CLIMBAPRIX 05

this article'll satisfy u news-hungry sprc mongrels. heh.

well well, Climbaprix is finally over. For the first time, Climbaprix adopted the "bouldering" format as compared to difficulty at the SAC wall two years ago. it took a one year hiatus in 2004. it was an opportunity for SPRC to showcase its 3-month old stunning bouldering wall, which is probably one of the best in Singapore. Around 120 climbers took part and they were made up from SP, TP, RP, NP, NYP, NUS(NTU duno go where), NTU-NIE, ITE Bukit Batok, ITE East, ITE Macpherson, ITE Dover, ITE Tampines.

Women Novice
Miss Jinli started the SP winnin streak with a first placing in Novice Chabors, with 6 superrrb tops, followed closely in second place by partner-in-crime, 'Striker Girl' Carene. A top 3 finish was not possible as a Nurafiqqa from ITE Simei stepped in to take 3rd. Our Ayu(super close 4th), Sal(6th), Kelly(8th) and Anna(13th) did v well too amongst the novice bunch. 'Miss no butt' Hayati and 'miss Lam-bat' Noraini unfortunately missed the opportunity to give the competition their run for their money. Next time ahh.

Men Novice
Next up, Mens Novice. The competition was tough with several top novices from the schools competing. Overall the routes were highly flash-able, with route 2 thwarting most of the novice monkeys off. Route 4 flat wall required a highly dynamic finish to a taped box on the ledge. Uzair from ITE BB stepped up and locked off on the 2-finger pocket for a powerful static finish and our Hanif, the frog, flewww and caught the box with a spectacular 2 handed grab. two contrasting styles. Toing. In first place we have our Eugene Low, packed, powerful and handsome, with an impeccable 6 tops in 6 tries! Close by is Uzair(2nd, lost by one attempt), and Hisham and Khairu Ariffin in shared 3rd place. Hans came in a shy 4th(next time don't be too shy ah), Aloy(7th), Francis(10th), Hasrul(11th), Hadi(17th), Astroboy Sufiyan(18th), Ze Rong(20th), Izzat(24th), Clarence(25), SS(26th), Jeremy(27th), Syukri(27th), Alfiyan(31st), Syu(32nd) and finally Luke 'Skywalker'(39th). (Jerome u are somewhere inside i not sure what place).

Women Open
Women Open was next. This was probably the event where the routes chewed the climbers alive and spit them back ruthlessly to the crashpads. more than 3/4 of the field ended up with only 2 cute little bonuses. with only 1 top from our Mimi Luuuuuuucinda, the event saw many near 'top' misses which were quite nerve-wrecking. it was the flat wall's 4th route again, requiring all of the competitors to take that leap of faith and grab the unforgiving grey ledge. Mimi kept in line with SP's streak of golds, with tall Ruixian(NUS) in 2nd and dynamic Xiang Lim(ITE Central) in 3rd. In 4th place we have Cheryl Kong(NUS), who was a strong and experienced competitor, being the only one to reach the tile above the roof on route 2. All in all, the route-setters could've been much kinder and moderated the routes slightly so that the moves would be more manageable and we might have seen more tops instead of drops. eh, rhymes.

Men Open
MENS OPEN. Mens open employed a slightly different format that the other categories, to the surprise of all those in isolation. they'll be dealing with 2 routes at one time, with 7 minutes climbing time and break. the routes were varying in styles and drove many climbers crazy. some were laughing, some shouting, some even crying inside. route 2 was known to be the 3-roof tile route, route 3 was the toughest with a two handed dyno finish with no one completing that, route 4 has a desperate jump diagonally to the right, route 5 hides a 'trick' misleading tile and route 6 made everyone extract their worst expletives towards the most cruel starting move. yeah, the routes grinned and snarled at the competition. the last climber exited the isolation zone at 1130 and the last climb was around 1151pm. SP wiped out the competition with 'Rocketboy' Hatta clinching 1st place, Irwan "the President" in 2nd and 'one finger pull up' Zaki in 3rd. Leonard(9th), Eugene(9th, wow), Sufian(14th), Idris(15th), Keith(17th), Asri(21st), Aloysius(21st) and Azmi(27th). Well done guys.

The event was scheduled for a one-day finish. ETF(estimated time finish) 9pm. WAKAKAKA. no way 9pm. literally we took one day. the shutters were shut at almost 12am, SPRC groggy heads could'nt care less about tidying up the place. "shove everything inside and pull the shutters down", Irwan lamented.

The club wishes to thank many many ppl for their contribution to make this event a success. especially to the MCs- Ashri, Zaki and Hafiz, who had to keep the records playing and humour the crowd with their super entertaining crap, and the routesetters - Yazid aka Gollum, Winson, Weida(SP alumni), Hafiz(National), Su ann( Bouldering National), Beatrice(our national climber who recently clinched 4th place in X-games, Korea), Irwan, Luqman, Zaki, Azmi Burn, Faizal(SP alumni), whom without them we won't be able to witness the climbing spectacle of Climbaprix. and not forgetting each and everyone of the spotters, registration helpers, judges, spectators as well.

to the members of SPRC, the club is always working on making its whole team a strong contingent, which should not to be taken lightly. it was a resounding success on the medal tally, with SPRC clinching 8 out of the possible 12 medals. it will be an interesting next few months, and SPRC will be closely following everyone's progress.

'Climb, as if its the last thing u'll ever do' -sprc-