This past Saturday was the first Western TDB of the season! The Edge in North Vancouver hosted it, and I was bummed not to be competing due to my stubborn knee. So I borrowed my friend Jamie Chong’s camera and made a movie instead!
This is my very first movie! I apologize for it being so grainy. It was a dark gym that night! Enjoy.
The Edge Tour de Bloc 2011 from Vikki Weldon on Vimeo.
Hey team.
Just sneaking around the interweb and saw a few posts about the final results. Couldn’t find the full results (not sneaky enough) but here are the top 3 in each category:
Women’s
1. Clarrie Lam
2. Elise Sethna
3. Melissa Lacasse
Men’s
1. Sean McColl
2. Yves Gravelle
3. Terry Paholek
These are the provisional results apparently, so don’t get all cranky if there is a mistake.
Stacey ended up finishing 4th. A strong finish for a girl making a comeback in the world of competition rock climbing. She admitted she was a tad bit upset, but when I chatted with her she was all happy and ready to enjoy friends and bubbly drinks at the afterparty. There seems to be a theme with the comeback girls lately. Angie Payne made quite the show last weekend at the ‘Battle in the Bubble’ in Boulder, CO, just barely conceding to Alex Puccio on the final problem. She’s apparently been out for the game for quite a while due to an intense injury. It’s all very inspiring to watch these girls perservere and come back strong.
On another note, I also heard that the prize money for this competition was given for up the 6 places in the Men’s category and only up to 3 places in the Women’s. Don’t quote me on these exact numbers by the way. In any case, it is an interesting situation. There were 44 men registered in the competition while only 15 girls entered. That is a whopping big difference. And in that respect, then perhaps it is fair to give more money for guys? BUT..think about it. Girlies don’t have a choice to be girlies. They just are. They cannot control how many of their sex enters into a competition. They try just a hard as the guys to earn their ranking at the end. So how come they should get penalized for this? Also, prize money is normally given out equally to both men and women through out the TDB circuit. Prize money is not controlled by the TDB, but rather the gyms that hold the comps. And there normally is alot more men than women at any given competition. So it seems to be out of the ordinary, and may be why it is causing a bit of an upset.
Just something to think about. I’m sure there will be lot’s of debate on the subject. There are always two sides to the story. In my opinion, I would say that it is unfair to give less money to the girls. But I am a girlie. So I’m a tad bit biased. Anyways, your thoughts ladies and gents?
The first day of the 2010 Canadian National Championships are finished folks! Here are the results. Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s finals results!
Just a note…check out who is dominating the women’s field. Big sister’s making a comeback!!
A lovely sunny day here in good ol’ Van city. Don’t judge me that I’m sitting on my couch staring at this glowing screen. I have the best and oldest excuse in the book: “finals are a’comin!”
Yup, I’m just about finished Level 1 of my nursing degree. Only 5 more levels to go! (That’s 3 years in total for all you non-BCIT nursing students). But that doesn’t mean I’m on break for the summer. Oh no…I have 3 summer courses to take that are required for the program. Yummy. How does “Critical Reading and Writing” float your boat? No? “Applied Ethics”? Hmm..alright, I won’t bore you anymore with all that. The good news is I’m looking forward to a good number of days out in Squamish this summer! I have a few hard projects in mind, but mainly I’m extremely psyched to get up high in the sky up on the Chief.
But right now, I have a nagging shoulder injury that must be dealt with. I unfortunately tweaked the darn thing in February and it hasn’t quite healed yet. This may largely be in part do to my heinous studying posture.
Lower-right hand corner has my name written all over it..
Leading up to the summer, my goal is to regain my shoulder health and strength so I can dedicate myself to some crushing 
That’s all for now. I’ve added the videos from last years TDB Nationals, which is being held this year in Toronto at the infamous Joe Rockhead’s May 22-23rd. This will be my second year not competing at the Canadian Nationals, and I know I’ll be missing one hell of a show once again.
So keep up the training ladies and gents! Loads of summer climbing ahead!
Love
This past weekend was the Western Tour de Bloc Regionals!
