The Castle must have read my reports on previous SIBL and BRYCS rounds that they have hosted because the ridiculous paper chase of consent forms had completely disappeared this time.
We strolled in at about 9:45, left a variety of shabby belongings as collateral for locker keys and began studying the task at hand. I was a little worried to see Zippy still marking up problems at 10 o'clock but the reports from our overexcited team suggested an excellent round in prospect; so I stopped worrying and started searching for the warm spots under the mega-heaters.

Robbie was desperate for judges but, in a fit of brilliance, he hatched a plan that appeared to allow competitors to judge each other without the the risk (or accusation) of cheating. From the point of view of any outsiders there, it was either heart-warming or shocking to see everyone accept a system that was so quickly invented and, the more one considered it, so full of holes.
Anyway it seemed to work and was popular mainly because it was quicker.

Individual performances were generally maintained although there were some notable exceptions:
Callum Harris had a brilliant round shooting into eleventh and leapfrogging four places beyond his usual finishing position.
Joel Charley also managed a good four places above his previous performance.
Tom Gore got very close to the top three in the extremely competitive Male Open category. His eventual fourth place gained him entry into the head-to-head which he proceeded to win in great style.
Lastly, our year eights and nines as a whole continue turn in increasingly impressive results even though they are the 'seven dwarves' (well, all except Dan Shepperson).

Our team performed pretty well but I must say that I was surprised that our highest junior place was only fourth. We have some excellent climbers but I think they lacked something at this round. It was probably a combination of influences but one element of competitive climbing that I see in the those who win SIBL rounds (be they Dane Court or others) is a serious, almost professional, focus on the comp. Planning the day; resisting the social distractions at crucial times and learning quickly from mistakes (their own and others). Think about it team.

Brunel University is next. Good, I get to sit down.

Mr Alderson