WEBVTT

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We were like, what do you mean she can't go to

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the World Cup? She's good enough. When she got

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appealed out in Prague in 24, we were bracing

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ourselves for full -on depression. It's just

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quite surreal to see your daughter with strangers

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wanting an autograph and stuff. I remember running

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over to the athlete area where you could talk

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to them and the big security guards would step

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in front of her and say, is it okay if this person

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approaches you? I was like, it's me, Aaron. She

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hardly ever drinks, but she was definitely semi

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under the influence when she had to do that interview.

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Welcome to another episode of the That's Not

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Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host, Jenny,

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and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today,

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Carl McNeese. If it's not obvious, Carl is Aaron

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McNeese's dad, and I'm so thrilled to get a parent

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perspective on the podcast. In this episode,

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we'll learn about the family's dedication and

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honest approach to building Aaron's climbing

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career, how much it costs to support the training

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and travel of an athlete, why he's no longer

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allowed to watch her comps in person, and we'll

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get adorable dad anecdotes from the Olympics.

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I hope you enjoy this episode with Carl. Real

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quick, I'm excited to announce my new sponsor

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be in the description. Back to the show. It's

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quite late for you, isn't it? It's nine o 'clock,

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yeah. And my first day back at work after two

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weeks off. Oh, wow. A lovely day at work. Yeah,

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just getting back from Innsbruck still? Yeah,

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we had about seven, eight days in Innsbruck and

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then the rest of them building a carriage. Oh,

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okay. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Yeah.

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Is it done? Yeah, it's done. It's standing. It

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hasn't fallen over yet. Impressive. Do you have

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any other travel plans coming up soon? No, I

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did have. But some of the feedback from Innsbruck

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means that I won't have. Oh, wait, what does

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that mean? It's just some of the observations

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from Erin in terms of having the pressure of

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people, not pressure, that's the wrong word.

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I think the expectation and the fact that you're

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there and therefore she feels the need to spend

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time with you. So which sort of breaks the rhythm

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of her being involved 100 % with the coaches,

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getting herself into the right zone, having her

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sort of alone time, recovery time, all that sort

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of stuff. It just distracts from it. And it is

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incredibly stressful, which I'm sure we'll get

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onto later. So I don't think it's a particularly

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bad outcome. Yeah, I mean, I was definitely going

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to ask about that later. I guess, how are you

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feeling about that? I feel like that could be

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a little bit sad to work through. Yeah, I guess

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everybody's different and we get to watch you

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at a lot of, or have got to watch you at a lot

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of competitions. I just think you, at the end

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of the day, I think the thought of going to watch

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them at the competitions is nice and it is nice.

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But yeah, but it is, you know, they're World

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Cups, they're the top level of competition climbing

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and the little things matter. So at the end of

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the day, if the athlete is performing less well

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or could perform less well because you're there,

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then yeah, that's 100 % the right thing to do.

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Plus physically being there for some reason,

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it is a lot worse. for me anyway than than watching

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it on television yeah so does that mean you don't

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like you haven't seen the other world cups uh

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like in the start of the season you didn't make

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it out to those either no the uh the asia ones

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uh no and and again i think that that was very

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much because you start the season you have no

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idea really where you are compared to everybody

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else and i think at that point you can't really

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add very much uh you She doesn't need emotional

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support. If she does need it, she can call. Really,

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she just needs the interaction with the coaches.

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She'll respond better to the coaches. And fundamentally,

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they know more than I know about the competition,

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the performance, why the performance was good

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or bad, what can be tweaked realistically within

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the period of time, all that sort of stuff. And

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they have a way of working, which... yeah which

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you can disrupt quite easily so yeah that that

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and cost well oh yeah cost for sure I get that

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okay well we'll definitely get into all those

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topics um later but first just so we get to learn

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a little bit more about who you are um I mean

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in the intro I will have told everyone you are

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Aaron's dad um but I think a big question a lot

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of people want to know like immediately as soon

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as possible do you climb much yeah so I uh I

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got into climbing about doing the maths when

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I was about 18, when I went to university. And

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I'm 55 now, so a long time ago. And all the time

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I was at university for six years. Not because

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I failed. I did a PhD as well. It was the easy

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option. Get a job or do a PhD. I think I'll do

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a PhD and stay in education a bit longer. So

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I got to climb for sort of six years and I did

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it in North Wales. So I had access to all the

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mountains there. So I sort of got into climbing

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there. I was not very good at it. Because, you

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know, they did have climbing walls, but the climbing

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walls were pretty rubbish. And the people I climbed

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with were proper mountaineers. They only went

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out on rock and they only did lead routes. Okay.

