push her hard. If you reach a ceiling, then we know that she can't work that hard. And
if she doesn't reach the ceiling, then we know that she can work harder. It's been sort of like
seven to nine hour days, six days a week. I either want to change the way that I view
competition climbing or I don't want to do it anymore. I just want to
climb my best and be at my strongest. If I do, hopefully go to the Paris Olympics.
Welcome to the season two finale of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host, Jinni,
and I'm excited to introduce my guest, Erin McNeice. Erin is a boulder and lead climber from
Team GB, who has been having a stellar 2024 season so far, making finals for boulder and Keqiao,
lead in Wujiang, and getting bronze in Shanghai OQS. In this episode, we'll get some insight into
how she seemed to rise out of nowhere, her brutal offseason training, we'll learn a bit about Team GB,
and stay for the end to hear about where the Erin McBeast nickname came from. This is her
first long form interview, so please send her some love and well wishes for the next OQS event in
Budapest. Hope you enjoy this episode with Erin. I guess we'll just start with how you're doing
today. Did you do any training today? I'm doing well. I did a bit of training today about
I'm sort of having a deload after Shanghai, so focused on recovery at the moment. So it's
been pretty relaxing. Yeah, that makes sense. So not getting ready for Budapest yet. I've had a few
intense days, but I've got quite a lot of focus sessions coming up. So I've got like a GB training
weekend, which will be focused on really hard boulders, and then I'm heading out to Innsbruck.
So focused on hard leads. So I think that'll be my prep. So I've got a bit of time to relax now.
Okay, that's good. That's good. Glad to hear. Are you happy with your position right now going into
Budapest? Yeah, pretty happy. I think I couldn't have really done much more. And I think I put
myself in quite a good position for Budapest. Obviously, the job's only half done, but yeah,
the points are looking quite positive at the moment. Yeah, I mean, congrats on your performance
in Shanghai. It was really cool to see, and I'm glad that we get to talk about it today. Thanks.
So we'll just get right into it. When and where did you start climbing? I guess when I first
started climbing was when I was five. My parents took me to a wall. It's called Revolution. I
actually don't know where it is. It's sort of near London, I think. It was like a climbing wall,
a one-half, and then a skateboard park. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I went to do both, and one of them was
climbing, obviously. Yeah, it was quite uneventful, really. I joined a club and I went there weekly,
and I just did it for fun for the next eight years. Oh, okay. So the whole time was at the
climbing skate park gym? I think predominantly until I was about maybe 10, nine or 10, and then
we moved and then I joined a similar club. And it was just fun, really. And I was six years old
and under 13, so I think I just enjoyed the fact that I could climb with 12-year-olds who, at that
point, I thought were big kids and I just liked that I could keep up with them. Yeah, I mean,
if you were six and they were 12, they are pretty big kids. I remember how that feels like. So the
skate park part didn't appeal to you. Now, I remember liking skateboarding a lot more than
I liked climbing at that point. It's quite cool, skateboarding. I just liked it for the novelty of
it being skateboarding. Okay. Do you still skateboard ever? I haven't skateboarded in a long
time, but I did sort of carried it on as I got older, but climbing sort of took over. How did you
make that switch from doing it, doing just climbing for fun and actually preferring skateboarding to
getting more into the climbing portion? So I joined this competition squad. The reach, and then I was
there for a bit and I started doing Blockfest, which is like a regional competition series in
the UK just for fun because everybody else in the reach squad wanted to do it. So I sort of joined in
and that was just, it didn't really feel like a competition. It just sort of felt like a day out
with my friends, like having fun. And through Blockfest, I heard about national competitions
and the guy that was telling me about it was really emphasizing that it was a massive step
up from regional competitions. And it was like really official and like kids going who were
practically professionals. So I was like, okay, I'll go and try this. And it was definitely,
he wasn't exaggerating. It was definitely a step up. And my first national, I think I came
14th in my age category, which wasn't too bad, but definitely it felt so different. That's the
first time I saw the GB team and all the people my age who were like in GB kit and working together.
And that's sort of the first time that I thought I had the thought of wanting to do it and wanting
to be one of those kids who is basically a professional at the age of like 13.
So I guess at the time at those competitions, were they already kind of setting like
a low percentage comp style moves or was it different?
And it was pretty different. I think I remember it being quite like
crimpy and there was only there were like eight qualification blocks and only one of them had a
jump and the rest were like, yeah, pretty crimpy and quite like on really small overhangs
and quite technical. But I watched the finals, I stayed and watched the finals and they were
like very much showy and jumpy. And yeah, it was fresh. And like all of the six finalists were all
in the GB team and they were just so sort of like went and executed every one of the finals blocks
and I just remember thinking like that was like beyond anything I could have done.
So I was so amazed that there are people my age who were able to go and execute those kinds of
moves straight away. Sounds kind of intimidating. Did you kind of feel that way at your first comp?
Yeah, definitely. I think you don't really think that there are people,
when you're that age, you don't really think that there are people your age doing that.
