UKC

The sixth round of the IFSC Lead World Cup in Wujiang, China took place last weekend (17th/18th October). Korea's Jain Kim continued her winning form to take Gold, and Adam Ondra of the Czech Republic won his first event of the 2015 series.

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In reply to UKC News:

So anyone know if the video is or will be available? I seem to recall the IFSC saying there wouldn't be live coverage but the video would be up shortly after the event. But I can't find them anywhere.

In reply to stp: I sent IFSC a message on their site asking when the videos would be up. Three days later and still no response or videos.
Also no IFSC video of the IFSC paraclimbing from Awesome Walls Sheffield, or of the BLCC from the same place on the same day, from the BMC.
These organisers don't seem to realise that many people are interested in watching elite climbers perform. Advertisers/sponsors are not going to be too impressed if they don't get the coverage they expected and may start to look for more effective uses for their budgets.

In reply to johncook:

This just looks unprofessional: providing facilities to allow streaming video should be a condition of hosting the event. Why don't they understand that people who have watched all the earlier rounds are going to want to see the last couple of rounds? It's like the Rugby World Cup deciding they aren't going to televise the semi finals.

In reply to stp:

It is virtually impossible to stream from China unless you have mega clout. The Great Firewall of China means that anything streamed from there is checked to ensure nothing 'bad' gets out. The IFSC are not the IOC or FIFA hence we cannot effectively stream. So the decision was made to record and then upload once the TV crew are back somewhere that allows uploading at a decent speed.

So the comp ended in China on Sunday, chances are the guys didn't make it back to home base (Solihull) until yesterday at the earliest, maybe even today. And then the guys have to upload the data files, this takes a few hours as they are massive. And of course they have to recover from jet lag and traveling for 20+ hours.

And all this is so that the IFSC can provide a free-to-view service

In reply to Graeme Alderson: Why have the comp in China in that case. There are a lot of other countries that do allow streaming that don't have these comps, including the UK and Australia. The other Asian countries are also good, use them more if it is needed to attract Asian audiences.

In reply to johncook: There is now a 5 min video of the BLCC and IFSC paraclimb from Awesome in Sheffield available on the BMC TV page. A poor effort from a two day competition.

In reply to johncook:


Exactly: there's already been two rounds in China this year.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Cheers Graham. The final is up now but no semis from what I can see.

Not sure about the decision not to stream though. I know previous streamed events from China have ended up being of dubious quality with occasional freezes though maybe poor quality is better than no stream at all? I thought the vid would be uploaded slowly from China rather than waiting till the crew got back to Britain.


Well a good effort no doubt, though I do remember that one guy managed to film, stream live and narrate the whole coverage of the British Bouldering comps for free using nothing more than his smart phone. So its not that difficult or expensive with the current technology. And of course its Youtube (Google) that are providing the free-to-view service :^)

In reply to johncook:


I've asked Graham just this question, particularly in regard to the fact that the UK doesn't host Lead or Bouldering WCs. Apparently its down to money. The country in question has to pay to host the event which, with prize money, turns out to be too expensive for poorer countries (like us). If China didn't host it would mean we'd be able to since we're still a poor country that couldn't afford to do so. So unless other countries step forward if not China then there would be one less round in the series.

I know they are trying to get the Climbing Works CWIF bouldering event counted as a WC which would be great since a lot more top competitors would enter then.

But I think the filming/streaming of these events is important, particularly if they're hosted in far off places like China. Many ordinary climbers already feel quite alienated by competitions and if there's no footage then there is very little connection between what the competitors do and the rest of the climbing community. They'd be operating in an isolated ghetto divorced from everyone else. This is probably partly why so many British climbers are disinterested in comps. We just haven't hosted very many so we have very little connection with them.

Compared to the costs of setting up one of these events the cost of filming and putting on Youtube is a small drop in the ocean of cash needed. Yet this is the most vital step for most climbers.

In reply to UKC News:

Good to see Ondra win though not the best comp. The wall looked a bit short possibly.

What happened to Minoru Nakano's score. He climbed a lot higher than several others yet placed last. I assume he was disqualifed for something but what did he do? Had he been placed where he climbed to then Supper would have got a lower score that would have perhaps put Ondra in the overall lead now?

The bottleneck on the women's was a shame. Bad route setting or just bad luck? Looked like Kim Jain was the only one to match on the fatal hold and maybe that's why she got past that move. Or maybe she was just stronger.

The commentary, if you can call it that, was the worst ever. The last Chinese commentator I thought was pretty good, seemed more knowledgable.

Kranj will be particularly exciting with any of the top five men possibly taking the overall.

In reply to stp:

Minoru stepped on a bolt low down (10th move?). If you rewind the footage and watch him you'll see his foot move off a hold, slide up the wall and then 'find' a bolt accidentally, which he then uses to finish the move...
I bet he's gutted!

In reply to innes:

Thanks. Hadn't spotted that. Definitely a real shame for him though.