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Dirt bags now? Yeah. And, you know, apart from

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the slate quarries, it was pretty much all natural

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gear. And I just crapped myself basically whenever

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I had to lead, unless it was really, really simple.

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So I overgripped everything, pumped out on most

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stuff. But it was still good fun. And then you

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had people like Johnny Dawes sort of at that

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stage doing amazing stuff. So my few claims to

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fame were going to a few parties and Johnny Dawes

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was there talking to the elite. And I was like,

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wow, we went to a party. Yeah, so I got into

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it that way, then left university, got a job,

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stopped, largely stopped climbing. And then when

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we had kids and they were, I don't know, old

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enough, four, five, six, we introduced them to

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various things and climbing was one of them.

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So I then got back into climbing. I probably

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climb maybe twice a week now, sometimes more.

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Yeah, that's pretty often. Yeah, yeah, not, yeah.

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Yeah, I mean, I guess, yeah, I guess I'm comparing

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myself to the other people I know. Yeah, I mean,

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I climb like three to four times a week. So,

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yeah, I think that's often. I honestly don't

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want to climb more than like three days a week.

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But yeah, twice a week is quite pleasant. And

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obviously it's not, it's just climbing. I rarely

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do any strength and conditioning or fingerboarding.

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And I don't even like the boards themselves.

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Erin makes me do the board and it's just, I'm

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pathetic at that. Well, it's a separate skill

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almost. It seems to be to me anyway. But during

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my interview with Erin, I'll link that in the

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description for those who haven't heard it yet

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also. But she mentioned that you used to do gymnastics.

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When was that? So when I went to university,

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so I'd lived in Australia. I was born in England.

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I was living in Australia from 79 to 83 or something.

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So I competed in Australia. where at that point

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in time, the standard was lower. So I was at

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national level. Then I came back to England and

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I was really right on the periphery of national

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level. But yeah, so I did it at a relatively

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high standard. And then I went to university

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with a thought to sort of continue my training,

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but soon got distracted by other things. But

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I did the university championships in the UK

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and I think I came third. in my final undergraduate

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year and then i did it again in my last year

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of phd i don't want to say i came third again

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but i might have come fourth or fifth but yeah

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but i sort of did did relatively okay um and

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then post -university i i stopped that as well

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it's quite hard to find places to do uh the gym

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especially the six six different sort of disciplines

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so yeah yeah that was i guess everyone will say

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it's useful because i've got some element of

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body awareness and stuff but uh Yeah, and just

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the understanding of what it's like being an

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athlete. She mentioned that she believes you

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could still do some of the tricks from gymnastics.

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What tricks do you think you could still pull

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off right now? I mean, I won't make you do anything,

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but if you want to show off anything, now's your

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chance. Weirdly, the easy handstands and things

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like that are easy. Once you know the tricks,

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you can hold a handstand for a long, long time.

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Flick flacks, backflips, and back somersaults.

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I could probably do a front somersault, but they're

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harder to land. Cool. Wish we could see it. I'll

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go and spend an hour warming up and then send

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you a video. Oh, that would be great, actually.

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I'd really love to see that. Okay, and so now

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getting back into the climbing portion of your

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life, how did you end up getting involved in

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the climbing competition scene with Aaron? Most

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of the walls in the UK run fun competitions each

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year. At least one, but sometimes many. And they

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run the sort of boulder leagues as well. So they

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put the problems up and you've got so much time

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to log how many you do or how many attempts and

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stuff. So we got into it through the fun competitions

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first. And often they have a junior category

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or youth category. So that's how we first got

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into it. And then you've got various competitions

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which run locally in the UK. So we got into some

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of those. and then they have what's called a

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youth climbing series which um which as the name

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suggests is sort of it's done regionally and

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then the i think it's the top three from each

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region go to a grand final uh in in well usually

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in scotland at the national climbing center there

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and then you get crowned the youth climbing series

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champion which then qualifies you for the gb

00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:05.309
team weirdly if you're on the gb team you're

00:12:05.309 --> 00:12:07.730
not allowed to enter it um okay so it's sort

00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:12.539
of like a a sort of backdoor route in but it

00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:15.000
opens it up to a much wider environment and then

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you unbeknown to us at that time you'd have national