And to see it, to see this group of people working together to solve a problem and then
competing against each other at that higher level is definitely eye opening. And
then think of my second national. And my second national I made finals. I don't know how I was
incredibly shocked. But then to be competing alongside those kinds of people was, yeah,
it's pretty crazy. Well, it's really cool that even though you were like intimidated at that
first nationals, you kind of still felt that inkling of wanting to do this more full time
or like become a professional in a way. I feel like I could never do that. So that's cool to hear.
And so your parents didn't have any like climbing background as well.
Oh, my dad used to do it in university. He was in the English gymnastics team when he was younger
for a bit. And then he'd sort of... Yeah, I used to get him to do like tricks when I had my friends
around to try and impress them. But he wasn't a climber, but he just did it for fun. So he took
us with him. Okay, cool. Can he still do any tricks nowadays? I reckon he probably could.
He's not... I haven't gotten to do it in a while, but I'm sure he could if I put the pressure off.
Okay, cool. So do you feel like his gymnastics background and maybe like slight climbing
background helped you at all when you were young and improving? I think it definitely helped that
he had an athletic background because he got me involved in a lot of sports. Climbing wasn't the
only one by far. It was one of so many, like I said, skateboarding and triathlon, so like swimming
and cycling as well and surfing. And like I had so many options, which I think really helped
because by the time I started getting properly into climbing, I was so confident in my ability
in sports in general that I sort of felt less intimidated in this sporting environment, I guess.
Did he ever put you through any training or like put together plans for you?
I guess it always was... If it was training, it was always fun, like challenges. I guess
it was sort of a way to just trick me into training by giving me challenges because I was stubborn
enough to get involved. But definitely now he's really involved in my training and picks up on
really niche things that I need to work on that's definitely helped. He's been really involved in
like random weird exercises this off season that have improved tiny little things that I haven't
noticed. Okay. Do you have any examples of that? Yeah. One of them was like power in my legs, but
not power in the first part of a jump, like power in your ankles at the end. And he came up with
loads of exercises to increase that last like little bit of a jump. And it's made like a massive...
I think it was the main reason I made World Cup finals, Boulder World Cup finals, because I
wouldn't have been able to do that jump without the like pop of my ankles. So yes, it's made a
massive difference. Okay. So what are you supposed to work on? Because I could probably use some help
with that as well. It's just sort of like focusing on... He's given me loads of like jumping exercises
except that you aren't really allowed to bend your legs. So all of the jump comes from the ankles.
Okay. I've actually seen that as like a trend on TikTok where you're supposed to try to jump as
high as you can without bending your knees. Is that a helpful exercise? Yeah, so I've seen that as
well. Yeah. You don't look the... I mean, it's not the most... You don't look like an athlete when
you do it, but I promise it really helps. Okay. So then I assume you're really good at that one?
Yeah. There's always room for improvement, but I'm okay. I might ask to see a video of it if I end
up creating a short or a reel of that later. And then I'll try it as well. So it's not just you.
No. Okay. Cool. So you had just sort of more recently come into the worldwide scene where
you made finals. So people are kind of starting to become more familiar with what your climbing is
like. But yeah, we haven't seen too much yet. And you've also done like a pretty good mix of both
boulder and lead comps, and it looks like you're kind of equally strong in both. So which one is
your preference? Probably bouldering, just because I think I'm more confident in bouldering. I've been
focusing on it more, I think, for longer, but definitely still enjoy lead. And I've worked
really hard on it over the last year, and I think I've gotten, well, I've definitely gotten a lot
better. So I have started enjoying it more since I've gotten more confident at it and more
comfortable as well. But yeah, boulder probably. Yeah. I mean, I didn't know you had a strong
preference for it at all because you seem to be doing both quite well. It's like really not obvious
which one you feel stronger at. So that's cool. And then in terms of characterizing your climbing,
I think a similar thing, like with a lot of people, it's easier to tell if there are certain moves
they're more comfortable with or what their strengths and skill sets lie. But yeah, how do
you characterize your climbing? Yeah, I don't think that there's anything that I'm
like, that I would say is a weakness. But I also don't think there's anything that stands
out massively as a strength. I think I'm pretty okay at everything.
That's a strength in a way. Yeah, definitely. I never come out to a climb and
I'm worried about it, which is good. But I also never come out to a climb thinking I've 100% got
it. There are definitely climbs where I look forward to it. I really enjoy jumps and coordination
moves. So if I see one of those, I'm always excited to get on it. But I think slabs probably
definitely used to be a weakness. And I've worked really hard on that over the last off season.
So it's not so much of a weakness anymore. Yeah, I think you also mentioned earlier that
you'll be going to Innsbruck to train for LEAD specifically. Do you feel like for things like
LEAD and slabs, there's not as much experience that you can gain in the UK? Yeah, I think there's
quite a lot of things in the UK that I've struggled to get on. LEAD is probably the main thing.
