Climbers jockey for position in bouldering league

Scottish National Bouldering league

Round 5 Results

Report by Kevin Howett

The results and current rankings for those attending the bouldering league after the fifth round was held at Avertical World in Dundee on 17^th February are now up on the website.

There were 25 competitors taking part in the league.

Out of the four contenders in the junior male category, a fight is developing between Jack Mckechnie and David Miedzybrodzki. Both competed at Dundee and for the second time David beat Jack to 1^st but their positions remain the same with Jack leading by 65 points. This is almost unbeatable with just one event to go, but anything can happen at a comp. It also means 3^rd place is pretty much open between contenders Fraser Moodie and Munro Brown.

In the adult female category, Tiffany Murray, competing in only her second event in the league took 1^st place and the 100 points which puts her in 5^th place overall. This means that the battle between Alison McDougal and Adja Remskar continues. Adja’s win in the last event saw he take 1^st place overall but she did not compete at Dundee. Lien Nguyen gained 2^nd here in her third event to place her in 4^th overall, a result which pushed Alison into 3^rd at Dundee so she closes the gap between them to just 9 points but is it enough? Laura Begbie retains her overall 3^rd position, but if Tiffany and Lien compete at Ratho then the 3^rd place on the podium is certainly in question.

The adult male category was the largest at Dundee with 10 competitors in SNBL. Richard Abel continues to dominate the league positions coming 1^st at Dundee picking up 100 SNBL points to retain 1^st place overall. But as Jay Carr did not compete, his win means he increased the gap between him and Jay by 109 points making his position at the top now certain, even if he did not compete at Ratho. Andre Venne took part in SNBL for the first time and took 2^nd place, whilst Byron Jackson continues to be steady, coming 4^th after TCA to increase his position to 3^rd place overall. This puts him (and Matt Berry who came 4^th) in contention for beating Jay to 2^nd place overall unless Jay competes at Ratho to try and retain that podium place. The fight for 3^rd is now definitely on between these three and possibly Nicholas Rodger, currently in 5^th but just 64 points behind Byron.

In the female vets category, the overall positions remain unchanged with Koon Morris at 1^st, with 30 SNBL points ahead of the others despite not competing, whilst Debbie Riley and Avril Gall had a close competition at AVW and came equal 1^st which means the points difference between them remains at 115. This means that Avril cannot better a 3^rd place overall in SNBL, but Debbie could take 1^st place if Koon does not compete.

Gareth Yardly, last year’s male vets winner, has competed in all rounds so far and his consistent 1^st or 2^nd placings means he continues to be 1^st overall. However, Dave Douglas is only 30 points away from him and has beaten Gareth in each of the three events he has entered including this one, so he could make that 1^st place SNBL podium this year at Ratho. John Sharples didn’t enter Dundee and so drops a place from 2^nd to 3^rd as Brendan Pollitt and Dave Hainsworth took 3^rd and 4^th respectively with Dave now in a position to perhaps take 3^rd overall at Ratho.

The final round will be held at EICA Ratho on the 18^th March. There are podium places still up for grabs in all categories so it will be interesting to see who decides to compete.

See the SNBL page on the website for full details of the League and to keep up date with the ranking.