A strong British team consisting of Gaz Parry, Dave Barrans, Mark Croxall, Roddy Mackenzie, Diane Merrick and me arrived at Brno on Thursday to climb in the last World Cup of the 2007 season.
Friday morning Diane and I were up early to support the boys. Dave crushed the qualifiers, easily getting through to the semi-finals in 4th place! Mark also qualified in 19th and the luck of the Parry came through with Gaz getting the last spot in the semis in 20th place. Roddy was so close finishing in 21st, literally only inches from getting through. All very exciting.
A bit of a rest in the hotel and then it was our turn to go into isolation. My goal for this competition was to qualify for the semis and I felt confident that I could do this. The first problem was a dyno and although I kept hitting the handhold I was unable to hang on though it wasn't for lack of trying. The second problem was much harder- only a few of the girls managed it. It involved a strong move of a horrible slopey hold with an awkward foot. Although I reached the bonus hold on my first go I wasn't able to get any further. Four more blocs to go and I knew that I could still do it. The third bloc looked like it was more my style and although I climbed it well I never managed to latch the penultimate hold well enough to top it out. As I sat back down my lower back started to seize up and I tried to stretch it out but it only got worse. The fourth bloc involved a big lock with a high left foot and I just couldn't get the body position to do it properly and had to keep trying to jump for the next handhold. At this stage my back was really hurting and I was no longer able to land properly or even reach down to chalk my hands up. At the end of my turn I spent most of the next six minutes of rest on my back trying to stretch it out. On the fifth problem I reached the bonus hold again but my back was getting worse. Knowing that I would be unable to climb the last problem I handed my scorecard in early and called for the doctor. Gutted. I haven't had to pull out of a climbing competition yet, but there didn't seem to be any point in trying the last problem.
Diane looked very strong in her first international competition, but didn't make it through either. This will hopefully have been a good experience for her and I think that she'll be back with a vengeance in 2008!
On Saturday my back improved and I watched the boys climb in the semis. Dave and Gaz finished 8th and 9th respectively. Both came agonisingly close to getting into the final, but didn't make the cut-off. Mark didn't have a good set and was probably disappointed with his 19th place finish.
When it was all over we could look forward to the infamous post-comp party. Unfortunately we couldn't get into the club that was supposedly booked with the Dutch and Austrian teams we moved on to another club to be joined later by the French, Russians and Ukranians. A good time was had by all until the early hours of the next day! I'm not sure if it was the alcohol or resting that day but my back was feeling loads better and I hit the dance floor. That cheered me up considerably because it means that I'll be able to start my 2008 training this week- yippee!
The next morning after a few hours sleep and a fortifying Czech breakfast we went into town with our local guide, Helena Lipenska and visited some dungeons and had a good snowball fight. I learned that the best way to nail someone with snow is to wait until they are underneath a tree branch full of snow and to lob a snowball into the tree. Works a treat. The snow kept falling and I was now worried that i wouldn't be able to get home tonight, but Brno knows how to deal with snow and our flight left with no delays.
I'll be putting some pictures and video from the comp on the site this week. For now I just want to unpack and go to bed!
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