I've managed to do it over the off season, but that's mainly because I've been focusing on my
base. So I don't necessarily need really hard climbs. But now, especially after the last OQS,
I wanted to get on 8Cs and stuff to feel more comfortable on those because I'm pretty
comfortable on anything up to 8B plus. And you just don't get 8Cs in the UK. And for slabs,
sort of the same. You don't really get slabs in the UK. I have pretty hard to find actual slabs
that aren't there in the UK. So yeah, going abroad for that is also quite important.
Do you have a favorite place that you've trained slabs? Any depot wall in the UK will always have
a slab. So you can go there and be sure that you'll get onto a slab. And Boulder UK in Preston also
is very good for slabs. I think most of the walls are slabs or a vert wall, which is really helpful
for more training. I was going to talk about the GB climbing team a bit later, but
this is kind of a better segue into it. Do you guys have a training team or a training facility,
or do you just kind of go around to whatever gyms are near you? Yeah, at the moment, it's,
we go around to gyms. We used to have a base in Sheffield, but we don't have that wall anymore.
So recently we had a training weekend at London and we'll have another one coming up in a couple
of weeks. And they were really good. We have setters in and they set specific jaw zone problems.
And yeah, the setting was good and the whole selection was really good. And the wall was
really good. So definitely still, there was so much effort put into it. So even though we don't have
a wall, it was really, really beneficial before the OQS to have that. And we also had the GB
coaches there, which is never going to be bad because they're good coaches. So it's nice to have
them around. How often do you guys get together as a full team GB training session? As a full team,
we had one before the Shanghai World Cup as a full team, so seniors and juniors and everybody
down to quite young, which is actually really cool. And I hope we have more of them. But usually it's
a little bit more segregated. So there'll be like the OQS group because they need to train different
things. And also people are at different comps. People are at like youth comps and ECs and then
World Cups and stuff. So it's quite hard to get them all together. But normally pre-season, it'll be full team.
And do you only work with the team coaches or do you also have your own coach?
I have my own coaches. I get my training plan from Oli Tor from Lattice. And then I have a
strength and conditioning coach, Tom Parkington. And then I have Rachel, who is a GB coach and they
all sort of work together to make sure that the training plan is coherent to all of their views.
That's a lot of coaches.
Yeah, I thought it would be, it's definitely a risk to have that many people because ideas and
views clash. But they're very good at communicating. And I think each one of them brings something
completely new to the plan, which has been vital for my season so far. So it's been good.
So it's good that I guess they all have communication with each other.
How long have you been working with those coaches?
I've been working with Oli for maybe two years, but I've been with Lattice for quite a long time.
Tom, just this like previous off season, I started working with him. And Rachel,
worked with Rachel for quite a long time, but she's been more involved in my training for the
past two years. And I see her, I see her a lot and have sessions with her a lot. So yeah, I think
probably two years properly, but I've known her for quite a long time.
Yeah. And I guess we can kind of get into your training a little bit more. Well, first of all,
it's like, it's really interesting to me from an outsider's point of view to see how people
seem to suddenly come out of nowhere, like season to season and like find really incredible form.
What do you think you did in training during off season that really worked for you this year?
I think that this off season, I basically pushed, I think it's hard because last off season,
I worked hard, but sometimes you think you're working hard and you're maybe not working as hard
as you can, but it's hard to know how hard you can work. And I remember Tom Greenall,
who used to be like the head coach for GB before he retired was basically saying to my coaches,
push her hard, harder. And if you reach a ceiling, then we know that she can't work that hard.
And if she doesn't reach the ceiling, then we know that she can work harder because I think
coaches are scared of overworking their athletes, which is fair, but then I didn't break and I could
work harder. So is the ceiling like injury or?
I think the ceiling is just, I wouldn't say injury, I guess. When you start getting
like minor tweaks and stuff way more often, then you should lower it a bit.
But I didn't get to the point where I was getting like tweaks every week. So I took that as that the
training load was okay.
So you felt like this season before you thought you were working hard and you actually just weren't?
Yeah, I think there's a difference between being tired and being like, well, there's obviously a
difference between being tired and being exhausted. And this past off season has definitely been like
exhausted. It's been sort of like seven to nine hour days, six days a week.
Oh, wow. All right. So what happens in seven to nine hours? Because that is quite a long time.
And the depths of off season, I would be doing circuits every day. They wouldn't always be hard,
but just to get the base in, I'd do that. And usually finger boarding, I guess. Obviously not
every day, but usually in a normal day, finger boarding and then circuits and then like, so
no, every day is different. But if I'm on the board, then two hours on the board or then boulders.
And I guess every part of that day has to be really focused to what you're actually meant to be
achieving. But when you actually put it all together, it actually takes a really long time to do.
Yeah, I guess like, do you consider resting as part of those seven to nine hours? Obviously like,
not like a full rest, but like taking some time or like having a snack or like,
is nutrition part of those seven to nine hours? I'd say yeah, but I would never take more than like
45 minutes to it. Because obviously if it's seven to nine hours, there's always going to be a meal
in between. Yeah. I'd hope so. Yeah, maybe give or take 45 minutes. Oh, wow.
