Team Geared Up

KILDARE, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - And so the final round of the Irish Bouldering League finished up with a hot final round. Not hot due to the pressure on the competitors, but mainly due to the inability to turn off the heating in the room! :) Still though, with a stunning turn-out (150 people handed in their cards, but there was more there taking part), it was always going to be hot and stuffy . Not that anyone seemed to mind however, as with competitors turning up from 9:15am onwards (the comp didn’t officially start until 10am!), people seemed seriously motivated for a good day.

As it happened, nothing was going to stop Open A leader, Harry Fogg, from romping home to victory with a successful first go on every problem to finish with maximum points - much to the disappointment of the route setters who hoped that he might even slip up once :) Still though, it was a close finish for everyone else with only narrow points separating the rest of the competitors of the Open A league.
In the Female’s, Joan Mulloy, also put in another strong showing to take the final honors. With a successful completion of 12 of the Open A problems (there was two levels of difficulties for each problem - double point going for completion of the harder variation), that’s a top 15 finish in the Open A’s. Guys, you have been warned!
Special mention also has to to go the Juniors who were putting us all to shame with their technical ability. Andrew Colligan lead home the pack, but I think everyone was in awe to see the younger (and much smaller) climbers tick off some of the hard problems with ease.

And so, with only three events taking place this year, the final results were handed out also.
Overall
Open A: 1. Harry Fogg, 2. Ricky Young, 3. Peter O’Farrell
Female: 1. Joan Mulloy 2. Hannah Fogg 3. Anna Cronin
Juniors: 1. Ciaran Rogers 2. Colm Casey 3. Stephen Rogers

For official, and more detailed results, the DCU round results can be found here, and the overall results can be found here.

If you’re looking for photos, keep an eye on this thread on the climbing.ie forums.

Great going all!

Image Credit: 1. Rob Whelan contemplating how to make routes hard, but fair, while route setting for the DCU IBL. Photo by Author
2. The mob, sorry climbers, during the day, DCU IBL. Photo by author

- Neal :)