Xmas Boulder Beats 2015

Out west with E, Tom & Roz for the Barn's pre-xmas Boulder Beats party and comp. The general consensus was the setting was spot on, with a good range of really interesting problems that ran from the sorts of things I could manage to stuff tough enough to challenge the very best. I managed a respectable but not stellar 90, flashing nine out of the first ten problems — I gave up on problem nine after twice stabbing my ribs into a triangular volume trying to reach past an overhang — and working the next couple, although by that point I'd decided to stop counting my points.


It was quiet when we arrived, but by mid-evening the place was really heaving!
Unsurprisingly both Roz and Tom did well, coming first and second in their respective categories. There was a good showing of people from Exeter — always nice to see familiar faces — along with a number of Barn regulars.


Joe, master of all he surveys, standing on the boulder to award the prizes.
The drive back was marked by bad weather most of the way — having sat in the front on the way, I was safely tucked up in the back and shielded from the worst of it — but we arrived home safe and well but late after a fun evening.

Now all I have to do is get a couple of hours sleep and then drag myself out of bed for the parkrun. Something tells me it is not going to be one of my best showings ever...

Ninth parkrun

Up early after far too little sleep to eat something before this morning's run. With the weather positively tropical — the forecast mentioned a high of 16 celcius; positively astonishing for mid-December — I put on my summer gear and headed down to the river where I met a very tinselly M on her way to the start.

The going very soft, especially when we hit the very muddy university playing fields, and going over the bridge on the way back, I suddenly felt just how much this week's bouldering had taken out of me — because, including yesterday's comp, I've climbed or bouldered six days out of the last seven.

In the end I managed a time of 21:10 — definitely on the slow side — putting me 16th over all and 5th in my age category. Not great, but acceptable under the circumstances.