Okay, that is a lot of training. More than I thought. I think, yeah, I guess like,
I can't imagine doing that much. My body would definitely break. So it's good to hear that
your body didn't break. The nine hour days were definitely, because obviously when I say I like
work on slabs, you can really, you can sort of work on slabs for like three or four hours,
and it's not too taxing. So if it was nine hours, I would be working, I would be having like slabs
set for me for like four hours and then maybe some power endurance for an hour and then some
conditioning for two hours and stuff. So it's all, yeah, it sounds like a lot, but the tiny things
do add up. So then in terms of finding great form this year, do you think it was a good idea to
do that? I mean, you've been doing a lot of great form this year. Do you think it was just like the
hours that you put into the gym or was there like a mindset shift or anything like that?
There was definitely a mindset shift. I think in competition climbing, even if you're really
strong, you're not going to perform well or get good results if you don't have a good mindset.
For the last like two months before the season started, I would be working on my mindset with
Rachel mostly, and it was difficult because I'd had the same mindset for so long and I sort of
felt like, because I think as athletes sometimes people feel like you have to be really serious
take it really serious because it's your job. So you've got to be really focused, but that doesn't
work for everybody and it definitely wasn't working for me. So I found that taking a more
relaxed approach and smiling and laughing about things and messing about a little bit and
just focusing on enjoying the whole experience of it. You know, the crowd and the atmosphere and the
commentators and the tiny things that sort of make you a bit nervous, that's all part of the
experience. So smiling along with it and enjoying it really helped me really help me climb well and
perform well. Would you say that you do that in training as well or is training more just like
it's got to be serious? Definitely try to implement it in training as well because I,
there are definitely days where I get really angry with myself and it's, I guess anger can help you,
it can motivate you, but it can also just, if it's just making you get annoyed, then it's not
beneficial for training, not beneficial for performing in training. So guess learning when
it's, learning when the anger is actually helping me try hard and learning when it's
just making me not able to learn and get off a block. So yeah, I try to, if I'm, if I realize that
it's not helping, I try to sort of like take a breath and smile and enjoy the process of
learning something instead of getting really angry that I'm not able to do it first try.
I feel like that's not super great for me to hear because I think I kind of reached that breaking
point. I'm kind of over it. So everything you're saying is kind of like, oops, I think I kind of
surpass that point, but that's okay. There's always next year. Yeah, I mean, training's always hard.
Do you, did you ever just have the thought of like, I just want to quit it all? Yeah,
so many times during the off season. I mean, there was a point before the off season where I had a
bad comp and I got a bad one. Well, I didn't get a bad one. It was just a fun comp in the UK, but
I didn't enjoy it. I was so stressed. I climbed really badly and I was just basically was thinking
I either want to change the way that I view competition climbing or I don't want to do it
anymore, which is part of the reason I changed my mindset. But also, yeah, during the off season,
when you do something that much, there are going to be times when you don't want to do it.
And I can remember a few sessions where I completely broke down and was like,
yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. My mum had to be there a lot of the time to get me out of that.
But I think it's all part of it. And I think making the jump up to the top level is always going to
be hard when you don't, when you haven't done it yet, because maybe the belief isn't quite there.
And if you're working so much for something and you don't necessarily know if you can do it,
that's sort of, it's just hard to stay motivated.
How did you kind of pull yourself out of those funks? Or I guess, how did your mum help you with that?
I guess she always sort of is like,
reminds me of my, what I've already done, which is helpful. But then also just saying that I'm
doing my best. You do your best to improve, you do your best to get better. And if that's enough,
then great. And if it's not, then you've done all you can do. So I think it's just, I think
I was pushing as hard as I could. So if you get out of the off season and you're making finals,
then great. And if you're not, then you've done everything you can.
How long did those usually last for you? Like you're just back at it the next day?
Sometimes I'll be back at it. I think, I think I was pushing as hard as I could. So I think I was
back at it. I think some of them, it's just, if you have a terrible session, then you're not going
to want to do it. I think the problem was that in the off season, there was quite a long period of
time when I was just having bad session after bad session. But I think after this season,
it's going to be easier because like last time I went to Innsbruck, I was flashing eight B pluses,
but back in the off season, there were sessions where I was falling off seven A's. It's hard to
believe when you're falling off something that my brother was getting up and he's not really that
into climbing back then. And he was getting up stuff and I was falling off. I think it's
hard not to lose it when that's happening. Yeah, fair. So he also goes with you to like train?
Yeah. Only sometimes if he's around. He was climbing with me when I was
younger, like we went, we were in the same club. So he saw a bit of a natural, I guess.
Okay. But he doesn't like compete or anything.
Nah, just, just, just for fun. He enjoys it, I guess.
And I guess he enjoys beating you if you're having an off day.
Right. Yes. He found it very amusing whilst I was questioning my life choices.
Oh my God. Yeah, I would totally, I totally get that. That would send me into a spiral for sure.
