Last night, The Hive North Shore hosted a CEC National Series bouldering competition that was sanctioned both by Climbing Escalade Canada and Sport Climbing BC. This was the first competition in the newly built venue and it did not disappoint! With its two tiered building structure and spacious location, The Hive North Shore proved that it is a premier venue for climbing events in Canada and soon-to-be host for many future events.
Big action at The Hive North Shore. Photo courtesy of The Hive ©
The competition for the Open category, regulated by Climbing Escalade Canada, used IFSC semi-final formatting in both the qualification round and final round where competitors are required to try four problems with five minutes for trying the problem and then five minutes rest between each problem problem. This type of formating resulted in one of the fastest final rounds in BC history, not to mention its visual appeal, with up to six climbers (see above) on the wall at one time. However, one could argue that this format did not allow the audience to focus on the comparison between competitors on each particular problem. It should also be mentioned that this style of formatting would have proved a logistical nightmare in any other venue, with not all gyms having one continuous climbing wall for all to see.
It is unclear why CEC did not want to use IFSC formatting for the final round, but rumour has it that it The CEC is trying to push Canadian athletes to get past the semi-final round on an international scale and is using these type of events to provide practice to Canadian competitors. On one side, current competitors will surely benefit from the practice and may push more Canadian athletes into the upper echelons of international competition. However, two rounds of semi-final formatting may not allow competitors to manage the energy levels throughout competitions and may lead to a less than full experience. Only time will prove whether this type of practice will be fruitful.
Highlights of the night on the Men’s side include watching Alex Fritz and Simon Parton style most of the problems throughout the competition. Simon, slated to go to Hueco in just a week, had a scary fall off Men’s #2 that saw him feeling out his wrist. Alex styled most of the problems, only to experience difficulty on Men’s #4. Other male competitors that left an impression included Marc Eveleigh’s send of Problem #4 and Dominic Burns, a young climber from Ireland, sending problem #2.
On the Women’s side, Jelisa Dunbar came of out the gate with some fantastic climbing, especially on Women’s #2 only to be followed by Tiffany Melius flashing problems one to three, to take the top of the podium. What a show!
Here are the results for the Open Category
Men’s winners. Photo courtesy of The Hive ©
Men’s Final
1. Alex Fritz
2. Eric Sethna
3. Jesse Taplin
4. Marc Eveleigh
5. Dominic Burns
6. Kin Wah Lai
7. Simon Parton
8. Scott Williams
Women’s winners. Photo courtesy of The Hive ©
Women’s Final
1. Tiffany Melius
2. Jelisa Dunbar
3. Alannah Yip
4. Stacey Weldon
5. Sophie Buitendyk
6. Alyssa Weber
7. Allison Vest
8. Kumari Barry
Special thanks to all the volunteers and The Hive North Shore staff for putting on a world class event. Also, special thanks to Shane Murdoch and Ken Chow, who keep providing amazing photos of these events!
