Saturday, August 24, 2013

Competing for the first time

I recently decided to join Young, Wild & Free (YW&F) Season 2, a novice climbing competition organized by the Sports Climbing Association of the Philippines (SCAPI).

My friends at Sandugo were keen on bugging me to join and I kept saying that didn't want to because I didn't feel ready for it (It was announced a week before it was scheduled). They said that I didn't have to win; that it's just for the sake of experience. Someone even offered to sponsor my registration it but I still declined. However, after a week of guilt-tripping, getting a go-signal from my dad and after telling myself that all I had to do was qualify for the finals, I decided to go for it on August 16... just a day before the comp. 


The back side of the comp shirt
Photo grabbed from YW&F's Facebook

On that same day, I tried to practice some moves I didn't like doing. You know, to at least prepare myself. It was supposed to be a mild climbing day for me but I ended up with a painful right shoulder from locking it off repeatedly. Well, that's what I get for cramming. Fortunately, it wasn't as painful the next morning. Hallelujah! 

The Rules

After 3 jeepney rides, I arrived in Power Up Tandang Sora (TS) and nervously registered myself. The participants were then briefed on the comp format and rules. I don't remember everything the organizers said but here are some of the main points: 
  1. We had to finish 3 routes for the elimination round. We can rest for 2 minutes before proceeding to the next route;
  2. The holds were marked with either black or white tape shaped like a box. These are the only ones the participants can use;
  3. Only the top ten scorers for each category (men and women's) will proceed to the finals round;
  4. Finalists will be put in an isolation room while the final route is being set up. Though there will be a 5-minute (?) mass viewing of the route;
  5. The climber to reach the highest hold will be declared the winner. However, if at least two climbers have the same last hold, the one with the shorter time will rank higher. (It was mentioned that these are based on the IFSC rules)
Stretching during the briefing because I didn't get to warm up. Haha
Photo grabbed from YW&F's Facebook


The Elimination Round

Elimination routes: women's in white tape, men's in black
There were nine participants for the women's category but was then later cut down to eight when they realized that Alexis wasn't a girl (and was actually Daboy, my teammate from Sandugo). Since we were less than ten, all of the girls automatically qualify for the finals. Of course I had to adjust my goal for the comp accordingly   I figured that I had to at least complete the three routes.

To my surprise, I finished the three! Woooh! Achievement!



Of course Daboy also finished all routes, seemingly without effort. Just look at him climb! I didn't get to video the full elimination routes though. And no one took a video of mine because Dennis   who won last year's comp   was late. :(


The Finals

After the eliminations, the finalists were asked to stay in the isolation room and were eventually called out for the mass viewing. I'm not yet good at reading routes and the least I could do was to figure out the starting sequence. But I panicked when I saw that there was an area where the holds were too far apart (it's either you smear or do a high step) and that there a roof involved because 1) it's no secret that I don't like smearing or high steps and 2) I haven't passed through the roof in Market Market for a week or two (Because I'm a slacker. Ugh). We went back to the isolation room and after a few minutes, they started calling people one by one for the finals. The next thing I knew, it was my turn.

So I started climbing, err, traversing. I like traversing! My usual warm up involves 15-30 minutes of traversing. That's probably why I didn't have much trouble there.


But then, there was the high step.

Photo from Dennis Cinatas

Prior to my position in the picture above, my two feet where on the holds in the lower left. Then I had to move to where my right foot is in the picture. That's the high step part. It's so far! I absolutely have no idea how I was able to pull that off but I'm happy that I did.

After a few moves and some chalking up, I reached the roof:

The roof. Also, please excuse my messy hair. Hahaha
Photo grabbed from YW&F's Facebook

I was still able to grab the next hold but my feet slipped and I ended up swinging while hanging. All of my weight was on my arms and since I can't do full pull-ups yet, the most logical thing to do was to step on something to distribute my weight. But for some reason, my focus was to stop myself from swinging. Apparently, my core isn't strong enough for that yet because I eventually (and involuntarily) let go. I wasn't able to finish it.

The Results

When I got off the belay, people were telling me that I did a good job and were giving me high fives. I smiled and said thanks but deep down I was telling myself that I still had a looooot to work on.

Then Dennis told me that I was the first to have made it that far. And that he thought that I was gonna fall on that high step. HAHAHA

There were still two climbers in the women's category and they both made it to the roof. Only one was able to reach farther and she bagged first place.

I placed second.

With the TS boys
Photo grabbed from YW&F's Facebook

I honestly believe that's not bad for a first timer who didn't even want to join the competition.

I won a 10-day climbing pass at Power Up Tandang Sora, a month-long climbing pass at any Power Up branch of my choice, a shirt (which I have yet to claim), and some moolah. Mabuhey!

My first time to actually win something!

Of course it's just a novice competition. I'm still waaaaaaaaay far behind from the people who compete at the national level. It's a nice experience though; I got to meet new people and although it also serves as a wake-up call to stop slacking off, it gave me the right amount of confidence.

The only thing left for me to do is to climb harder.

Post-comp with Daboy and Dennis. Daboy placed 1st in the men's category!
Photo grabbed from YW&F's Facebook

4 comments:

  1. Hi there, I've been looking for a climbing wall near Makati since I started getting to Manila. Could you provide a bit more information on the wall in Market Market? Like if it's free for anyone to use, if I can rent equipment there and if it's easyto find people to climb with. Thank you, I really miss some climbing training when travelling!

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    1. Hi Francesco! I made a detailed post about the wall in Market Market. You can read it here: http://goo.gl/L9FdXp :) Don't worry, it's easy to find people to climb with... the people there are very friendly. I can introduce you to some of them, if you want. :)

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  2. I don't see why not, thanks:) I'll be in Manila for the following two weeks, would love being showed around! will try to bring at least climbing shoes, drop me a line on g+ if you want to get in touch.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, bring your shoes. The gym at Market Market doesn't charge for the use of harness. Added you on G+ :)

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