But I guess it's just like one year training and you're not recovered ever because you're doing
seven to nine hour days, six days a week. That'll, that'll change what you're able to
accomplish on the wall. Yeah. I don't know. I guess when you say it like that, it's so obvious that
it's going to affect you, but I did not think that way when I was falling off so nice.
Please excuse this brief intermission, but I would just like to remind you that if you are enjoying
this podcast, please follow and rate it on your preferred listening platform. If you're watching
on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion and thoughts in the comments below. Anything helps
to push this podcast out to more people and get even more amazing guests on. Back to the show.
Yeah. And on the discord, someone had mentioned that they know Toby had like a four year plan
aimed specifically for the Olympics in terms of training. Did you also have like this Olympic
training plan in mind or were you kind of just training to get better and see where it takes you?
I definitely didn't have a four year Olympic plan. I don't think I would have ever thought that I'd
be in this position four years ago, but I definitely had goals, competition goals, like training for
specific comps. And I remember I was training for getting onto the senior GB team for a while,
but I was always just sort of training within like a year. So I was training for next year's
competitions or next year's selections. I didn't really ever have a, I didn't ever have a four year
plan, but now I'll probably try and implement something that I think it would be helpful.
Yeah. I mean, I guess it depends. I mean, I think doing just a year out makes a lot of sense. Like
who knows what's going to happen in four years. Personally, I feel like if I put together a four
year plan and the goal was the Olympics, I would just get really stressed about not getting anywhere
near that goal because that is quite lofty. So, but yeah, depends on, depends on the person and the
mindset. Also, I think I heard in an interview, you mentioned that it was hard for you to keep
up with friends who didn't climb due to your training schedule. And I think this will actually
be pretty relevant because there was recently a discussion in the discord as well about being
afraid of ending up alone because of like schedule and compatibility with training.
Is there, was that, was there something you like found to be able to push through that or like
make specific climbing friends or did you ever resolve that issue?
And sort of resolve, but I think that it will always be a problem and I'm sure other athletes
will agree. Yeah, in school, especially it was more noticeable because I think everybody,
school is like the perfect place to have friends and make friends and everything,
but it was still quite difficult for me, especially like hanging out outside of school. Like
if people wanted to spend the entire day together, then there was no time for me to train or
if they wanted to do go out or something, like I couldn't do that because I needed to train or
I was just not in the country because I was competing. So there wasn't really much time
for it. And I think a lot of people don't like that. So they weren't really interested in
being my friend because they didn't like that I didn't have time for them. But yeah, I think
the thing that resolved it was just finding people who did understand. I know I had like
a really good, I still do and she isn't a climber and she isn't an athlete, but she really understands
and having people like that is basically made my school life durable. I guess now that you're no
longer in school, do you feel like it's easier for you since you have a little bit more time,
I think, since like kind of before school is like your full day and then you also have to do climbing,
but now climbing is your full day and then maybe after climbing, you're like,
now climbing is your full day and then maybe after climbing, you have some time.
Yeah, it's definitely easier. Even in winter when I was doing massive hours, it was,
I still had way more time than I did at school because unfortunately I did care about school
and I couldn't sort of just go through it and not really mind how it went. I was
really focused. So yeah, I basically didn't have any extra time and now I can spend time with my
friends. So I would say, yeah, it's easier now. And I also just think that I've met more people
through climbing since doing it full time who I would consider friends. So yeah, definitely easier.
Yeah, that makes sense. Would you say like most of your friends are climbing friends?
Because also now that you're not in school, you're kind of dealing with the adult issue,
the perpetual issue of not really knowing where else to meet friends.
Yeah, I think most of my friends are probably climbing friends. I think I have maybe three
friends who I still talk to from school and the rest are all climbing. And yeah, I don't
really know where else I'd meet people outside of climbing who I would be friends with.
So yeah, mostly climbing friends.
Don't worry, it's a perpetual issue.
Yeah.
Okay. And yeah, you're also like one of the younger climbers that I've interviewed so far.
What is it like? I guess like who are your idols and what is it like climbing and competing against
them?
I think it's, I mean, it's an elite sport. So obviously, there are going to be so many
inspirational people around you. I know as a kid, I always used to look up to like Molly,
Molly Thompson Smith and Shawna just because they're, well, they're amazing. But also they're
from Great Britain. So it's just inspiring to see someone, I guess, like you who is
being so successful in something. But every international climber has, I think every
international climber has something unique about them that makes them inspiring and gives
something that you can learn from. I know I've learned something from the majority of the top
competitors, whether it's before I competed directly with them or afterwards.
Do you feel intimidated when you compete against them? Or in the case where you maybe get a better
result, do you feel like bad? Or do you feel great about that?
I definitely think there's like imposter syndrome sometimes. But I don't think that any of the,
I would hope that none of them, the competitors think that, or like embarrassed that you've
beaten them. I think when you're at that top level, it, any time someone beats you, it's,
they just feel sort of, because they're at that top level as well and they're working as hard as you.
