On Wednesday 26th August I headed to Manchester Airport to meet up with the GB Team. We flew to Milan, Italy for the World Youth Climbing Championships, which were being held in Arco. As soon as we walked off the plane it was scorching. Finally arriving at Hotel Zanella near Arco we went straight to bed. The first day we had a walk around Arco which was pretty cool and, of course, bought some great ice cream. We went to the supermarket and bought our food and snacks for the next few days and then went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. It was only thigh deep but was better than nothing! The next day it was an early start for the girls competing in their qualies. The whole team went along and cheered them on completed with a giant Union Jack. Well done again to Tara and Eugenie for making semis. That night was the opening ceremony which was awesome because all the streets were lined with people cheering all the teams on as we all paraded through Arco. On Saturday it was male qualifiers. After 5 hours in a hot isolation it was my turn to climb. I read where I had to go well and my beta was good, but unfortunately my fingers weren’t so good! I’m just coming out of a growth spurt and my fingers are really weak so definitely not my best day of climbing but I was getting up towards some bonuses. So taking positives from it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, had a great experience and eventually I’ll stop growing and my fingers will get their strength back. It was definitely a tough set competition and they were the hardest blocs that I’ve ever climbed on too.
We all had a great time cheering on Tara, Eugenie, Aidan and Hamish in the semi-finals and I am certain that the GB Team is by far the loudest team there as shown in the video. After the semis we walked through Arco and Nath, Max and myself started dancing in the street to this DJ outside a café and then the whole GB team and the Dutch joined in for at least a good hour! It was a great atmosphere and so much fun.
The final day there we all went swimming at Lake Garda with the Irish bouldering team and did some diving off the pontoon and chilling on the shore watching the wind surfers practice for their worlds also in Arco. After a bit of team vest swapping with other teams we headed back in to town for our final meal and ice creams!
Overall it was an amazing trip and I’m really proud to have been part of the GB Team competing in the first ever World Youth Bouldering Championships. A massive thanks to the rest of the team for making it the best experience ever. And of course a big thanks to Tom, Tim, Lu, Dave and Mich for making it happen.
