the results are viewable on this link.
We’re both satisfied and finally go home. The weekend went pretty fast…See you next time!
The National kickoff for the boulderseason was 2 weeks ago. I can recall boulder 1 like yesterday.
Boulder 2 was planned yesterday, also known as the I love problems event at Rotterdam. A major difference between boulder 1 and 2 was the amount of participants. It’s a nice challenge to compete against more participants!
Fortunately I could arrange a last minute ride from Utrecht to Rotterdam Steeppart. Together with Mirthe van Liere we could tag along from Utrecht and arrived at the venue around noon.
When I signed up I received a nice white shirt with a logo from I love problems. We had plenty of time because we had to wait til 2 PM for the competition to start. While I was exploring around I saw Bart van Raaij, chief routesetter, panicking at times. Kenji Tsujimaru was busy with his topo guide and also Jeroen Bliek, speaker of the event, returned from being away for nearly 2 years.
I ordered a toast at the bar and then spotted myself on the Wall of Fame. That made me smile!
Due to my golfer’s elbow in other words medial epicondylitis I decided to warm up proper. I can’t really call it an injury yet although it’s getting really sensitive. I also felt a sore muscle in my lower back which caused me a lot of trouble to get my right leg up. To sum it up, this wasn’t my day to go all out and send problems.
I like the qualification problems. I don’t know who rated the problems though, however some of the problems were categorized wrong. A few problems were too easy to belong in the hardest category. Those problems are nice (orange nr 87 and black nr 12), and very appreciated to put on my ticklist haha! Well I also ran into hard problems, but thanks to the diversity of all problems, I should label these boulders as a success. With a score of 505 points I managed a 5th place together with Hans Busker and Teun Keusters.
A 5th place was a spot in the finals. 8 men and 8 women were advanced to the finals. Due to many ties in both categories, only 7 persons were allowed to join the finals.
At half past 6 we had to be in the isolation area. After a short briefing by the judges, we could start preparing the problems. 8 minutes of preptime to figure out 4 problems.
The startlist was published and my name was on top of it which means i could start climbing first. The first problem was a traverse to the right. It took me so much effort to get there. My right leg wasn’t cooperating and felt my sore muscle so I had to find another solution. Unfortunately a no go in this problem.
The second problems was pretty tough. It was a mint boulder, starting 1 hand on the side and the other full crimp on a tiny edgy hold. I thought I had to crossover with my right hand and match it with my left hand. I couldn’t manage to get to the zone hold.
Later on chief Bart explained me the sequence of the problem. To get to the zone hold, you should match your right hand, put your right foot up and then reach the side / zone hold with your right hand. The distance between the hold on the module and the side was too far for me. Too bad.
I liked the 3rd boulder problem. The start was funny. From an undercling on a module, you had to put your feet against the wall first and then you’re allowed to go to a nice sidepull. Once I got there, I had to jump to the next hold. Finally after 3 times I managed to get the hold on the module and control my swing. I grabbed the zone and crossover again with left and the end was within my sight. I wanted to put my left foot high under my elbow but slipped away from the zone hold. Again no top, however I earned my first zone.
The final boulder problem was set with red holds. I think the problem was kinda morfo. Tall people had more advantage in this problem. To get the undercling (from a module) above your head wasn’t nice at all, even harder when you’re standing stretched out. In my opinion, the setter should’ve put the left starting hold higher. It wouldn’t change anything in the problem itself. Another no go!
I was clearly not having my day / moment. I ended up 7th though during this boulder event. Check the rest of the results here. More photos (125 photos) are available on my Facebook.
I don’t know if I can look back positive on this competition despite my 7th place. The competition contained many problems and it was well organised. I think it’s wise to recover from my golfer’s elbow first. This means less bouldering for me and focussing more on rope climbing. See you next time at Lead 2!
The National kickoff for the boulderseason was 2 weeks ago. I can recall boulder 1 like yesterday.
Boulder 2 was planned yesterday, also known as the I love problems event at Rotterdam. A major difference between boulder 1 and 2 was the amount of participants. It’s a nice challenge to compete against more participants!
