Scottish National Bouldering League Round 2 results

Report by Kevin Howett

The Scottish National Bouldering League (SNBL) is a unique competition which takes scores and placings from four local bouldering competitions to secure league points and a final SNBL ranking. With six rounds available to try and increase your SNBL points, tactics come into play in deciding which competitions to attend. Round 2 of the SNBL was held at Inverness Leisure last weekend and the leaders of the League have changed as a result, with several competitors surging ahead and increasing their SNBL points considerably.

There were no changes in the Junior categories, with Kirsten Taylor remaining 1^st in the Junior Female and Jack Mckechinie 1^st in the Junior Male; David Miedzybrodzki is in 2^nd. There is ample opportunity for more juniors to make their mark in this category in the remaining rounds.

In the Adult Female category, Alison McDougal has taken overall 1^st place from Rachel Carr, who has now dropped to 3^rd place. Laura Begbie and Joy Carters have moved up from joint 16^th to now take 2^nd and 4^th places respectively. There are now only 16 points separating the top three competitors. In the Adult Male category Angus Davidson has been knocked off 1^st place by Jay Carr and now sits at 3^rd place. Byron Jackson moves up from joint 9^th after the Alien Rock competition to 3^rd place while Matt Berry now sits at 7^th overall from his previous joint 11^th. Competing in their first round of this year’s SNBL were Richard Abel, who came joint 1^st in the Inverness competition which put him in 4^th place in the overall rankings, and Stewart Goodwin who took 3^rd at Inverness and so comes in at 8^th place. Nicholas Roger has also moved up from 8^th to 5^th and Steward Ingram from 18^th to 9^th. Jay is now a good 50 points ahead of any rival and there are only about 10 points between 3^rd and 7^th places.

In the Vets Female category, Koon Morris competed in her second round and retains her 1^st place (and increases her SNBL points substantially) ahead of Debbie Riley and Avril Carr who will now have to play tactically and increase their points. In the Vets Male category Tim Carruthers, the leader after round 1, had to bow out due to injury, which allowed the previous 2^nd place Vet (and last year’s overall winner) Gareth Yardley to increase his ranking at Inverness and take 1^st place overall. Tim moves down to joint 4^th with Dave Douglas who won the Inverness round. John Sharples and Dave Hainsworth did well at Inverness increasing their ranking to take 2^nd and 3^rd places overall respectively. The battle for 3^rd place is now on with four contenders with close SNBL points.

The next round will be held at Transition Extreme on 3^rd December and with some strong northern climbers entering at Inverness and probably here as well, Round 3 could be interesting!

Check here for full details of the League and to keep up date with the ranking. With some great prizes from Allcord  why not take up the SNBL challenge – it is still all to play for!