British Champion
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This weekend saw the most talented youth climbers gather at the Depot Climbing Centre, Leeds for the British Youth Open Competition. The Opens are a competition that has historically been used as part of the selection process for the youth bouldering and lead GB teams.
I have been coaching Catrin Rose for a few years now and I am delighted to say that she just won the lead climbing championships for Category C!
A few years ago, Catrin was picked out as an enthusiastic climber who wanted to improve. She had been climbing for a few years prior to this and certainly had a flair.
Over the last few years, Catrin has been a member of the Reading Climbing Centre’s Academy team. She has been training with the team twice a week and had a private coaching session once a week. On top of this, Catrin’s hugely supportive parents travel all around the UK every weekend in order to search out a new centre, new routes and new route setters to test her onsighting skills.
She is one of the most dedicated climbers I have ever had the pleasure of coaching and deserves her recent victory more than any other.
I caught up with Catrin after her weekend to hear what she had to say;
Having competed on the Saturday in the bouldering and narrowly missing out of the finals, Catrin felt “quite confident going into Sunday“, knowing that she was “much stronger on routes."
“Although I dropped the second route near the top, I was happy with qualifying in second place and being in the final and isolation, I was surprised by my lack of nerves. After the viewing period, our group was out first, I have to admit I was slightly more nervous when I found that out, but quickly calmed down once I started climbing. I felt I climbed well, but was slightly annoyed with myself that I fell off where I did.” Catrin soon felt a little happier knowing that she had the current high spot and she was guaranteed a podium finish with only one climber left to compete. Catrin was over the moon (in a slightly competitive way) when the last climber fell below Catrin’s high point and was declared the champion!
“The youth open is definitely my best result to date and I am delighted about how the comp went!”
Catrin trains very hard on a weekly basis and we are all incredibly proud that she won this competition!
Now, time for a little rest and on to the next!
