ABS Nationals Finals, Boulder, CO
Monday March 23, 2009
Some photos and video of ABS Finals can be found on my Webshots photo site.
The final outcome was as follows:
|
Men’s Results 1) Daniel Woods 2) Paul Robinson 3) Sean McColl 4) Ethan Pringle 5) Julian Bautista 6) Johnny Goicoechea (SEA) 7) Carlo Traversi 8) Magnus Midtboe 9) Nalle Hukkataival 10) Ryan Sewell |
Women’s Results 1) Alex Johnson 2) Chauncenia Cox 3) Alex Puccio
4) Gabi Masse
5) Lisa Rands
6) Kate McGinnis 7) Kasia Pietras 8) Sydney McNair (SEA) 9) Tiffany Hensley 10) Elizabeth Asher |
The finals were a blast! There was a line around the gym waiting to get in and despite being back in the line some ways, I found myself in a rather decent spot, thanks to Adam and Tyson who were in early. A Vertical World crew gathered near the front, which made prime viewing for the women's problems. Men's problem #1 and 3 were blocked from view. Sometimes I could see from the big TV if the camera was showcasing some moves on those problems, otherwise, I couldn't see anything. Therefore, most of my write up will be about the women's problems.
The
problems looked super rad! First out for the guys
was a guy in a pink unitard,
Maxim Zolotukhin. First
out for the ladies was Kasia Pietras. Next out for
the women was Seattle's very own Sydney McNair.
The first woman's problem started out pretty technical. There was mantel press into a vertical wall and a long leaning move onto a pretty good hold that you swing onto followed by some techy moves, a slightly tricky sequence and a powerful finish. Only the Alex's topped that one, though Syd came super close!
Problem
#2 looked really good. It started up a corner with a
tough move onto a sloper. It looked as though once
you got that, you got the bonus hold, easily. Only 1
person topped this problem: Chauncenia Cox. Everyone
got the Bonus.
Problem #3: This was a more typical boulder problem. Tensiony and big moves. This problem provided some separation, at least. 6 of 17 people got the Bonus hold and 3 people topped the problem.
Problem
#4: This looked like the coolest problem of them
all. It had a double hand dyno start, some wicked
traverse, tension moves to a powerful finish. 3
people got the Bonus hold and no one topped.
While the bonus holds were placed better, the zone scoring was still not as effective as it could have been for several reasons. First and foremost, there were not enough problems to provide good separation and prevent large bottlenecks of ties. For example, 6 people tied for 7th place.
For
the guys, there seemed to be fewer bottlenecks. The
end of the 2nd problem looked really hard, yet,
Seattle's own Johnny Goicocoechea very nearly stuck
it! The last problem looked wicked fun and I
have a video some people's attempts. All in
all, I had a blast watching and would do it again in
a heartbeat!
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