Fortunately I could arrange a last minute ride from Utrecht to Rotterdam Steeppart. Together with Mirthe van Liere we could tag along from Utrecht and arrived at the venue around noon.
When I signed up I received a nice white shirt with a logo from I love problems. We had plenty of time because we had to wait til 2 PM for the competition to start. While I was exploring around I saw Bart van Raaij, chief routesetter, panicking at times. Kenji Tsujimaru was busy with his topo guide and also Jeroen Bliek, speaker of the event, returned from being away for nearly 2 years.
I ordered a toast at the bar and then spotted myself on the Wall of Fame. That made me smile!
Due to my golfer’s elbow in other words medial epicondylitis I decided to warm up proper. I can’t really call it an injury yet although it’s getting really sensitive. I also felt a sore muscle in my lower back which caused me a lot of trouble to get my right leg up. To sum it up, this wasn’t my day to go all out and send problems.
I like the qualification problems. I don’t know who rated the problems though, however some of the problems were categorized wrong. A few problems were too easy to belong in the hardest category. Those problems are nice (orange nr 87 and black nr 12), and very appreciated to put on my ticklist haha! Well I also ran into hard problems, but thanks to the diversity of all problems, I should label these boulders as a success. With a score of 505 points I managed a 5th place together with Hans Busker and Teun Keusters.
A 5th place was a spot in the finals. 8 men and 8 women were advanced to the finals. Due to many ties in both categories, only 7 persons were allowed to join the finals.
At half past 6 we had to be in the isolation area. After a short briefing by the judges, we could start preparing the problems. 8 minutes of preptime to figure out 4 problems.
The startlist was published and my name was on top of it which means i could start climbing first. The first problem was a traverse to the right. It took me so much effort to get there. My right leg wasn’t cooperating and felt my sore muscle so I had to find another solution. Unfortunately a no go in this problem.
The second problems was pretty tough. It was a mint boulder, starting 1 hand on the side and the other full crimp on a tiny edgy hold. I thought I had to crossover with my right hand and match it with my left hand. I couldn’t manage to get to the zone hold.
Later on chief Bart explained me the sequence of the problem. To get to the zone hold, you should match your right hand, put your right foot up and then reach the side / zone hold with your right hand. The distance between the hold on the module and the side was too far for me. Too bad.
I liked the 3rd boulder problem. The start was funny. From an undercling on a module, you had to put your feet against the wall first and then you’re allowed to go to a nice sidepull. Once I got there, I had to jump to the next hold. Finally after 3 times I managed to get the hold on the module and control my swing. I grabbed the zone and crossover again with left and the end was within my sight. I wanted to put my left foot high under my elbow but slipped away from the zone hold. Again no top, however I earned my first zone.
The final boulder problem was set with red holds. I think the problem was kinda morfo. Tall people had more advantage in this problem. To get the undercling (from a module) above your head wasn’t nice at all, even harder when you’re standing stretched out. In my opinion, the setter should’ve put the left starting hold higher. It wouldn’t change anything in the problem itself. Another no go!
I wasn’t clearly having my day / moment. I ended up 7th though during this boulder event. Check the rest of the results here. More photos (125 photos) are available on my Facebook.
I don’t know if I can look back positive on this competition despite my 7th place. The competition contained many problems and it was well organised. I think it’s wise to recover from my golfer’s elbow first. This means less bouldering for me and focussing more on rope climbing. See you next time at Lead 2!
I have so many video footage, I’m trying to manage it though. Today I’ll spoil you with some Upload videos.
As you know a while ago Upload package #7 has been delivered at Bussum Rocksteady. Rocksteady Bussum seems to be the place to shoot some action!
On the delivery day I managed to be at the venue as well. I brought some company with me, team member Vera Zijlstra and Mirthe van Liere. When we arrived at the climbing gym, we just missed the setters. Talking about a good timing ha!
Anyway, we brought 2 crashpads with us. I brought a few pieces of my new Moon collection with me: green hoody, organic shirt + trousers. I have to admit that it feels really comfy. Luckily the weather was really good, which made me happy.
