Bahrain Speed Climbing Exhibition

So a few days after the European Cup I received an email inviting me to demonstrate speed climbing with multiple world cup winner Edyta Ropek and her coach Arkadiusz Kaminski. Unfortunately I'd been quite stupid and let my passport expire so I phoned up the passport office and after a rather boring day in Peterborough I got it sorted and within a couple days was on a flight to Bahrain!
I spent the first day relaxing and just having a look around the shopping shopping centres there, which are some of the biggest ones I have ever seen. After a look around I went back to the hotel, had a session in the gym then headed outside to the climbing wall which was being built outside the hotel.

A view of the wall

Eventually the wall was finished being built and the holds put up, in the end it was decided not to put the official speed route up as the whole idea was to get people to come and have a go and we realised it might actually be too hard for most people as most the country had never experienced climbing before.

The first evening went by quite quickly, a fair few people showed up to the event and quite a lot of newspaper reporters as well. It was all a bit of a shock to the system being asked for so many interviews, photographs, etc. By the last day I was even asked for my autograph which was just mental! Unfortunately Edyta was still recovering from an operation so she didn't really manage much climbing. Because of this I had the honour of doing most the demonstrations which was quite exciting, as it was just a very easy route I managed to zoom up the wall quite fast leaving the crowd quite excited and wanting to have a go themselves. Eventually one man showed up who wanted a go, and he was quite good and got up the wall with ease. I spoke to him afterwards and found out his name - Omar Summar. And as it turns out he was the 2006 UK BeatBox Champion, so after the band had finished we got him to do a demonstration and honestly it was amazing. Everyone around just stopped what they where doing to watch him, you can see a short video of his performance on Edyta's Youtube Page. 

The next day I went to Martin and Sylvia's (The people behind Sportique88 which has ran the season of sport in Bahrain) home to have lunch and a swim in the pool. During lunch we spoke of different opportunities for climbing in Bahrain which will hopefully take off as a popular sport in the country. That evening we went back to the wall, set up and started letting people have a climb. We were shocked, after the first evenings news reports had gone up a lot more people showed up and were very excited to have a go. By the end we were shattered! But I was pleased to see people I recongnised form the first evening showing up again hoping to have another go, there was definitely a lot on young people who were very keen and had more attempts than I could recall! Afterwards we went back to the hotel and all had a drink together when suddenly we saw a newspaper which just so happened to have me on the front cover!

Me on the front cover of a local newspaper

The next day was a very special day as it was also the last day of the exhibition, we got up early and went on a culture tour which had been organised for us. It started off by visiting a museum which also had an old fort which you could walk around and see, unfortunately as soon as we stepped outside to see the fort I realised it was just too hot for me so I went back to sit in the air conditioned museum while the others had a look around. Next we had a look around a shop selling handcrafted gifts, it was a short but interesting place. Finally we went to see the Grand Mosque, it was a huge and magnificent building. Even the doors where marvelous, reaching heights of up to 20ft and weighing around 1 and a half tones! 

Arkadiusz, Myself, Edyta and my Mum at the Museum

A photo of part of the main prayer hall

We returned to the hotel had lunch and where then picked up by Martin who had a special treat in store for us. He ran the Bahrain International Circuit for many years and was going to take us for a tour around the place. Once we arrived he drove us round the track in his car and then even let us all have a drive too! It was an amazing experience and I still can't believe we where allowed to do it! I guess it pays to know the right people!

Me driving on the Bahrain International Circuit

Finally we finished driving on the track and headed back to the hotel for a short rest before starting the final exhibition. It started off as usual, we set up gave a few demonstrations then let people start climbing! It was so exciting yet again, I saw many familiar faces, took photos, a few interviews and signed my first autograph! Part way through we were stopped so some certificates could be handed out for people from other events of the season of sport and then finally we were given ours, it was an honour to meet the Minister of Culture who was awarding the certificates. He seemed very interested in climbing and quite keen on the possibility of having a climbing center in Bahrain and holding the event again in the future! I'm very excited about the possibility of this and even more so to be part of bringing my sport to the country!

Had to pose for lots of photos! This family was very keen on climbing!

The Minister of Culture and Myself

After the event finished we went to the cafe opposite the wall to have some food and a drink, during this we chatted about all the possibilities this event has created and the future of climbing here. So you can look forward to all the exciting things to come of this.

The next day we got on the plane and on arriving at Heathrow said goodbye to Martin, Sylvia and their daughter Chloe who happened to be on the same flight home as us.  And now I'm home and just trying to process everything which has just happened. I can't believe it all and am very excited about the future possibilities that this event has created!

Martin, Myself, Chloe, Sylvie and my Mum after the final exhibiton

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Martin and Sylvia for inviting me to take part in this amazing event, I can never thank them enough for the life changing trip they have given me. The Ministry of Culture in Bahrain for putting so much into Climb Fever and the rest of the Season of Sport. And finally the many people of Bahrain who showed up and really made the event such a success!

