YCS Round 3 - "The Pleasance" (2013)

EICA

GCC

TCA

Alien Rock

Avertical World

Stirling Spiders

Wow! The 3rd and final round of the YCS has come and gone already... Time surely does fly. This years Youth Climbing Series in Scotland has certainly been a rollercoaster of emotions for a lot of kids! I can talk from experience in the South Scotland as I have been coaching many of the kids entering these competitions and all I can say is that all these kids deserve medals for the dedication, training and continual pressure they put themselves under. 

As much as the YCS is meant to be a relaxed kids competition, it gets beefed up by the fact that only the top 3 in each category can make it through to the finals! This years regional rounds have witnessed the most competetive categories ever seen in Scotland. In Youth D and above, to make finals, you actually have to be at the top of your game! This is only a good thing for improving the standard to which our young climbers can achieve - it's survival of the fittest at work.

Anyway, the night before the final round, Iain Sneddon, Mike Mullins and myself were hard at work setting boulders and routes at "The Pleasance" climbing gym at the Edinburgh University Centre for Sporting Excellence. We set a variety of styles across a range of grades that would hopefully challenge the best of the bunch the following day. It ended up being the latest I have ever had to set for a YCS. We were there until 21:30 (closing time), something I had never thought would happen and also hope never to repeat again. 

On the day of the competition the centre was packed to breaking point! It was quite unbelievable that 75 kids and their parents/family members could all fit into such a small space, but somehow we managed it. The climbing I saw that day was nothing short of inspiring. Across ten categories, I don't think I saw one kid in any of them not giving it their all!

Youth E and D girls where the smallest category with only 3 entrants in each, but despite this the fight for 1st place was fierce. In Youth E, Katie Moore and Stephanie Millar have been neck on neck throughout every round, with Katie tipping Stephanie in the two previous. Round 3 proved no different, but with only 1 point separating them! I am proud to say I coach Katie, but she'll have to watch her back if she wants to keep ahead of the very inspiring Stephanie.

Youth D had a similar fight between some very talented climbers, Lisa Kean and Caitlin Storie. In the end Lisa came out on top by what was only 1 point (a slap and touch of a hold) - it must be pay back for Glasgow when Caitlin had tipped Lisa to 1st place :D

Youth E Boys on the other hand was a bigger category. The winner was the crowd favourite, Leo Harland-Sendra, last years podium 2nd in the Series Finals! Young Thomas Miedzybrodski came 2nd with Caitlin's (from Youth D) brother Andrew coming a close 3rd!

Youth D Boys had another strong bunch of climbers with Matthew Fall, Rory Whyte and Evan Davis battling it for top positions. Their finalist positions had more or less been secured as they where all consistent podium placed in every round, but the question on everyones minds was who would take the final round first place. Matthew had been unstoppable the last two rounds but Rory was determined to take his place. Rory's determination was apparent after a phenomenol climb in a super final against Matthew for first place! Matthew had fallen from the last move, but Rory had only just held the second last hold before making a wild jump and catching (not dropping) the final hold! I think George (Rory's Dad) might have had a mild seizure...

The competition is only getting hotter as we move up the categories. Entering into the Youth C's the number of participants increases as does the standard of all those competing. Youth C Girls was Rhiannon Freireich's for the taking, before she went and broke her arm during training the folowing week! So stepping up to the pedestal was Emma Davidson and Holly Davis who would go onto a super final to see who would take the South Scotland Series Crown... Emma was victorious!

Youth C Boys was in fact the most competetive category so far with 6 boys all with a chance at making finals. David Miedzybrodski had been an unstoppable force in the two previous rounds with flawless perfromances and an almost pristine score card with practically all tops across each round. Round 3 was no different, once again he demolished routes and boulders in his very focussed, quick and strong style. 2nd and 3rd was up for grabs with Sam Harland-Sendra, Rory Schoehuys, Connor Moore, Euan Farmer and Robert Davidson all with an equal opportunity to get that podium. There was impressive performances from all - but in the end it was Sam and Rory who ended up taking the places. I would like to say though that Euan Farmer and Connor Moore were both the youngest and still managed to get 5th and 4th place respectively... Effort!

The Youth B Girls was probably the next most competetive category. Eilidh Vass Payne had pretty much got this sowed up with a string of 1st places in the rounds previous and she made a hat trick of it with a third 1st place at the Pleasance. Kirsten Gray was favourite for 2nd but surprisingly dropped the last route a bit lower than expected, though she still managed to retain her 2nd place in the overall rankings. The real competition was for 3rd place with Gabriella Stewart and Keira Farmer eager for a chance to prove themselves worthy for the finals. In the end, Keira only just nabbed 3rd place with an epic performance on the final route that got her 2nd place in the 3rd round! A special mention as well to Jodie Brown (5th) and Claudia Charlwood (4th) who both did amazing across the whole competition.

Youth B Boys was a surprisingly big category overall and with some very strong contendors as well. Euan McFadyen, Ivan Bialy and Ian Bownes all represented themselves well across each round, but in the final it was Euan that took gold in a strong super final performance - the super final was a traverse I had to make up last minute when Ivan and Euan cruised up their final with apparent ease...

Finally, the Youth A categories! The oldest category in the competition was well represented in both the males and females. In the girls, it was Eleanor Hopkins who took first place overall with a hat trick of 1st places across all the rounds - not surprising from a current Irish Team member. 2nd was Beth Scott who was biting at Eleanors heels and missed out on a joint 1st placing by only 1 point!!! And in third was Megan Saunders.

The boys category was pretty big with 12 competitors in total. The top 3 contendors were Alexander Bosi, Fraser Mcllwraith and Euan King. All of these lads are long time competitors in the YCS. Alexander tipped Fraser to 1st place overall but was 2nd in the final round to the boulder beast. Euan King was 3rd place overall and 4th in the final round.

And that pretty much sums up the 2013 Regional Series of the YCS in South Scotland. It has been a fantastic set of rounds this year with an amazing glimpse into the developing and very promising talent coming out of Scotlands Climbing walls. Speaking as a very proud coach representing EICA, two thirds of the podium places belonged to kids training at EICA! That is a pretty good result :D 

Nice on guys! Looking forward to our Scottish Team in the finals and seeing everyone giving it their all - CRUSH!