The Castle Climbing Centre hosts the second round of the BMC/MCofS Para Climbing Series 2015 on the 13 October - paraclimber Kat Langton gives us her take on competing in the first round in September held at EICA, Ratho.

Improving your technique really does pay off!

My climbing season started with the first round of the British Paraclimbing series which was hosted by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and took place at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. Last year I had lots of fun and made some great friends. I went into this event hoping for progress and that is exactly what I saw.

A few days before the competition, Dave Bowes, an experienced climber on the GB Paraclimbing team, gave me some great tips to take up to Scotland which included advice on the order I should tackle the climbs in. The order he suggested was; easy route, medium route, medium boulder, easy boulder, hard boulder and then to finish with the hard route.

I certainly felt the strain of having just over two months out from the sport when I was climbing the first route. My muscles felt really weak and were screaming out to me to stop but I carried on, determined not to let my body get the better of me. This proved to be the right decision as I managed to top the route and got full marks for the effort.

The next route was a little trickier and I struggled at the beginning to get off the ground. When I eventually managed, I was able to get to just below the volume which is a large, hollow bolted-on hold. I was really happy with this as it was further than I got on the second climb last year.
 

For bouldering, there isn’t normally a rope and the climber isn’t tied in. The IFSC have started using ropes for boulder problems to protect the paraclimbers from unexpected falls, and the national series tries to replicate the international competitions. For this reason each of the bouldering routes had a top rope. This is great for me as I hate bouldering otherwise because there is no protection and I’m not that good at landing correctly. As if they weren’t hard enough, the boulders were made even more difficult by the fact that we couldn’t use any of the features for our hands.

I tackled the second boulder route first as I was still following Dave’s suggestion. Engrained into my brain is the advice that if I don’t think I can reach a hold, at least go for it before I fall off as I will get one more point. I took this attitude into every climb at the competition and it certainly helped me get an extra point on the first boulder I climbed.

The easy boulder proved to be a breeze and I completed it with no real problems. It was an overhang which required strength in my arms and careful foot placement to keep me on the wall. I found out afterwards that I had gained an extra two points for a flash bonus; I received this because I was able to complete the climb on the first attempt.

After a break and some chocolate to give me an energy boost, I was up for trying the hardest boulder and route respectively. The last move of my penultimate climb was a dynamic one which required strength in the legs to reach it. Sadly I didn’t have this strength but I did have an attempt so was awarded a further point for effort. On my final route of the day I managed to get one hold off the ground before falling off. I suppose that’s just what happens when you get tired!

I felt that I performed really well considering I had to have all that time off because of my injury. The whole day proved to me that the techniques I had learnt were staying in my head. If this is how well I perform with time out, I can’t wait to see what happens when I’ve been able to train for a couple of months. I owe Dave a great big thanks for the advice he gave me; it helped me to recover more quickly and conserve my stamina for the easier climbs.

It was great to see my friends again. Everyone was cheering each other on and we were able to have a laugh and joke around as well as do some serious climbing. It was a fantastic atmosphere and I am thoroughly looking forward to competing at Newcastle Climbing Centre in November.

Watch round two at the Castle on BMC TV:

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