We started to check out the women’s problems. 3 nice problems. In my opinion I like female problem #3 the most which is set by Joppe and located in the back of the garden.
And after the women’s problems I also checked out the men’s problems. It’s suppose to be a hard package and the setters succeeded in delivering a hard package. I returned once to this climbing gym to climb the first men’s problem, which is actually the easiest problem of all 3. I like the second boulder problem as well, it has a nice swing to it.
You’re missing boulder problem #3. Unfortunately I haven’t send the final boulder problem yet. It’s set in the roof, the first time I was kind of de-motivated when I tried it. The second time when I returned at Bussum, I figured it isn’t really my style of climbing. It’s not an excuse though.
Well, that’s it for now. It was nice to climb at different locations. I’ll send the videos to the Upload webpage soon to collect some more points. Check out the rest of my videos in my previous posts or click here.
Yesterday I went to bed before 11 PM because I was super tired from last Thursday.
Usually I have team training on Thursday and this time I joined the power training as well. Well, that didn’t work out pretty well to me, Friday up till now I have sore muscles everywhere, mostly in my upper legs and triceps. I needed to rest well for the kickoff of this boulder competition which is held at Bussum.
On my way to Bussum I ran into Alexander Ledovskikh. He was kind of frustrated though, because he just lost his phone.
During our trip, I managed to eat a bunch of crackers and drank lots of water to prevent cramps in my muscles.
When I finally arrived at the climbing gym, the weather seemed to change. I had my doubts about the weather when I left home however now it was just a bit cloudy and dry! After signing up, I received a topo guide and explored the boulder garden.
To be honest, I don’t experience this event as a boulder competition but instead I experience it as a training on a different location. Coach Wally, Capsle, Tim, Vera and I manage to get here all together. It’s nice that we have so many problems today. There is no need to make up boulder problems for each other, which means we can have a boulder simulation again. This time among friends.
Despite my sore legs and arms, I held my head high during the qualifications. The problems were really nice and I scored 468 points which was enough to advance to the finals.
My team members and Jesse as an exception ended all on the first place. Hopefully they won’t end up ex equo again in the finals.
Anyway, time to rest and wait until the finals can start…
I was bored during the isolation, so I shot some snapshots.
After the finals were ready, we started climbing at 5 o’clock. We had 8 minutes to prepare 4 boulder problems. 4 minutes time to send each boulder.
The first problem was set in the roof. First some puzzling in the roof on big holds and then getting out of the roof. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the zone hold, because I had to force my heel on this hold below my left hand. My leg was simply too sore to conduct such a movement. Next!
In the isolation area I stretched my legs. It was time to climb the second boulder problem. I figured: Okay I can do this. This problem is set for me. First visualise and take a good look at the holds. Starting holds were kind of reachy, but I managed to start proper. Using a small jump, I was about to put my right heel above my right hand. Bam! My heel hook was right there, but on my finger…Painful, but I need to get going, it was my moment! One minute later I could match the final hold of that boulder problem. Yeah, I flashed it! Next.
Boulder number 3 started really nice. From this huge star volume, crossing over to a really positive hold. And then go to the left to this sidepull and then crossover again. Followed by two pinches and change your feet position. I got stuck here, that huge foothold was just too low, it was hard to get pressure on it. Unfortunately no zone hold for me!
The final boulder problem was set on the elephant. It has a risky start without footholds however I managed to slap onto the second hold on the volume. And then I got my feet up on the volume and stood up. I was surprised the next hold was so close. I matched it and went on to a sloper which I matched again with my left hand. And then there was this far movement to the right side. Hmm bummer, I couldn’t reach the side, but I did score another zone hold!
I’m done describing the boulder problems from the men’s finals. With one Top and a zone hold in my second attempt I ended up 5th.
View the rest of the results here.
Despite my sore muscles I’m glad it went well. This was a nice boulder training to me. By the way, I have 150 photos from this team party! I’ll upload it on my fanpage, click right on my webpage on the ‘Like’ button to view these photos.
See you in 2 weeks at Rotterdam at the next boulder competition.
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