They let all ages compete in the Open categories so Sidney, Melina and Cierra climbed in the 2nd session with all the adults. It was a redpoint format with the top 10 going to Onsight Finals later that night. Having been to the 1st session to keep score, I had an idea what climbs Sidney should start on. Since I was scoring the first session, I wouldn't be able to talk to her until at least an hour and half into her session. I told her she should start on this nice 770 and then turned her loose. Well, when I saw her a long while later, she had a pleasant surprise for me. I looked at her card and her 1st 5 climbs were all over 800! I asked her why she didn't start on the 770 and she said it looked too easy so she went and found something else to start on. The session soon ended and we went and got some Thai food in the parking lot to wait for scores. When they posted, we saw that there were 18 women in the open category. Cierra finished 16th, Melina finished 14th and Sidney qualified for Finals in 5th place. All the girls were happy with how they climbed. I took Sid home to get some rest before Finals.
There were 4 problems in Finals and they were TOUGH! All ten ladies flashed the 1st problem. Sidney climbed well and used all of her reach to tie for the 3rd highest point on the 2nd problem. She ran into a bit of a reach issue on the 3rd problem but still finished middle of the pack on that one. She was pumped by the time she reached the 4th problem and tied with 2 other women for low point on that one. In the end, Sidney finished in 8th place but climbed really, really well overall. To illustrate how close all the climbers were, places 4th through 8th were all separated by one hold as the final scores were 57, 56, 55, 54 and 53. Every time Sidney makes a Final, she gains valuable experience and this one was no different. We talked about a couple mistakes she made and possibly limiting some of her attempts to save energy, so she will be a better climb for it. All in all, everyone had a great time. The gym is so big that the parents can watch all the climbers which is a rarity at most gyms. If you have a chance to watch a comp at the SBP, I highly recommend it. Thanks SBP for a fun comp!
