The Canadian Bouldering Championships took place March 29–30 at Coyote Rock Gym in Ottawa, and MEC Envoy Sébastien Lazure placed fourth. Congrats, Sébastien! Here’s his rundown of how the comp unfolded.
A week before the comp, the organizer’s decided to change the format and added a semi-final round. This format change meant a little pressure for everyone competing, because only the top six would advance to the final. There was no room for error.
I’d prepared all season to be ready for this comp, and was feeling good. My main goal was to be able to get in the zone without stopping my flow. I have a tendency to avoid risky moves in comps, but I think I managed to get past this barrier and that helped me climb well.
The qualifier problems had some tricky problems. After the qualifiers, I was sitting in sixth place with three tops, which meant I went on to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals
There was a strong field of competitors in semis, so I was more nervous in this round. Only six of us would go on to finals, with a minimum of four Canadians. I was climbing after my American friend Josh Larson, who was climbing well. Other than Josh, I didn’t know how the other competitors were doing, so my only option was to climb as well as Josh to stay in the game.
I flashed the first problem without much trouble. The second was in a roof, and I grabbed the bonus hold and went a bit past it but couldn’t complete it in five minutes. I still had two problems and couldn’t let emotions ruin my round. I had to focus and stay positive.
Number three was a balance problem on volumes with an awkward jump to the finishing hold. It took a couple tries to get used to the boulder, but I finally stuck it with only a couple seconds left.
In my five minute rest, I could hear the crowd cheering for Josh, who sent the next problem. It was the same kind of problem as number two, and I knew I’d probably need to send it to go on to the next round. I fell twice on the first move and then realized there was an obvious wall on my third try. A gave it a good go and sent it! After that, I learned I was in fourth place and was headed to the finals.
Finals
The finals format was new to me. We had two minutes to preview each problem, and then we climbed one after the other with four minutes max at each boulder.
The first problem involved a sideways dyno to a volume, slapping a sloper on the way, and then a weird feet high move to the last hold. I sent it on my third try. When I talked with the other guys in isolation, I knew they all flashed it except for Yves, who took two tries.
I found the second problem super hard, and I couldn’t even match the second hold. It was a bit disappointing going back into iso with most of the other guys sticking at least the bonus hold.
I knew problem three was my chance since it was another powerful boulder. It was a long traverse on volumes and tricky moves. I fell once after getting the bonus and sent it on my next try. Only Jason, Josh and I sent this one, so I felt like I still had a chance.
The last boulder was another long one where we had to do multiple turn-arounds in the big bulge. It seemed super hard, and it was! I managed to touch the bonus hold on my first try, and I could tell from the crowd’s reaction I was doing well. On my second try, I stuck the bonus and continued to the next one. I couldn’t move my feet so I jumped to the sloper, but unfortunately it was too hard.
In the end, I was really happy with my performance and I placed fourth in the comp. In the overall rankings for the season, I came second – I had a very good season! Jason Holowach won the battle for the cup, and Kerry Briggs won on the women’s side for the second time. I plan on taking a short rest, and then I’ll be training again with plans to do World Cups this summer (Switzerland, Innsbruck, and then Hamilton, Ontario). I’m sure it’ll be a good experience, and I hope to be at my best.
Results:
Male (Open)
Rank Name Topouts Bonus Semis Qualifiers
1 McColl, Sean 2 / 2 4 / 6 3/3T – 5/4B 5/6T – 4/5B
2 Holowach, Jason 2 / 2 3 / 6 2/2T – 5/4B 3/3T – 4/5B
3 Larson, Josh 2 / 4 3 / 3 4/6T – 5/4B 3/6T – 4/6B
4 Lazure, Sébastien 2 / 5 3 / 4 3/9T – 5/7B 3/6T – 4/5B
5 Barks, Dylan 1 / 1 4 / 5 4/5T – 5/4B 3/3T – 4/5B
6 Gravelle, Yves 1 / 2 3 / 5 2/3T – 5/5B 3/5T – 4/6B
Female (Open)
Rank Name Topouts Bonus Semis Qualifiers
1 Sethna, Elise 2 / 2 3 / 4 1/1T – 5/3B 5/9T – 3/9B
2 Briggs, Kerry 1 / 1 3 / 6 2/2T – 4/6B 4/7T – 4/7B
3 Wall, Celeste 0 / 0 2 / 4 1/1T – 5/6B 4/7T – 4/10B
4 Dunbar, Jelisa 0 / 0 0 / 0 2/4T – 5/5B 4/8T – 3/9B
5 Pidgeon, Thomasina 0 / 0 0 / 0 1/1T – 4/3B 3/12T – 3/14B
6 Akalski, Marieta 0 / 0 0 / 0 1/1T – 5/6B 3/8T – 3/10B
Big thanks to Aidas Odonelis for the pictures: rubyphotostudios.com