Wednesday, March 7, 2012

TEVA GAMES



The first winter Teva games were a total success.
Many different mountain sports, including climbing, were part of the awesome and fun weekend that took place in Vail, Colorado.
The mixed competition structure that they made was like the ones that I have climbed on in the Ice World Cup in Europe.
Basically, it was two routes that mirror image each other and two competitors climbed head to head as fast as they can. Once at the top, they were lowered down to rest for 3 minutes, then switched sides and went again. The way the competition worked, was a single elimination format, pretty much if you lose against the other competitor you are out. If you win, you get to go to the next round and do it all again.
Because of the set up, unfortunately, there was not any ice on the structure. Instead, they put this new foam that you can swing into, like as if it was ice. It was pretty interesting, because nobody, not even the people who made it, knew how it would work.

Before hand we all met to talk about rules and how this whole thing is going to work.
Then it was time for the comp!!!!!
There was a total of 20 competitors, 17 men and only 3 women.
Because of the numbers, men and woman were in the same group.
The competition started, it was such a cool and fun format.
I got to go the second round after winning in the first.
Only 10 competitors got to move to the next round.
Next round went by and only 6 of us advanced. Once again refuel and get ready for the next round. the Competition is getting harder and harder. The next round would be the one that would determine who will go to the finals.
By this point we all knew the route pretty well and the time is getting faster and faster.
The round was super fast and we all climbed great. Now there was only 4 of us to go to the final. At this point the night was falling with the snow that was increasing. More and more people were gathering to see the finals. The energy was awesome. Time to climb again, this round determined 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th places.
I got to go against Stanislav a 6 foot 3 inch Eastern European cardio machine. Our competition was pretty tight, but in the end only one of us climbed faster and it was him. After climbing the route 10 times a full speed I was pretty tired and glad that it was over.

Final Results:
1. Sam Elias
2. Stanislav
3. Brian Gilmore
4. Andres Marin
5. Marcus Garcia

For the girls, the judges decided to have a final between them even though they all had gotten eliminated in the first round. It was between Emily Harrington and Dawn Glanc.
Unfortunately, neither of them where able to finish the route either time, which was a little disappointing Emily fell lower than Dawn which give her a pretty easy first place. Hopefully, next year more woman can be at this event.

In the end it was such a great times. Climbing as fast as you can competing against friends and have good all times.
Totally looking forward next year.
This is how the structure looked like.
Pretty steep in the end of the route. The round things where the foam holds.