UKC

The first round of Manchester Climbing Centre's winter bouldering league will be held this Friday (20th Oct).

Registration will start from 5:00, the competition runs between 6:00 and 9:00 and normal entry prices will apply.

The rounds will be held on:
November 17th
January 19th
February 16th
March 16th.

http://www.manchesterclimbingcentre.com/news.htm

In reply to Jo S: went to one of the comps last winter and thought the problems were quality, might go down on friday, hopefully they'll be as good this time. What did anyone else think about the problems last time?

In reply to Jo S: I take it there are no vets sections?

In reply to Jo S:

There was a mention somewhere of having different categories for harder problems and easier problems, but no mention of it on the website. Is it just one mens category like last year?

In reply to squeek:

from what i remember dunne said a few weeks back is that they'll have a intermediate and elites for the mens as it wasnt fair on those who didnt boulder over v7/8s not to win anything. dunno if its beening put into action tho

In reply to kms:
Will be interesting to see if they altered the juniors section as that wasn't ideal last year either. The younger boys who entered were competing against teenage lads and didn't stand a chance whilst there were only a couple of girls who entered so they won their category by default regardless of their ability.

Not sure if i'll be down myself tonight or not, so far haven't managed to convince any of my mates they'll enjoy it!

In reply to SecretSquirrel:

Can't split the male juniors up too much though, or else you'll just end up with same situation as the girls where there's only a couple in each category. It's not a serious comp, so I don't really see it as a problem, if you're young then you're not going to win, but gives you a chance to see how good the people who are older than you are, and see how you're progressing.

Lets face it for most people you're pretty much not going to win anything it's just something to do to see how well you can flash problems. I pretty much know where I'm going to come just by seeing who else has entered. In the mens category, most months last year, there were 3 members of British bouldering team, so the chances of outperforming one of these was slim. It's not a complaint, it's how it should, be it's a competition. They're better than me so they beat me. The raffle allows people who aren't going to win the comp to win something.

In reply to squeek:
Obviously the best people are going to win, thats the nature of competition.

But an 8yr old boy no matter how talented has a massive disadvantage competing against a 17yr old lad so it seems a little unfair to have them in the same category. To me it would have made more sense to have a mixed junior category then the teens separate - the girls may still have won anyway because they're pretty good, but it would have seemed a more equal competition in terms of physical size/development if nothing else.

In the adult category its different, you might be competing against the UK bouldering team but their advantage is largely the fact that they train a lot rather than the being taller and stronger simply by virtue of their age.

In reply to SecretSquirrel:

I suppose it is unfair, but there was about 10-12 in the boys and 5 in the girls category. I'm guessing that most of the boys are 14-18 so if you had an under 14s you'd basically be giving them a prize for entering. The BRYCS are there for kids to be able to enter a comp that has small age bands to make it physical development less of a problem. I don't think any other competitions would have enough entries at each level to justify it really, especially when they don't know who's turning up beforehand. Although your idea about having mixed categories for 13-17 and under 13 could work well.

You should go even if none of your friends want to, it's something to do, and everyone's been pretty friendly in the rounds I've been to.

In reply to squeek:
I know everyone is friendly there, but I don't think i'm in the right frame of mind today to go on my own and chat to strangers.
Might go down next month.

In reply to SecretSquirrel:

YOu don't have to chat to 'em, just watch folk try the problem, then work out how they did it, or didn't, and just blast up 'em.

In reply to zoobizooretta:
If you're not of a standard to compete with those at the top then you go for a fun social night but its hardly going to be that if I'm on my own all night. I really just don't have the emotional energy to be bubbly and friendly enough to make new friends today, need a few of the old ones who don't mind if i'm a bit quiet or moody ;0)
I can go flash (or not) the problems next week without the hoards there anyway so i'm not missing out on that.

In reply to zoobizooretta: I thinking of going along and coughing all over everyone. I may then be the only entrant next month.

In reply to SecretSquirrel:

aw ok.

I've submitted a photo of the new tango feature they've had fitted for the comp, but it's not up yet... looks like there's some great problems.

In reply to Jo S:
if you didnt go to the one tonight, can you still go to the one in november ?

In reply to Neo366:

Yeah, you can go to any even if you havent been to previous ones. You get an extra 10 points if you go to all the rounds, and you have to go to 5 to be considered for the final prize.

Theres no prizes for winning one round anymore, but a prizes at the end worth 2.5k!

It was a good night, not as busy as last year, and the problems were a little softer (thankfuly!) but with some real crackers still, the lower grades were more technical, and most needed plenty of imagination and footwork. The mods were pretty nifty with a range of pure power ones to evil delicate moves on nasty slopers.

I had fun, but you couldnt see anything upstairs for all the chalk

In reply to LittleJoe:

There are only 5 rounds. You have to enter 4 to qualify for the overall prizes, and an extra 10 points if you enter all 5.

Regarding the upstairs, if anyone from the wall is reading this, would it be much trouble to install an extractor fan up there? Or a window that opens more? It got really hot up there quickly, and it makes the slopey problems twice as hard because they're really greasy.

The problems were very good, and the difficulty level was about right I thought. Hard enough so that they all didn't get flashed, most got done, and there wasn't a huge jump between the different categories.

In reply to Jo S:

a bonus hold should be included too. there were times when i got near to the last hold and fell off so ending up dropping points. but would it really be fair for someone else who fell off the starting moves of same problem to be placed higher in the rankings than me cos he got the same amount of points?

tho the comp's good fun with an intense 3hr bout of training, it has not been orgainised well in other areas like the points scoring and age cats.

In reply to squeek:

i was guessing

In reply to kms:


I reckon anyone who couldn't do the starting moves on problems you could get to the last move on, wouldn't do the problems you only just did. Plus think how many points you'll get when you're a month stronger and finishing all those problems off

Another question to anyone from the MCC: Will the prizes at the end of the series go past the top 3? I think giving bigger prizes (and to hopefully more people) at the end of the series is a better idea. Giving a pair of shoes to the winner, who gets free shoes anyway, each month isn't ideal.

In reply to squeek:
>> The problems were very good, and the difficulty level was about right I thought. Hard enough so that they all didn't get flashed, most got done, and there wasn't a huge jump between the different categories.

Did a few of the problems over the weekend and thought they were good. In comparison to last year there seemed to be more that required thought and agility to crack the sequence rather than simply relying on power.