GB Team Assessment Weekend – Day 1
On Friday evening my family and I travelled up to Leeds for my GB team assessment weekend. We stayed overnight in the Premier Inn and had a meal there when we arrived.
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Route 1 |
I warmed up as soon as the briefing was over and decided to climb the easiest pink first. I read it well before I started. I got half way and had a bit of trouble reaching a hold but I managed it even though I was pumped at the top.
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Route 2 |
I had an hour rest and I spent the time reading my next route the Orange 7b. It looked as hard as the pink but it was a different style. The style was better for me because I am good at holding crimps and not so good at long routes with pinches. I started watching all the other climbers try this route so that I could get beta from them. It really helped watching Hamish and Alex. I spent about 15 min warming up and putting my kit on. Just before I started the climb I felt nervous because I really wanted to get at least two tops and I thought this was my best chance.
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Route 3 |
I had an hour break and read the yellow 7b+ route. I was a little bit nervous about all the slug holds on the climb because I am not very good at holding them. Once I finished reading the route I went outside to do my running warm up. Once I had finished my warm up inside I got ready to climb the route. I was unsure that this climb was going to suit me and hesitant to start. I finally got on the route and the start was a bit awkward but I did it OK. I got to the fourth clip and then jumped for a slug and fell.
I was annoyed and upset because I fell off and I thought I would at least get half way up the climb. I spoke to John and he helped me read the harder pink route. I was happier after speaking to John and I went out with my family for lunch.
We went to the Dragon Hotel and we were surprised to find that they had a hog roast in the beer garden. I had a pork roll with stuffing which was delicious.
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Route 4 |
As soon as we got back to the centre I started warming up and reading the next route. This was the Pink 7b+. Reading it with John helped me work out the sequence but I still hated it as it was not my kind of route because it had too many pinches. The climb didn’t go very well because I couldn’t hold the pinches so I couldn’t clip easily. It took a long time to get a proper grip on the holds which made me pumped. I clipped the 7th clip and fell off because I was too pumped. I was disappointed when I fell off, but not as disappointed as I was when I failed the yellow.
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Route 5 |
Before attempting my last climb I had another hours break. I had a chat with Sue and she helped me focus on my next climb. I did my usual warm up and when I read the route it felt as though it would suit me because it was crimpy like the other orange. When I started the climb I felt ok although it had a lot of awkward clipping positions. I got the big sloper and I tried to reach around the corner but I could not reach the hold. I tried a couple of times but got too pumped and fell off.
Overall I felt pleased with my 2 tops, but I was really disappointed with my performance on the other 3 climbs because I didn’t feel that I had focussed my training enough on those type of moves.
After this climb we went to a pub that my dad used to go to when he was a student in Leeds. We then met up with the team later for a meal. I sat on a table with Kirsten, Caitlin and Abi.