Four.Zero.Five Bouldering Series - DONE
We had our final bouldering competition for the Four Zero Five Bouldering Series on Saturday, April 10th. This was the fourth event in a period of about 6 weeks. Overall it was a good series; participation was good, people had fun, I received positive feedback on all the routes. At the same time it was a challenge like none other. I'm sure I'll think twice before arranging so many back-to-back competitions in a row next time. Not to mention the fact that our sport climbing competition is in two weeks!
I've been in a routesetting frenzy and it's really tested both my creativity and setting endurance. It can be tough to come up with unique and challenging problems one after the other. Not only that, but my goal was to always set a little better with each competition. I like to surprise people, keep them on their toes - and make them wonder - at some point, if they can even conceive of doing the problem.
The finals problems, particularly the most difficult ones, were in such a category. In the end among the top 12 places (4 categories, 1st, 2nd, 3rd places) we had only one tie - and that was a third place tie in the Female Open category. So overall the problems were just enough to divide up the field without resulting in a super finals. The other cool thing is that few of the more difficult problems received onsights - meaning that had to be worked 2 or more times in order to get them.
The other reason I had for wanting to hold a bouldering series in gym was to experiment with HOW we would host a larger bouldering event. Our gym, because we are housed in grain silos, is setup very different from most gyms, so I was interested to see if it would be possible to have a successful event. The answer to that question, I now know is, yes. The good thing about a bouldering event in our gym is the ability to spread the crowd out so not all the problems are in one area.
However, I think before we host a more substantial event it would be nice to have an additional bouldering room (which I hope to work on later this year).
With the bouldering series in the can it is time to really get focused on our Super Rock Sport Climbing Competition. I finalized the main t-shirt design today and hope to get it to the screenprinters tonight.
More on routesetting for the sport climbing event on April 24 later...
I've been in a routesetting frenzy and it's really tested both my creativity and setting endurance. It can be tough to come up with unique and challenging problems one after the other. Not only that, but my goal was to always set a little better with each competition. I like to surprise people, keep them on their toes - and make them wonder - at some point, if they can even conceive of doing the problem.
The finals problems, particularly the most difficult ones, were in such a category. In the end among the top 12 places (4 categories, 1st, 2nd, 3rd places) we had only one tie - and that was a third place tie in the Female Open category. So overall the problems were just enough to divide up the field without resulting in a super finals. The other cool thing is that few of the more difficult problems received onsights - meaning that had to be worked 2 or more times in order to get them.
The other reason I had for wanting to hold a bouldering series in gym was to experiment with HOW we would host a larger bouldering event. Our gym, because we are housed in grain silos, is setup very different from most gyms, so I was interested to see if it would be possible to have a successful event. The answer to that question, I now know is, yes. The good thing about a bouldering event in our gym is the ability to spread the crowd out so not all the problems are in one area.
However, I think before we host a more substantial event it would be nice to have an additional bouldering room (which I hope to work on later this year).
With the bouldering series in the can it is time to really get focused on our Super Rock Sport Climbing Competition. I finalized the main t-shirt design today and hope to get it to the screenprinters tonight.
More on routesetting for the sport climbing event on April 24 later...
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