So they just understand that you've worked really hard to get to that point. Yeah, like none of the
people who I've met through finals have like disappointed me by how they are. They've all
been wonderful and really supportive. So I don't feel bad when I beat them and I, and how they've
beaten them and I'm happy to get the result. And I hope that I always want to beat people
when they're at their best. I don't want people to mess up so that I can get there. So yeah,
I just, I want to beat people when they're at their best. And if I do, then that's going to,
that's nice. Okay. No, yeah, good way of putting it. Okay. Going back to UK climbing real
quick. I think people are always kind of interested in knowing how federations support their athletes.
Do you get any stipend from like the GB climbing team or do you have to pay your own way?
We have to pay for our travel and accommodation to comps. And that's it's a big comp like World
Champs and stuff, which is sort of partially funded, but we do get obviously training weekends and
we also get free, like we can use the in-house GB coaches for free whenever we want. We can
have sessions with them, which is really vital for, well, was really helpful for me this off season.
And also I think you can get like a training plan basically written for you for free,
which is also pretty, like a pretty big thing to be given. So I think they help us in lots of other
ways, but yeah, we have to fund ourselves. Okay. So I guess you kind of feel like
there's, you were getting enough like resources from the GB team for your competition journey.
Yeah, obviously it would be nice to be funded for competitions, especially if,
I mean, I've gone to Shanghai twice already this year, so that's a bit of a, it's not cheap,
but I think there are other ways of support that are always more vital for success. Like having
in-house coaching is really important and having to fund yourself is annoying, but
it doesn't necessarily help your performance like the coaching does.
Yeah. Cause a lot of, or I wouldn't say a lot, a few federations do provide like stipends or funding
for their athletes, which is really nice. How do you go about supporting yourself? Do you like work
another job or I guess you are pretty young, so it would also make sense if your parents are just
supporting you through this time, but yeah, do you have like plans on getting funding in the future?
I'm trying to sort of get help from sponsors and I have started getting help from sponsors,
which has been, well, it's looking good for future travel and my parents do obviously help me a lot.
I would not be going to comps without them, so that's very grateful for that, but also
local competitions in the UK. So like Battle of Britain and Ploughed Masters and Kwiff and stuff,
I think that last year I got about £10,000 from doing those to sort of fund the comp season.
So yeah, I think that's how most of the UK scene do it, other than working jobs, they
try and win money from those types of comps.
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I just had another discussion previous interview about funding for
athletes and how prize money is just not really there, especially at the World Cups. It actually
seems like a little better at local comps depending on where you're going, but yeah, that's always a
difficult part. So if there are any sponsors listening, I hope they could reach out.
Yes, please.
Okay, so for the future, if you qualify for the Olympics, you only get six-ish weeks before the
Olympics happens, I think? Yeah, six weeks.
Yeah. So what would be the plan in that quick turnaround time?
I guess it depends how, like if any weaknesses are highlighted in the Budapest, but
if I got selected for the Olympics, I would probably focus on skills. So like certain,
there are certain dinos that I don't really get on because they aren't set in the UK. So I'd focus on
getting them set for me. And then I'd probably also go back to Innsbruck because I just, I think
it's good practice just getting on the routes. I don't think I'd go to the Innsbruck World Cup,
but definitely afterwards I'd go and get on some hard routes. And then, yeah, I think I'd
not necessarily go into like intense training, but focused sessions would be the main thing I'd do.
What are some of those dinos that you don't really feel like you get practice in the UK?
Anything that's complex basically. So in the World Cup in Shanghai, the paddle dino from finals,
like I just, I don't understand the movement of those types of things because I don't really get
on them. And then finals again in OQS, the last boulder didn't really, I don't, my body just
isn't intuitive to understanding them because I haven't necessarily worked the intuition for
those types of moves. So having them set for me to actually learn how to do them is really important.
Yeah, it's really hard to just learn that on the spot while you're in front of an audience.
Yeah, I'll try to find videos of those and so people can be reminded of what those are.
Do you feel like there are any advantages to qualifying later for the Olympics or is it all
just you wish that you could have qualified sooner? I think it's nicer mentally obviously
to have already qualified. I know Trish, Toby's dad was really happy, obviously happy because he
qualified for the Olympics, but also just so that they have time to plan everything.
But I also think it's quite good timing really. You finish Budapest and you have six weeks, maybe
one of them is like a D-load and then you have four hard training weeks and then one of them is a
D-load again before the Olympics. Actually works quite well as a training phase. So
I don't think it's too much of a disadvantage to qualify later.
Well, that's a good mindset going into it. And in terms of the future, have you created
like more future climbing goals? Not necessarily. I think it's all the usual stuff really like
podiuming at a World Cup and stuff like that. I think of my main climbing goals,
I think obviously LA as well. Maybe the four-year plan can kick in now. You can get going on ahead.
Do you have any goals in terms of the Olympics that you've created at this point?
I'm being careful not to jinx things. So I don't want to say like, oh for the Paris Games or
for the LA Games, but in general, should I knock on wood? I don't know.
Obviously, if I do go to the Paris Games, I want to be competitive. I don't just want to go,
I want to go and be at my strongest and have a proper chance at competing at the level.
