GROWL Round 2 Full report
16th Dec 2011
GROWL Round 2
On Saturday 3rd December Rock Over Climbing held the second round of the GROWL! Was a great turnout and with over 100 competitors competing in 10 different categories!
With 42 fantastic problems set by Ian Vickers, Simon Chevis and Tom Lloyd (each category attempting 30) everyone had their work cut out and people were soon getting their teeth stuck in. The infamous ‘Death Star’ once again made an appearance and provided a huge amount of swinging amusement, it was surprisingly easy to use however finishing the problem was a different matter altogether!
The scores across the categories this round were really close with Craig Bailey and Jack Rotherham tying for 1st place in the Male Open with a whole bunch of climbers hot on their heels it was down to the speed final to decide the overall winner for the round.
The top climbers from the open and 11-15 yr old junior categories went through to our speed final to decide the winners of the round. The competitors were allowed to view the route before they each got one attempt at climbing it against the clock. The route meandered across our new steep wall before transferring over onto the comp wall; it started easy and then increased in difficulty to a super hard move right at the very end. Despite some valliant attempts, particularly Yin (who seemed to forget the idea was speed!) nobody managed to complete the route and so the winners were decided on time:
Male Open – Jack Rotherham
Female Open – Jen Wood
Male 11-15 – Connor Byrne
Female 11-15 – Ellissa Bryant
Full results and league scores can be found on our website:
http://www.rockoverclimbing.co.uk/news/growl-round-2-scores/
We also have 2 cash prize problems at each round, the male and female problem each have a prize pot of £50 to be split between whoever can get up them. Despite the male problem looking super hard, Jack Rotherham quickly dispatched it second go and the money looked safely his right up until the last minute when strong junior Connor Byrne also managed to top the problem leaving them with £25 a piece. The female problem also looked tough however it was no match for Charlotte Garden who walked away with the full £50.
As part of the GROWL we are also holding the BOREAL improvers league with the most improved Adult, Junior and Beginner from each round, winning a pair of BOREAL rock boots.
Adult – Karen Mpetha
Beginner – Luke Donnelly
Junior – Michelle Murray
After the finals had finished it was time to start the Dry Tooling competition, this consisted of 5 routes set by Simon, 2 long boulder traverses which started easy and progressively got harder and harder, and 3 top rope routes. There was a huge variety in the routes with some being long and pumpy whilst others were super technical and tenuous and others were just great fun!
We had a good turnout but we are keen to get more people to have a go, remember it doesn’t matter if you don’t have any kit or if you have never even held an ice axe before, we have the equipment you can use and we can show you how to use it!
There was a wide range of abilities in the Dry Tooling comp from complete beginners, super strong boulderers (who have never used an axe before!), seasoned winter climbers and even one of Britains top winter climbers Andy Turner, all competing and having a laugh alongside each other.
Andy managed to pretty casually flash all five of the routes and so at the end of the comp it all came down to latecomer Ben Humphris. Ben had managed to flash 4 out of the 5 routes and so the pressure was on as he started the last long boulder traverse, despite some incredibly sketchy moments on the final tenuous moves he managed to pull it out of the bag and got the flash making it a joint 1st place.
The next round of the GROWL is being held on Saturday 7th January and we guarantee that it will be even better than before with fantastic routes and prizes and a great fun atmosphere!
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! J
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