On 2nd and 3rd of February I went to Munich to compete at the first German Boulder Cup this year. Besides climbing I took a walk through some halls of the international sports fair (Ispo) with plenty of exhibitors of the outdoor business. It was very interesting to take a view at the brand new technologies and innovations!
The qualification round went quite well for me. I flashed three out of four boulder problems. The fourth one I nearly flashed but slipped away at the very end. But finally I sent it in third go, got fifth place and made my way into the semi-final. It is just a matter of concentration and to give all the power you have in the first try to flash a problem. But this is how the competition works!
On Sunday the semi-final started at 2 p.m. I felt good and determined to go for it but it started not so well for me. The first problem was a tricky and very technical slab where you had to crimp a tiny side-hold to move your body over a small volume. I had some problems to stand very stable and to find the right solution. I could reach the bonus-hold but couldn’t make it to the top. Afterwards my climbing mate Felix Leuoth told me how to do it. He was clever and was using a foot-hold on the very right side which was originally considered for a female problem 
The second problem was the easiest one. I was really close flashing it but didn’t take the right foot-hold and was in a pretty uncomfortable body position to make a long last move to a good volume. I think I was climbing too safe being stiff and not dynamic enough. Ultimately I wasn’t able to top out this problem! The third and fourth problem went well for me. I felt a bit nervous but could send them during a five minute time limit.
All in all I was able to climb two out of four problems to the top in the semi-final and finally got 13th place. I guess it was a good performance for my second national boulder competition in the seniors category. My conclusion is that I have to continue working on my weaknesses. For the next training phase I should train on my boulder efficiency to be able to make my way from the bonus-hold to the top more frequently during a competition. I should practice more on qualitative and hard boulder problems and I suppose that I should stay more relaxed the next time.
Thanks to the Regional Climbing Team of Hannover and the sportclimbing squad of Northern Germany for supporting me! It was a good experience again and I could learn something for myself.
Greetings,
David 