But I guess I don't have like a, I want to make finals, I want to make podium. I just want to
climb my best and be at my strongest. If I do, hopefully go to the Paris Games.
That makes sense. And we can leave it there in terms of Olympics in the future.
Don't want to say anything more about it. Okay, so I think that's a good way to go.
Okay, so in terms of a little bit more of your personal life, you had mentioned that you postpone
university to focus on pro climbing. What do you think you would have chosen to do if climbing
hadn't been in your life? I had a scholarship for sport and exercise science at Sheffield Hallam
University. But then I had a gap year and then I sort of wanted to do space science or planetology,
which is a bit of a change, a massive change. How did you, why?
I was always interested in it and I really enjoyed science. And I sort of,
in my gap year, because I wasn't studying, I sort of used my free time to look into it.
And I learned loads of art space and suddenly became a bit obsessed with it. So that was my,
I sort of changed my mind. But then obviously that's a very intense degree and I would not
have the time to do that and train. Yeah, that makes sense. You,
I guess at this point, you're kind of going to keep postponing it until the climbing stuff is,
well, that's going to be a while from now, until the climbing stuff is done, I guess.
Yeah, I think you can go to uni at any point in your life. And I was never going to be able
to have the sort of like uni social life. So it's not necessarily going to be any different.
It's not really going to be any different to me going there when I'm a bit older. And I,
with the amount that I have to train at the moment to get to the level and to stay at the level,
maybe in a couple of years, I'll be able to do four or five hour days in the off-season.
But at the moment, I don't have the fitness to do that. So I have to carry on with the longer days
and I just wouldn't be able to do uni or I would, but my climbing would take a hit definitely.
Okay. And so switching gears, this is kind of just like a grab bag of personal questions.
Sure. I also heard that you had lived in Malaysia at some point.
Yeah. So what was the reason for that? And what was it like there?
My dad got a job in Malaysia. So we moved there. We sort of moved around a lot when I was a kid.
I moved around a lot. So we lived in like Hong Kong and then England and Malaysia.
And it was always because of his job, but that's probably didn't help with friends either.
Yeah, that definitely makes it hard.
I was always in trouble with friends really.
Oh God.
It was surprisingly good for the training really.
Really? It didn't like make it difficult. Well, I guess it was good to get like different styles of
training in or different styles of climbing in based on how they set in different countries.
Yeah, it's definitely different. And the lead wall was absolutely massive,
bigger than really anything in the UK.
In Malaysia?
Yeah. Oh, really? I had no idea about that.
Pretty big, yeah.
Yeah, I guess I've never been to Malaysia or Hong Kong, but based on like representation
within like World Cup athletes, I would have thought that maybe they don't have as much
in terms of climbing in those countries. Is that not the case?
They probably don't have that many places where I climbed most of the times campfires.
And their ballroom wasn't that extensive, I don't think, but they had a lot of top rope
and a lot of lead and they're really quite tall walls. And I don't know about the grading because
I was quite young. I wasn't doing anything hard at that point, but yeah, the walls were quite big.
And the walls in the UK are probably not, definitely not as tall.
Interesting. And so at that point, were you still just like climbing for fun or were you
actually doing training as well?
I think we were in Malaysia when I was about nine to 12. So I was still just doing it for fun. But
that's when I started getting more interested in it. I had a coach in Malaysia, Francis, who
I still talk to now. And he was one of the main reasons that I got really interested in that,
or maybe one of the main reasons that I really started enjoying it.
Okay, that's nice. Does he know that?
He knows it now, I'm sure.
Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. And switching gears again,
Matt Groom has mentioned your Instagram handle a bit during the live stream. I think he really
wants to know where the Aaron McBeath nickname came from.
It came from Liam Briden. He's a GV coach and he'll be very happy that I'm giving him credit.
It came from 2022 Youth Worlds in Dallas. It was originally McBeath because apparently I'd like
to fight with everybody. I don't really know what, that's completely untrue.
That's completely untrue. And then it changed to McBeath.
Okay. So you liked fighting with people in like a competitive aspect?
Honestly, I don't know. He doesn't make much sense a lot of the time. He just does his own
narrative and everybody else has to deal with it. Every time I say that I'm going to change it,
he's like, no, you can't change it. So I kept it.
Yeah. I mean, now you definitely can't because Matt's talked about it. The whole live stream has
seen it. Everyone knows about it. So I think it's going to stick, but it's good to know that that's
where it came from. Another thing that I think people always just generally want to know,
Matt always wants to know, what do you do when you're an ISO? Do you listen to music or do you
have a specific routine? I guess other than the obvious of warming up, I definitely have to have
things that entertain me because my world ranking is quite low at the moment. So I come out quite
late because obviously the highest ranked athletes go up first. But mostly it's just
hanging out with the GV coaches. They're quite entertaining on their own, like playing card games
with athletes or the coaches. Just keeping the mood really light because you don't want to be an
ISO for ages, like stressing out. So yeah, anything that keeps the conversation light and just fun.
