The competition took place in the climbing hall ‘Face Nord’ in Mons. I hadn’t had the opportunity to go training there, so it was the first time I climbed on this wall. It immediately pleased me because it was so bright. The organisers had done a good job by giving us fruit, water and even a T-shirt. Unfortunately there were only 8 girls in the female category, but I was happy to meet them again.

The first qualification route was quite technical with a very hard last move. I was the first  to top it, then Celine and Héloise climbed it too. After a rest and a banana, we watched the demonstration of the 2nd route which was a bit more overhanging. I had had 1,5 hour of rest between the routes, so I was glad that I was able to do it.

After the lunch break, we went into isolation. During observation I read the route with the other girls. Some parts were a bit difficult to understand, but all in all it looked nice. The beginning was not too difficult, but on a big grey volume it became really hard. Arriving  at the last part of the route I looked at my watch and saw 5’11”. So I thought ‘less than 1 minute left!’, which was wrong of course… I had 8 minutes of climbing time. 🙂 But I began climbing faster, which made that I did a tricky move without hesitating. I fell a bit higher.

I had to go to another isolation zone because Celine and I were both on 1st place after the qualifications. While waiting there I thought: ‘It would be great if Celine did the same as me.’ And indeed she did! We were going to climb a superfinal together for the 1st time. Super!

We had to climb the men’s route. The beginning was a bit strange and difficult to understand, but we both managed to do it. The middle section was great to climb with a special heel hook. Than a little roof and a traverse to the left, going up a bit and back to the right. Here the route became super hard with a really bad volume. I almost fell, but did some more moves. I was very happy that I had been able to climb that far! Actually as far as Loïc Timmermans who won in the men’s category although I had climbed that slow that my last moves were out of time. 🙂 Celine climbed very well too, doing the tricky beginning! I became 1st, Celine 2nd and Émilie 3rd.

Podium Belgian Championship 2013

After the lead final, there was still speed to come. Again there was no huge female category. 🙂 Héloise, Tine, Celine and I decided to participate. We all discovered that speed climbing is not easy at all! Jurgen Lis from Klimax (Puurs) was again the fastest in the men’s category for the 3th year in a row.

John Ellison from Climbers Against Cancer (CAC) visited Belgium and the Belgian Championship! It was really nice to meet him again!

Results and Pictures on Belclimb and Climb2Climb