UKC

The Foundry Bouldering Open 2014

© Paul Bennett

Stu Littlefair crushing in the final  © Paul Bennett
Stu Littlefair crushing in the final
© Paul Bennett

On February the 8th, The Foundry climbing wall in Sheffield held it's first all-day bouldering competition in some years.

There was a very healthy turnout, with many competitors committing to entering the competition before seeing the poor forecast for the day, encouraging even the most die-hard anti-competitor to The Foundry's doors.

The competition was won by Shauna Coxsey, Martin Smith, Gracie Martin (Youth) and Jack Ainscough (Youth).

By 11 o'clock the climbing was well underway with close to 100 competitors jostling to try and top each of the qualifying problems and secure a place in the final. The 25 qualification problems were set by Percy Bishton and Rob Napier and included some very 'competition' style problems designed to test every aspect of the competitor's skills. 

You can watch a video of the competition from Slackjaw below:

The top 6 men and women qualified for the 'flash final' and luckily there were no ties with the finalists being:

Men: Thom Arnold, Nathan Phillips, Cailean Harker, Ethan Walker, Martin Smith and Ben Moon. Despite qualifying in 5th place, Ben got bad muscle cramps and dropped out of the competition with Stu Littlefair taking his place.

Women: Shauna Coxsey, Michaela Tracy, Diane Merrick, Katie Maxwell, Gracie Martin and Ella Russel.

The Final problems were set by Rob, Percy and Ned Feehally and the contestents were allowed 2 minutes per problem to try and work out how they would clmb them. They were then taken into isolation before competing, with each contestent being allowed 4 minutes per problem, in accordance with World Cup rules.

First up was the women's final, where the top 3 spots were fiercely competed for by Shauna, Diane and Michaela, but Shauna managed to take an impressive win, falling just once on problem 4. The women's results were as follows:

1st: Shauna Coxsey

2nd: Michaela Tracy

3rd: Diane Merrick

4th: Ella Russell

5th: Gracie Martin (also 1st Junior)

6th: Katie Maxwell

Shauna Coxsey on Womens problem 1  © Paul Bennett
Shauna Coxsey on Womens problem 1
© Paul Bennett

Lastly, it was the men's final during which, Ethan Walker and Martin Smith battled it out for 1st place. However, after flashing the three problems on The Wave, Martin Smith just pipped Ethan to 1st place. The men's results were:

1st: Martin Smith

2nd: Ethan Walker

3rd: Stu Littlefair

4th: Nathan Phillips

5th: Thom Arnold

6th: Cailean Harker

Despite the problems being set with only the seniors in mind, the Youth competitors put in some very impressive performances with the Youth Male results as follows:

1st: 201/250 points, Jack Ainscough (18th overall male)

2nd: 177 points, Finn Halton (20th overall male)

3rd: 170 points, Jermaine Thompson (25th overall male)

The Youth Female results were, if anything more impressive:

1st: 151 points, Gracie Martin (Gracie qualified 5th female putting her through to the senior finals)

2nd: 134 points, Izzie Hough (7th overall female)

3rd: 107 points, Erin Moore (9th overall female)

photo
The crowd cheering on the finalists
© Paul Bennett

To read a more detailed account of the competition head to the Foundry Website. Keith Sharples has also written a blog post on the competition HERE

The Foundry Bouldering Open was sponsored by: Axis, BleauStone, CragX, Lapis, Mammut, Moon, Steepedge and The Clinic


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Ethan Walker is a Peak District based climber with a whole host of hard ascents to his name, highlights including Kaabah 8c+, Meshuga E9 6c and Belly of the Beast V14.

Ethan's Athlete Page 18 posts 4 videos



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