Heres a few links to some news articles and reports of the event -

Bahrain News Agency

Daily Tribune (E-Paper)

Ministry of Culture's report

Psych is High (Two Comps and Training)

So I haven't written anything in a little while now, at first I thought this was because I hadn't really done much of interest. But I've just got home from the European cup at Ratho and realised I've done so much recently, that it's actually just overwhelmed me and I haven't given myself the time to process all that has happened.
First of there was the Scottish Bouldering Championships held at The Climbing Academy in Glasgow which formed the second round of the British Bouldering Championships. This event was really well run, the problems were all fantastic and the finals where amazing! My only thought on it is that in the qualifying maybe my categories problems where too easy, I say this because I flashed them all but coincidentally I was the only person to do that. Thinking about it now it might not be a case of that they were easy but more proving to myself that I am actually improving and all the training is paying off. Unfortunately in the finals I didn't have such luck and failed to top any of my climbs, but I did get enough bonus points on them to finish in a comfortable second place.
The day after that I traveled to Ratho with a few other friends for a training session. But I had a different goal to them as I knew the European cup was coming up I wanted to get on the speed wall and try to get a good enough time to qualify to enter! I knew it would be a hard task, I hadn't even tried the route since the European Championships last year and my previous best time was 12.19 seconds I think. As I had moved up into the junior category I really had to push since I need 10.5 seconds to qualify. This was no easy task.
I had a few goes just feeling the holds remembering what it was like to climb it, then I spent some time trying to improve my sequence as I knew it wasn't the best. After all this I just threw myself at the wall over and over again trying harder and harder to get that time. Almost every time I improved knocking fractions of a second each time until eventually I was consistently hitting around 10.6 seconds. At this point I knew it would take planning to improve so I took my time, rested more and started to really focus. Eventually I got down 10.54 seconds. But we had already stayed over an hour later than we were meant to and as it is around a 6 hour drive home and I had gotten a lift with a friend I couldn't make them wait any longer and we left.
Fortunately after contacting the Bmc they agreed to let me enter the Comp! I was ecstatic, the only down side was that because technically I was over the qualifying time still I wouldn't be aloud to enter and other internationals abroad. After speaking to my mum about it all she made what I can imagine was a very hard decision and decided to take me up to Ratho again so I could practice more before the event so I could improve and maybe become fast enough to enter other events. As we aren't the richest family in the world unfortunately this meant she wouldn't be able to come up again 2 weeks later to watch me compete in the event, and I can never thank her enough for making that choice because that weekend of practicing on the speed wall made the world of a difference. I found a new sequence that made me much quicker and improved my time to 10.09 seconds!
The days passed, the training continued and eventually I was in the car with my dad driving up to Ratho to enter the European Cup. The first day was given over to the ridiculously talented lead climbers from all over Europe. With over 200 competitors it was going to be a long day, but eventually they finished their qualifiers and results had been posted and GB had 3 climbers in the finals!
From half four in the afternoon though the climbing was given over to the speed climbers we had our practice runs then qualification started. To say I was nervous was an understatement, I knew I would be up against people who constantly trained on the route and knew it like the back of their hand and all I had was one wall 6 hours away from where I live! But I managed a decent time of 10.34 and fortunately was through to the finals in 7th place! Much better than I could have ever hoped for!
The next day the finals for the lead climbing started and we all watched intently waiting for our team mates to come out. William Bosi was out first and had a fantastic performance but just slipped one hold from the highest point and finished in 2nd place overall in youth B! Fair play to him as he fully believes he could have done loads better! Next out was Buster Martin, I imagine he was already really happy with his result as it was the first time he has made a final in a European! He climbed fantastically but out of the blue just slipped whilst clipping, in the end he finished in a respectable 8th place in youth A. Finally out was Molly Thompson-Smith who had an awful morning and had been really quite ill so no matter where she came it would have been an achievement. As it turns out she did really well and finished in 5th in youth A. So a massive well done to all of them and the rest of the team.
Finally it was the finals for the speed climbing, my first race went amazingly and I won posting a new personal best as well at 9.98 seconds! Next was the semi finals and unfortunately I slipped almost straight away and lost. But really I didn't mind too much I had guaranteed at least 4th place and still had a shot at 3rd place. I had my final race, it started out okay I made a minor fumble but it didn't slow me down too much and we were head to head up until the last move, where tragically I missed my foothold and almost fell off. I had lost, but I made the last move hit the pad and was lowered off. So in the end I finished in 4th place, I'm so pleased though because I did better than expected and possibly more importantly got a new personal best time as well! Finally well done to Alexander Bosi for finishing 7th in youth A and getting a new PB as well and Pete Dawson for entering only to take William's place as he dropped out and having never really done it much before managed 4th in youth B!

Needless to say I'm psyched more than ever and ready to keep on pushing to improve! Next up is the Senior British Bouldering championships and then providing I get a new passport in time the European Championships in Imst!

Full report by the BMC (Includes links to results)