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Competitions

• Australian Bouldering Nationals 2002 Results - Back-to-back champions but some surprises ...

• NSW Bouldering Series 2001 Results - Ben Cossey and Sam Berry on top ...

• Australian Bouldering Nationals 2001 Results - A reversal of fortune ...

• NSW Bouldering Series 2000 Results - Alan Price and Melinda Stocker on top ...

• Australian X Games 99 - Predictably Garth and Carlie take it out ...

• NSW Bouldering Series 1999 Results - All the old favourites are shining ...

Mountain Designs Australian Bouldering Nationals 2002

Report by Cameron Barrie ...

The number of competitors were certainly short in comparison to last years nationals but that didn't seem to stop the open's competitors that had come from as far as West Australia from cranking out some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen!

The format was the usual (and apparently not so loved) pumpfest style qualifier and then the top eight men and top eight women went on to the final. James Scarborough and Alan Pryce looked convincing right from the start.  Sharik Walker also looked strong but a finger injury sustained a few days earlier while spotting shut him down on many problems.  James Kassay and Toby Benham were the talk of the young punks with strong as sin Toby only just missing out on a finals spot, tying with Sharik on 526 points.  Organisers deciding to disappoint Walker and Benham by only running a 7 man final.

In the women's qualifier Sam Berry dominated and really the only question was how strong was Monique Forestier feeling on the night?  Monique has squeezed out Sam on occasion this year but in the pumpfest Sam was looking exceptionally strong.  Melissa Lawrence had also obviously been training hard and qualified in third.

The finals announcement were made with two W.A. lads, Jason Girdlestone and Jarrod May, a surprise to most.  Jarrod tied for equal first in the pumpfest and Jason just coming in at 7th.  This set the stage for the biggest surprise of the night ...

The finals problems are always a hot topic of debate among the climbers and this year was no different.  Not a single men's final problem was topped out and many seemed to have a single hard move making it difficult to separate the competitors.  So unfortunately in the finals many competitors tied and positions were decided on count-back to the pumpfest.  None the less the hard steep bouldery problems were spectacular to watch with funky, strong moves the theme in both the men's and the women's finals problems.

In the women's final Sam dominated right from the beginning and ended up winning by 10 points.  She fully deserved her back-to-back championship.  The real competition was for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.  Monique pulled down hard to edge out Melissa Lawrence, and only a point behind her was Christina Beddard.  Olivia Hsu came in a surprising 5th (more to her than anyone else) and Alison Wong, Tiffany Melius and Stephanie Hopkins rounded out the eight.

The men's final was destined to be a great show down with James Scarborough back from bouldering V13 outside and not competing all year to defend his title.  He took little time to show that he was one of the hot competitors of the evening.  Runner-up from last year, Alan Pryce, also looked strong but finished 6th on count-back after tying for 4th in the final with James Kassay and Jarrod May who both ended up equal 4th overall.  Phillip Sage didn't look too healthy and confided in me that he was feeling rather sick.  He ended up coming 7th but being sick and making the finals is a mean feat in itself.  Ben Cossey was psyched to be a finalist again this year and bouldered well placing 3rd overall.  The surprise of the night was the announcement of 2nd place with Jason Girdlestone coming from nowhere to tie with James Scarborough in the final and place 2nd overall on count-back!

So it looks like we need to pay a little more attention to the West side people with 3 of the 7 finalists having W.A. origins (Alan Pryce is originally from W.A. but now lives in and competes for N.S.W).  I hadn't heard of either Jason or Jarrod but it seems that they are names to watch out for in the future.  One way or another though, James Scarborough did N.S.W. proud and was also back-to-back national champion.

All in all it was a great competition.  The crowds were a little thin but maybe that was due to the advertised $7 entry fee to spectate?  It isn't quite Wimbledon yet and the fee was not charged so next time get your arses off the computer chair and get down there to yell and scream at some of the best boulderers in Australia, after all that's what it's all about.

For a full list of the results go to www.climbing.com.au and to see/buy photos of the event go to Momentum Visual Productions.

Australian Bouldering Nationals 2001

The Australian Bouldering Nationals were held at ClimbFit in Sydney on July 28th and the results were as follows ...

NSW Bouldering Series 2000 Results

In the 2000 NSW Bouldering Series ranking points are awarded to the first 30 competitors in each category. The ranking points system is the same as that used by the ASCF for state competitions (ie. 1st = 100, 2nd = 80, 3rd = 65, 4th = 55, 5th = 51, 6th = 47, 7th = 43, 8th = 40, 9th = 37, 10th = 34 ... 30th = 1). A competitor's best FOUR rounds are used to calculate their final total at the end of the series. For the complete results go to the ASCF's page.

Australian X Games 99

The Australian Summer X Games was held in Brisbane over the 3-5 December 1999. As reported by Matt Wilder the results were as follows ...

NSW Bouldering Series 1999 Results

In the 1999 NSW Bouldering Series ranking points are awarded to the first 30 competitors in each category. The ranking points system is the same as that used by the ASCF for state competitions (ie. 1st = 80, 2nd = 65, 3rd = 55, 4th = 51, 5th = 47, 6th = 43, 7th = 40, 8th = 37, 9th = 34, 10th = 31 ... 30th = 1). A competitor's best FIVE rounds are used to calculate their final total at the end of the series. Thanks to Rod Young for compiling these rankings.