How long do you have to stay in ISO right now, given the world ranking?
In OQS, I was bib number 36, so I was ranked 36. So probably whatever five times 35 is,
that's how long I was in there for Boulder. Hopefully in the future it'll improve. Does
that improve year to year or comp to comp? Year to year. I think, or maybe not. I'm not sure.
I think it's comp to comp actually. Oh, okay. I kind of thought that's something you would know
about, but okay. We'll see. We'll see next time. Yeah, I don't actually know that. Okay. Well,
good luck for next time. Maybe it'll go faster. I hope so. Yeah. Okay. And so last section,
just a few discord questions that came in. The first one being you more recently made the
transition from youth to the elite circuit. Was it, or I guess like, yeah, from youth to elite
circuit and youth to like being a pro climber. Was it easy for you to make the decision to
go all in or was there a lot of doubt involved? I think it was relatively easy.
I've been doing senior comps or I did my first senior comp when I was
18, 17 or 18 in 2022. I did my first European cup. So I've been doing them for quite a long time,
but I think the hardest decision was whether to start doing them or whether to carry on focusing
on youth comps because I could have focused more on youth comps and maybe gotten a medal in like
some youth comp or I could have gotten the experience I needed in senior competitions.
So that was probably the hardest thing. There was never a struggle with deciding whether I wanted to
go all in. I think sort of after I got onto the GME team, I was all in.
Do you win like prize money for youth comps as well?
I have absolutely no idea. I've never got a medal in youth.
Oh, okay. But I would hope so,
and I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, I'm just, I'm never sure with these things, you would assume,
but then you kind of like learn stuff and it's like, oh, yeah, maybe not. Okay. Yeah. So then
how did you decide to just get experience from the, I guess, elite circuit instead of continuing
and trying to like medal in it in the youth comps? I guess just looking to the future.
I was sort of not lucky, but when I tried out for the senior team, I got onto the senior team and
then was immediately given comps because of how I did in selection. So it wasn't a case of being on
the senior team and not given comps. So I guess I got a little bit excited and I went for those comps.
But I made, like I said, the European Cup in 2022 was my first one and I made semis.
And then my first European League Cup was that same year and I made finals. So I sort of wanted
to carry on getting that experience. And I knew I sort of wasn't at the level to be podiuming, but
I thought that that experience was more beneficial for the long term than going to youth cups.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. Probably a good decision. Okay. So next question,
do you prefer to train at your home gym? Like, does it feel more comfortable for you or do you
prefer to travel and get that different experience? I think both have their positives. I think
training at home is really nice because you're surrounded by family and friends and it's a
comfortable environment and you know the venue and you know what your facilities are, which is
helpful. But training abroad is really great. If you go to places that are more well known for
having good facilities, then you'll often be up to train with other national teams, which is really,
really important. Well, not important, but it's nice. And also, abroad is just different too at
home, so it's useful to get on different things. So both definitely have their place. I guess in
general, do you like traveling or is it kind of a nuisance for you? I'd say I quite like it.
I quite like it when it's with other people. I think if I'm going on my own, it's a bit boring
and I don't look forward to it as much. But if it's with my family or if it's with the coaches or
the other athletes or something, I quite enjoy it. And then the last question, do you currently
participate in any other sports? I know you had mentioned you've done some before, but I guess
you dropped all the other ones to focus on climbing. I don't do any sports at the moment,
but yeah, I was really into football and I was still doing football when I got onto the GB team,
but I quickly dropped it. Do you feel like there was any cross-training benefit from football?
I'm sure there was some sort of fitness benefit from it, but it was really, I think it was
probably quite damaging for my knees and hips. I always had knee and hip problems, so ever since
dropping that, I don't have them as much. So I think that the benefits probably didn't outweigh
the cost. Nice. Yeah. I mean, you said that you don't have a lot of tweaks or anything from
climbing, but I guess you've had issues from playing football. Yeah. I think because it was
I only played for a small club that did it for fun, so they weren't really into warming up. So
I probably just probably had tweaks from not warming up, but they went away pretty quickly
once I dropped it, so it was okay. Any climbing injuries that you've had that you're dealing with?
I've been really good with injuries. I've never had a serious injury. I just have tweaks. I tweaked
my finger a few months ago, but it was cleared up before the first World Cup. It wasn't anything
major, so I've been pretty lucky with that. Awesome. Well, I hope that continues. Okay,
I think that's all the questions I had. Thanks for joining me. I'm going to go ahead and wrap
it up. Thanks for joining me. Is there anything that you want to shout out or let people know
where they can find you or any closing thoughts that you have? You can find me at Aramatebeast
by Instagram, as he says. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you again. It was amazing to talk to you.
Good luck in Budapest and hopefully the Olympics are in your future. Thank you. I hope so. Thank
you so much for making it to the end of the podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe if
you enjoyed. Otherwise, you are a super fake climber. If you're listening on a podcasting
platform, I'd appreciate if you rated it five stars and you can continue the discussion on the
free competition climbing discord linked in the description. Thanks again for listening.