|
 Arriving
half way through a SIBL round felt a little strange. I had been with the
BICC team in Edinburgh on Saturday and we flew down on the first flight
to Stansted on Sunday. This got us to Westway at around lunchtime so things
were well under way. The excitement of yesterday was getting to all of
us and I was beginning to regret planning to attend two big comps on two
consecutive days. Add to this the round-trip distance of more than a thousand
miles and it was was no surprise that we were feeling a little weary.
At first sight the Westway SIBL appeared busy but Matt Claydon later told
me that it had the lowest attendance of all six rounds. Those Dane Court
Competitors who had travelled from Thanet told us that the problems were
pretty tough. This was no real surprise as Liam Halsey had set them and
his reputation as a 'hard' climber goes before him.
 The
group who had flown down from Scotland with me seemed to blend in quickly.
They were keen to get climbing and felt they had no time to waste as they
were more than two hours late starting. In fact, as always seems to be
the case, they finished some time before the deadline (which Rob subsequently
moved even later to coincide with the Open and Veterans finish).
There was a fair chance that we would have a climber somewhere in the
top three of one or other category; Tom Gore had a chance of third overall
in the Male Open and Tony Musselbrook was leading by 15 points in the
Junior Male category going into this round.
 Both
Matt Cousins and Joel Charley were in with a chance of making third in
the same category. The rest of our group were enjoying the experience
of trying Liam's climbs and seeing how many items of clothing, posters
and limbs they could get Ben Moon to autograph.
Callum Harris at last got to try on a pair of climbing shoes like the
ones he won last summer (but still hadn't received) and threaten the UK
sales rep with violence if he didn't get his prize soon.
The Year seven trio of Rhys Barnes-Miller, Stephen Charley and Nick Stewart
accumulated a grand total of 43 points between them. Nevertheless, they
were impressed by the Westway, and the friendly atmosphere and now know
what Ben Moon looks like; even if they aren't entirely sure what he's
famous for.
 The
round results were a mixed bag with Tom excelling himself by finishing
second ahead of some very strong opposition.
Tony, despite his frustrating mistakes and feeling tired after the BICC,
finished first by a significant margin and took the league title.
Other League positions were also very pleasing, particularly the Junior
Male Category where six of the top ten places were Dane Court climbers
and Tom's third overall in the Open.
Congratulations to all who took part; you have, as usual, impressed everyone
and not just with your high standard of climbing.
As a group, you are respected as much for your warm, sporting attitude
as you are for your physical achievements. Long may that continue.
Finally; a big thank you to all the parents who have assisted with transport
over the months.
My particular appreciation goes to Mrs Wilks and Mr Cook for taking on
the responsibility for getting the majority of our climbers to this round.
Results | Gallery
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