Report By Russ Bates The day began oddly late for a climbing comp, which was nice. 2 thirds of the team (Russ, Tom, Joe and Phil) left school at 9 am under the driving of Phil Gore and Mr A who was the team leader kind of guy. The journey seemed to go pretty quick and we soon arrived at mile end. Already there was a large number of climbers there considering the time and noticing the likes of Jemma Powell, Sam Whittaker, Malcolm Smith and Ben Moon arriving we couldn't quite work out what we had got ourselves in for. We also saw all the other teams that would be in our category all these contained strong climbers and would provide great competition. After registration we went in to the climbing wall about half an hour after arriving and we quickly began to realise we were in for a great comp. Mile End had turned from pasts its sell by date climbing centre to an arena fit for a competition of national standard. Some of the coolest features were the overhanging board from enterprise and DJ decks with giant speakers. I also noticed that all the holds except those for use in the comp routes had been removed which is a good sign of a serious competition. As our team studied the routes we notice a distinct lack of easy problems, which makes a change. We were soon climbing up some of the easier routes, which were still hard, but we all completed well. We then began to try some of the problems which would prove challenging. Whilst doing this Matt went off to get a drink and when he came back he desperately tried to convince the team he had just been talking to his "friend" Mr Moon. The routes were truly amazing and definitely some of the best I have ever climbed on. The atmosphere of the competition was also great it felt really good to be able to talk about routes, climb along side and get spotted by some of the best of the British climbers. The team continued to climb well together through out the day and about an hour before the comp ended we began to realise that if we kept climbing well we would be in with a good chance at first place. In our view there was a final problem that we would have a chance of doing. It was a tricky slab problem that relied on tiny wall bolts for foot holds on its upper sections. The pressure was on but all members completed the route first time. The last hour was a desperate scramble for points, we all split up and managed to scrape together all we could and handed our cards in. After a while we met up with Phil who had been climbing as an individual he had climbed well all day even with being sick as he was. We then had to wait another hour until all the totals had been added up. We all gathered in the main wall where we listened to Chris Cubbit (annoying microphone guy) on the tannoy system and ate Ben moon (nicest guy ever) chips. When Chris read out the scores we were all pleased to have picked up first place in the junior team category the Team went up to collect our prize (new pair of climbing shoes each) and get applauded. At this point Matt's excitement overcame him and he tried to do a sexual dance to Chris but was quickly restrained by Joe. We watched the rest of the prize giving and unsurprisingly watched Malcolm Smith collect his £500 prize money. We all agreed that this was the best comp we had entered and hope it happens again. So Westway team your shirts may be cool shame about the climbing better luck next year. Russ

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