Volumes, Dual-Texture holds, paddle dynos and a live broadcast. This year’s Nationals hosted by Western Cape Climbing was certainly a cut above the rest. Several years ago, just having volumes integrated into a boulder or lead round was quite something. Watching the action from the comfort of my own home – incredible. This year’s Nationals gave me immense hope for the future of South African climbing. A feeling that at times has been fleeting.
Boulder
The bouldering round kicked off at Bloc 11 Diep River on Friday afternoon with Junior qualifiers and Saturday morning with Senior qualifiers. After a short break the action moved over the Bloc 11 Paarden Eiland for the finals and all I can say is – wow! The style of bouldering internationally continues to diversify, becoming more coordinated and more technical each year. At times the fear is – how do you keep up? Well you keep up by setting boulders at a higher and higher standard, and Bloc 11 certainly showed up to the challenge. A new format saw the addition of a Junior overall finals alongside the traditional Open overall category. In both finals, there were toe-catches, dynamic swings, coordination dynos and everything in between.
The athletes certainly got the memo-too. Lily Andela, a promising Western Cape climber, controlled a difficult dyno with immense contact strength – securing herself the Junior overall title. On the Junior boys side, Caleb Wintermeyer from the Eastern Cape cruised to victory with a dominant three tops to secure himself the title.
The seniors were certainly not going to be overshadowed by the juniors. In an exciting and packed finals field, Arianna Janata-Burns showed her diverse skills by topping the technical slab as well as two very powerful boulders. In turn she walked away with the Open overall title. In an even more dominant fashion, Jack Burningham showed that he could also do it all. Feeding off the pressure and energy of the crowd – Jack show-boated his way to a clean sweep victory being the only athlete to top every boulder. The Western Cape team certainly dominated the bouldering round.
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Lead
Following suit, CityROCK Cape Town then finished off the Nationals weekend in equal style. The Lead routes were spectacular. They demanded precision, technique, and power – also incorporating tricky dual-texture holds and awkward body positions that the climbers needed to navigate. In the Junior ladies, Jessica Fitschen was the only one to progress over onto the headwall, securing herself the win. In a much closer final that navigated multiple dual-tex pinches, Musa Mammon clinched the victory by a single point to take the Junior boys’ title.
The Open’s women’s final proved to be highly complex with poor feet and technical movements right from the get go. This made upward progression on the route difficult, with many ladies falling early. Balancing through these difficult sequences, Maia Davies came out on top. In an exhilarating Open men’s final, the one and only Nicholas Allan proved why he is the best by easily flowing through a long roof section to clip the chains.
Missed the Action?
If you missed the action, all the events and rounds are on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. A big shout out to Blackbird Productions for the livestream and exceptional commentating.
A big well done to all the athletes that competed this weekend and who gave it their absolute all! And an even bigger thank you to the venues, volunteers, setters, sponsors and commentators that made this event one to remember. May the standard set here continue to climb to even greater heights.
