I learnt a lot during my first year training and competing with the GB Paraclimbing team in 2018. It was a bit of a shock to the system to be honest! I’m not sure I fully appreciated just how much the top athletes have to go through to be on top form. The effort, dedication and time required is phenomenal. It was a steep learning curve for me and to give it everything, I had to make some tough decisions. It was clear that I had an unbelievable opportunity to give this competition climbing a real crack, my first season on the team had gone ok, but I felt I could do so much more. It was tough giving up Ju Jitsu last year and getting into a routine, having a training plan, managing injury prevention and changing my diet.

However, the more I trained, the more I started to enjoy it and the more I wanted to get better. It took a while before I started to see improvements, but when I started to make measurable gains I became even more determined. Adam Harrison at the Climbing Station has been ace in setting out my training plans. I climb quite differently to sighted climbers and the adaptions he’s made specifically for me have been great. Molly is as dedicated as I am, she is with me for every training session, which is good as I can’t really train on my own, not being able to see is pretty limiting! So it’s a good job she loves climbing as much as I do!

I trained hard over the winter and at the start of 2019, I felt a lot happier and more confident that I’d hopefully be starting to catch the big guns in my category. I’d become leaner and stronger. Molly and I had also streamlined our communication system, a vital part of the teamwork required in competitions.

When team selection came round in March, I was feeling positive. However, my first qualification route went terribly wrong, it as appalling, I fell really low down and sank into despair thinking I’d ruined my chance of re-selection. I sat in a grump for what seemed like an eternity.  Molly was great and a chat from Hannah managed to turn it around. My 2nd qualification route was much better and my final route better again. This was a real lesson in the mental aspects of competition climbing. I was pleased with how I’d managed to just reset and start again. Being in a team and having teammates looking out for you is great for this. Luckily I’d done enough and was picked to represent the GB Paraclimbing Team for the 2019 season.

The eating salad continued, the hard training continued and the outdoor climbing didn’t really take a backseat either. Rest days were spent trad climbing. When the weather was nice at weekends it was hard to resist!

The first competition of the year was the Para Blokfest on the 8th of June. This was the first ever Paraclimbing Blokfest event. Blokfest had teamed up with Para Climbing London & The Castle to put on a routes and bouldering para climbing mega party! And what an event it was! It was absolutely fantastic, I just hope that this now becomes an annual event! I wasn’t in peak condition for the comp having climbed the Old Man of Hoy only 4 days earlier and travelling the length of the country to get down to London, I was feeling pretty knackered. My finals route was so good, the setting was amazing. There was a steep roof section that I had to traverse and cut loose on…a tough one for sight-guides! As my heel slipped, the crowd gasped in the near silence, but I passed this section and came close to topping the route. I took top spot in the B1 category and took home a bag full of goodies!

Next up was the World Paraclimbing Masters in Imst, Austria at the end of June. The first international comp of the year and my first opportunity to see how all my training had been paying off. The format of the event was different to the standard IFSC comps, there were 5 routes and no final. The higher you got on each route the more points you got, effectively a point per hold. The scores for all 5 routes were accumulated and climbers are ranked in terms of the highest total score. It was a great competition for me, I topped 2 routes and got as high as I think I could on another, leaving only 2 routes that I felt I could have done better on. I finished in second place, which was my first international podium. It was a great feeling, I’d improved so much since last year. Molly did a great job sight-guiding me. It was good to have her guiding me, it’s really important to have a sight guide that knows you inside out and that you climb with regularly.

Next up was the World Championships held in Briancon, France in mid July, the big one! I had prepared well and felt ready to give it my all. I was up on the second day, so Molly spent the first evening running over and over the route demonstration videos to get the beta nailed for my qualification routes.  My first qualification route was early the next morning, it was on the vertical section, on the side of the main steep competition wall. Molly assured me the holds looked pretty big and was confident I’d top it. I had slight nerves before this route, as I knew I couldn’t afford a slip up. This was accurate as everyone in my category topped the route! A shame in my opinion, it should have been set harder in order to split the competitors. This meant it was all down to the second qualification route, which was on the main wall. I was really happy with my performance on the second route, steep routes don’t favour me. However, I managed to climb through the steepest section (45deg) and on to the head-wall to where the angle eases. Most pleasingly I recovered from a tricky section where it would have been easy to fall, progressing significantly from this point. I found myself in the final by a reasonable margin, I was so happy!

Strangely, in the final I was extremely relaxed, as I achieved my target. It was a great experience preparing to compete in a final, which I hope will help me in future. I performed well, managing not to drop the starting holds, which were horrific! I finished in 4th place which I’m happy with. To improve my ranking I simply need more training…onwards and upwards.

For me, the international comps are over for this year, however the able-bodied World Championships are still to come. I’m extremely disappointed that the paraclimbing and able-bodied World Championships were separated this year. In my opinion the 2 events are complementary and both are diminished without the other. I’m extremely grateful to the French Federation for stepping in to rescue the situation, you so that there could still be a paraclimbing World Championships this year, Briancon was fantastic. But I still think that the separation should never have arisen. I will be wearing my gift from Team USA in August, to cheer on the rest of the GB team in Tokyo…

I finished the international competitions this year extremely satisfied with the progress I’ve made. I’m looking forward to a summer of outside climbing and prepared to get stuck back into training in the Autumn.

A big thanks to the Para team coaches – Robin, Be and Emma, you all do an amazing job and work tirelessly to ensure we’re all fully prepared.