Very excited to share a recap of last weeks Rock the Bloc event by Andy White.
Rock the Blocs 2016 is in the books and although the weather hampered the event a bit, once again, the festival was a massive success. This year, more than 200 people attended RTB with strong crews traveling from Vancouver, Calgary, Lethbridge, all over the Okanagan, the U.S. and even Mexico. The event has truly jumped beyond its humble local beginnings. Add in to the mix the fact that this year’s field of competitors was stacked, and it made for an entertaining competition.
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Due to rain, the competition day of the festival was cut a bit short, but that didn’t slow down the top climbers in the event. Both men’s and women’s open categories saw some major sends and the scorecards of the winning athletes were well above those in previous years.
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
After the rules meeting, competitors entered The Boulderfields at 8am and climbed hard until the horn sounded at 12:30pm on the account of rain and safety considerations. Nonetheless, the wet weather didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the participants as they made their way back to the scoring table with massive smiles on their faces, and for many impressed, first-timers, looks of surprise as to the quality of the climbing and the fact that that they hadn’t been to the area before.
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
In the end, despite the rain and shortened day, RTB 2016 did exactly what it has always set out to do, bring the climbing community together to experience a great day of bouldering in one of Canada’s most amazing bouldering areas. The infectious, positive energy was present as always and it was tough not to have a good time.
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Throughout the day, competitors worked hard to fill their cards and the names at the top of the list were well known in the Canadian climbing world. The results were as follows:
Men’s Open
1st- Eric Sethna (Driven- V11, Friends with Benefits Low- V10 (Flash), Detour- V10 (Flash)
2nd- Scott Eveleigh
3rd- Mark Derksen
Women’s Open
1st- Alannah Yip (Detour- V10, Just Go Climb- V9/10, Shark Biscuit- V7)
2nd- Alyssa Weber
3rd- Staci White
Men’s Masters
1st- Big Daddy Trent Hoover
2nd- Derek Salmon
Men’s Intermediate
1st- Robson Wong
2nd- Justin Philips
3rd- Luke Warkotsch
Women’s Intermediate
1st- Caroline Irvine
2nd- Ashlee Schmaltz
3rd- Vanessa Huegel
Men’s Beginner
1st- Michael Franklin
2nd- Evan Johaneson
3rd- Stephan Pepin
Women’s Beginner
1st- Vanja Scekic
2nd- Aletha Rice
3rd- Kira Anderson
Youth
1st- TJ Foley
2nd- Lola Vaaranpaa
3rd- Arya Culver
Organizers have already started working on the 5th installment of RTB and rest assured, they’ve got some terrific ideas for next year!
Photo courtesy of Caillum Smith / Preserved Light ©
Special thanks to Andy White and all the volunteers that made this event happen. It is on the calendar for a lot of BC climbers and it is events like these that make our community stronger! Big thanks to Caillum Smith, who is a South Okanagan Valley photographer. His work can be found here.