Do your best. Have fun.
I’ve been living so much in anticipation of events, that I’ve hardly taken any time to consider the events themselves. It really hit me this last Saturday.
All summer, I’ve been training for an event hosted by my climbing gym, CityROCK: Battle Royale. It’s a sport climbing competition that they last hosted in 2019 and in fact was won by Paris 2024 Olympic athletes Natalia Grossman and Colin Duffy. After 5 years, CityROCK had decided to bring it back. It differs from the gym’s typical “Downtown Local” comps in that there’s a cash prize ($500 for first place) and the tie breaker boils down to “the battle route.” Essentially, the battle route is such a challenging route that your goal is just to make it as far as up it possible, not necessarily finish it. If you are the male or female who makes it the furthest, you are automatically put into the finals round. Otherwise, the judges are looking at your top 3 hardest finishes. There are 20 routes, #1 being the easiest/fewest points and #20 being the hardest/most points. You get extra points if you “flash” the route (i.e. finish it on your first try) and additional points if you lead the route, rather than top rope. You get 4 hours to get your 3 routes and the top 8 climbers in each category advance.
In 2019, I was far too intimidated to compete in Battle (and knowing Natalia won, I’m honestly glad I didn’t throw my hat in the ring). But my climbing has progressed so much in the last year, it felt silly not to give it a shot this time around. I climbed hard all summer long — getting on harder routes outside than I had ever attempted, pushing myself on the toughest routes at the gym, and climbing through fatigue and fear. I had being working so hard, in fact, that I hadn’t even really imagined what Battle would actually be like.
In the months leading up, my main concern was that a ton of really strong women from Boulder or Denver would show up and blow me out of the water. While I may be one of the strongest women at CityROCK, CityROCK is just one gym in one town in Colorado. My goal with Battle was not to win; it was to hold my own. I really wanted to make it to finals, at least, and make a decent showing.
When I arrived for the comp on Saturday, after months of worrying about a bunch of adult women showing me up, I was in for a bigger surprise. A lot of incredibly strong kids had come to give Battle a try. When I say “kids,” I mean high schoolers. But not just any high schoolers — high schoolers donning matching North Face USA Climbing hoodies, clearly comp kids who do these contests all the time. They looked not only strong, but serious. All business.
My fellow CityROCKers and I were definitely put through the wringer in qualifiers. For my part, my top 3 routes at Downtown Local comps are usually in the 15-20 range — e.g. I send #15, #17, and #18. This comp was way stiffer. I warmed up on #13, which probably was 5.11+/5.12-. I struggled on #14 and #15. I mercifully sent #16 but had to downgrade to #12 to just get 3 routes. And #12 was no gimme either! My attempt at the Battle route, which one of the setters speculates was 5.13c, was brutal. I wasn’t down about it, though. I was genuinely proud of myself of persevering through these tough routes, and I couldn’t help but laugh with the other CityROCK adults as these kids showed us up.
I was afraid that having #12, #13, and #16 wasn’t going to be enough to get me to finals. But it was more than enough — I got 4th in qualifiers! I’ll take that to the bank for sure, considering I had probably a decade on the ladies who got the top 3 spots. But now came the part I hadn’t thought about: finals would be in front of a large crowd of folks who had paid to spectate. Could I climb well under that sort of pressure? I didn’t know.
Gratefully, there were 3 other CityROCK members who made it to finals: Julie, Wiley, and Jono. Two men and two women from the host gym made it — it felt like we were the home team! The pressure felt a little more manageable knowing that the crowd knew us the best and would cheer for us the loudest. However, that couldn’t ease all of our nerves. As finalists, we were all put in “iso” (isolation) as the crowd filed in. We couldn’t see the routes at all, sequestered in the upstairs training area. As these high schoolers monkeyed around in iso, somehow still full of energy, the rest of us weathered adults tried to stretch and stay warm without exhausting ourselves further.
After we got 2 minutes to view each of the two finals routes, we were lined up. We all had a specific time to be called down to the climbing area, followed by a waiting period before climbing, then climbing itself. Each competitor got 6 minutes per route with a 7-minute break in between. However, before climbing each route, we had to sit in front of the wall, our backs to it, while our fellow competitors were attempting it and the crowd was cheering. To say it was stressful would be an understatement.
Mercifully, based on our qualifying rankings, Wiley and I would go down to the wall at the same time and climb at the same time. In addition, Jono would be climbing his second finals route while we climbed our first. This boosted our morale enormously.
When we got down to the gym floor, the crowd screaming and cheering, I felt overwhelmed with pride and emotion. I’ve never experienced a competition like this before. When I finally got on the wall, for the first time all day, all the jitters went away. I felt strong, controlled, and supported. I had so much fun. Though I didn’t finish either of the finals routes, I am totally satisfied with my effort. And I’ll never forget that halfway up the second route, though he was also climbing, Wiley yelled over to me, “Great job, Sarah!” He got third place — the only non-comp kid to podium.
I don’t know if visualizing finals beforehand would have helped me. The whole experience taught me so much about myself, though — how much I’ve grown as a climber and how much further I have to go. How I deal with stress and pressure and fatigue. How I maintain a positive attitude in light of setbacks. How I perform in front of an audience. What I’m most proud of, though, is how I showed up for myself and my gym. To fall off that second finals route, untie, and run into a big bear hug with Wiley and Jono made me feel such joy that the outcome was practically meaningless.
Before the day even started, I just kept repeating the mantra: Do your best. Have fun. I think I succeeded.