Cliffside Climbing Gym in Kamloops, BC held the Open qualifiers, combined with a fun comp for youth and adults. This was the first competition held in Kamloops since I was a youngster, and I must say that Simon and Sabrina (the owners) did a pretty darn good job!
Beyond the Crux (Kelowna, BC) held a CEC sanctioned youth comp and citizen’s comp in the morning and put on a spectacular show for finals in the evening. With a bit of a nagging shoulder problem right now, I opted to keep two feet on the ground and watch my friends crush this weekend.
Finals at the Crux were incredible! Mike and April Shannon are the masters of fun, and they showed their true colours this weekend. Problem #3 (aka ‘The Shark Pit’) for both men and women was the showcase of the evening, with a massive blown up shark and pirhana with laser beams attached to their heads providing some motivation for climbers to stay on the wall. A big swing also started the climbers off. It was some good ol’ fashioned fun climbers and spectators alike. I have to say that whenever there is a comp in K-town, you are guaranteed a riot of a time!
The night ended with a suprise kidnapping of Gary Foster, the lucky unsuspecting birthday boy, who ended up with his hand and feet hog tied and a pillow case taped unnecessarily tight over his eyes. The kidnappers brought Gary to Mike and April’s house where his girlfriend, Karly, his parents and his friends were all waiting. It was a grand night, with a bonfire, Mike Shannon’s infamous ‘salty pork’ and tractor barrel racing.
Although I didn’t compete this weekend, I still had a fantastic time. I was also motivated to get over my injury and start climbing harder than ever!
Here are the results from the comp this weekend. Ryan came 3rd!!
Women’s Open
1. Tiffany Melius
2. Amanda Berezowski
3. Audrey Sniezek
4. Clarrie Lam
5. Elise Sethna
6. Sarah Austin
7. Maria Celkova
8. Regan Kennedy
Men’s Open
1. Sean McColl
2. Terry Paholek
3. Ryan Olson
4. Miles Adamson
5. Josh Muller
6. Jamie Chong
7. Pat Valade
8. Nate Woods
Enjoy some pics! They’re not in order and totally random, but they’re colorful and show the fun!
Tiffany at the TDB qualifiers in Kamloops
Amanda B.
Alison S-P.
Nate W.
Nate W.
Maria C.
Josh M.
Does he do it?
Jamie C.
Alex 'Dirty Q-tip' Q.
Ryan O.
Ben M.
Clarrie and Gary, the unsuspecting birthday boy
Big Ben
Little Ben
Medium sized Ben
Leo
Tim
Little Thomas making big moves
Selena
Thomas
Some green wall fun
Ben F.
Selena
Kyle
Sean M. looking a little shaky on problem #2 
PHOTO: Ryan Olson
Josh M. reliving a childhood moment on problem #3. PHOTO: Ryan Olson
Quick little update for you all. Last weekend I took a little road trip out to Kelowna to compete in my first Tour de Bloc competition of the year. Mike and April Shannon own a little gym called Beyond the Crux and every year they put on a fantastic comp. This year wasn’t disappointing with a new wall and a huge turnout. I had only competed once or twice last year and I was determined just to go and have fun. My little bro lives and studies in Kelowna and it was a great opportunity for me to go and see him.
Finals was quite interesting. I got my ass HANDED to me on the first two problems and was sitting waiting to go on #3 with a frown on my face and some regret about entering the comp building up. By some luck, Ryan was sitting next to one his rest between problems, and he just gave me a pat on the back and told me to just have some fun. Next thing I know, on problem 3, I’m dangling from the final hold. Interestingly enough, this was the problem that my little brother both set and judged. Hmmm…no cheating, I swear. Just good sibling intuition!
All in all it was a great comp and I had a ton of fun.
Now back to school!
I leave you all with some film photos that I had tucked away and have scanned for your viewing pleasure. The black and white photos are from a Holga camera. Blurry pics, but fun nonetheless!
Enjoy and peace out.
North Shore Advice
Downtown Vancouver from the North Shore
Sneaky Sneaks
Seawall Fog
Ah to have a home on the sea
Relax, just follow those dreams
What's this? Both sisters smiling? No funny faces? Madness