Another Great Day
Saturday 12 th June saw the return of City Bloc's Bloc Party competition. After a successful event last year, it was sure to be a tough battle to be crowned champion and reigning champions Dave Barrans and Naomi Buys were both present to try and defend their titles. Competitors came from all over the country to try and take the title for themselves.
Jon Partridge Mens final problem 3
The route setters, Ben Meeks, Martin Smith and Tom Sugden, set a good variety of problems for the qualifiers which consisted of 40 problems ranging from very easy (pinks) to very hard (salmon). The problems went down well and the qualifying results were close with Dave looking strong qualifying in 1 st place and Naomi in a close second to Dianne Merrick in the women's. Nathan Phillips had a great battle with Henry Wardroper to clinch the junior title for the second year running, and also the British Bouldering team manager Nick Clement proved he's still got what it takes as he won the vets category, also for the second year running. The top four male and female competitors went through to a final which was no easy task and some big names missed the cut including British Team Member Dave Mason and Geordie strong man Nigel Callender.
The finals were eagerly awaited by the growing crowds, as the qualifying results were so close that anything could happen. For the men, the top four who had made it through were Dave Barrans, local climber Gareth Haldenby, British team member John Partridge and trad hero Jordan Buys. For the ladies we had British team members Dianne Merrick and Helen Shilleto, last year's winner Naomi Buys and local top route climber Zoe Ogden.
The men's competition turned out to be a very close run thing for all apart from Dave who seemed to step it up a gear and did all the climbs on his first attempt. John came second by successfully reaching the top on the last climb and Gareth showed what he's capable of by coming third, pushing Jordan in to fourth position. The women's final was very similar to the men's with Dianne Merrick finishing all three climbs to have a clear victory over the others. Helen climbed well and got the first problem on her first attempt which put her in second and then Zoe came third narrowly pushing Naomi into fourth place.
Thanks to everybody who came and made the event a great success and thanks to E9, Metolious, Prana, Evolve and Nevisport for their support.
Mens results:
1 Dave Barrans
2 Jonathan Partridge
3 Gareth Haldenby
4 Jordan Buys
Women's results:
1 Diane Merrick
2 Helen Shilito
3 Zoe Ogden
4 Naomi Buys
Junior results:
1 Nathan Phillips
2 Henry Wardroper
3 William Denton