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competitions like the UK UK Nationals Welsh Nationals

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Scottish Nationals all of which if you win or

00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:28.720
podium get you the right to go to the GB selection

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whether it's for junior grades or senior grades

00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:37.600
so Yeah, we had no idea really how the GB team

00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.720
thing worked. But through doing some of those

00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.860
competitions and the YCS Youth Climbing Series,

00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.179
we became aware of the GB climbing team. And

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they were like, I don't know. It's like when

00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:55.620
you see these elite group of people who are warming

00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:57.620
up and doing their thing and then they absolutely

00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:02.159
destroy you on the wall. That was what it was

00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.059
like the first time we saw them. And they were

00:13:04.059 --> 00:13:06.220
all wearing their kit and stuff. And I think

00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:08.600
that's when Aaron sort of clocked them and thought,

00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:12.139
oh, they're on a different level. I can go win

00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:15.539
a local comp, but these guys are on a completely

00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:18.019
different level. And I think that sort of inspired

00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:22.360
her to see if she could get up to that level

00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.159
and see if she could get onto the team. So how

00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:28.059
young do you think she was when she kind of first

00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:30.539
had that thought of wanting to make the national

00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.759
team? I guess it happened quite quickly, so I'm

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guessing it was like 14, maybe something like

00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:43.679
12 or 14. Yeah, I really should know. Okay. Yeah,

00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:49.179
because when she went for it, we just moved her

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from one climbing wall to another climbing wall

00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:56.759
against her will. Why against her will? I guess

00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:03.029
we are one of the challenging things. is to work

00:14:03.029 --> 00:14:05.929
out what's best for them to achieve their goals

00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:10.289
without trying to be pushy about it and so we

00:14:10.289 --> 00:14:13.250
we had two children both climbing uh her brother

00:14:13.250 --> 00:14:15.269
who's about a year and a half two years older

00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:19.830
um and they were they were climbing at a wall

00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.769
called the reach in southeast London for their

00:14:22.769 --> 00:14:25.470
squad um but there was another wall called the

00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:29.490
castle in London itself which had a much stronger

00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:31.610
squad and a much more focused squad and a lot

00:14:31.610 --> 00:14:35.429
of those squad had moved into the GB team. And

00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:38.309
our son wanted to go to that squad, wanted to

00:14:38.309 --> 00:14:41.269
go and try out for that squad. Aaron didn't.

00:14:44.409 --> 00:14:47.149
We persuaded them both to go to the tryouts and

00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:49.350
they both got offered a space and Aaron did not

00:14:49.350 --> 00:14:55.250
want to go at all. But yeah, we sort of said,

00:14:55.289 --> 00:14:58.139
well, if Callum's going. There's no way we're

00:14:58.139 --> 00:15:01.820
going to go to two different walls. So you're

00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:03.620
going to have to go there. And eventually she

00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:07.039
decided it was really good and much better. But

00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:11.000
we sort of thought they would put them both in

00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.340
the same squad. But for reasons only known to

00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:16.820
them, they decided to put them in two different

00:15:16.820 --> 00:15:20.100
squads. I think because they felt everyone was

00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:22.659
too young to be in the same squad as Callum.

00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:25.259
But that meant that they had to go two times

00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:28.759
a week. One squad was on two days and the other

00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:30.559
squad was on the other two days. So there was

00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:33.100
a period of about two and a half years where

00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:35.279
every single day we were having to drive from

00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.220
where we live into the center of London where

00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:40.120
we, my wife, was having to do that drive. So

00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:41.539
she basically picked the kids up from school,

00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:45.100
got them in the car, gave them food, drove into

00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:48.340
the center of London, which was a two hour drive.

00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.779
That is so inefficient. yeah yeah and then drive

00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:55.159
all the way back yeah geez yeah thinking back

00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.220
to the youth scene or yeah just when she was

00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:00.919
growing up um do you remember any times where

00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:05.840
you need you needed to like push her more or

00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:09.320
um i guess like how do you find the balance between

00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.159
when to push versus when to back off and suggest

00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.220
more rest my experience when they were when she

00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:21.440
was young girl was that she didn't The schedule

00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:25.740
wasn't intense. It was more intense than a normal

00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.759
person, but she probably wasn't doing more than

00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:33.039
three or four days a week. And she probably wasn't

00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.000
climbing for more than four hours in any of those

00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.519
sessions. And a four -hour session would just

00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.919
be like playing around on boulders. They were

00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:42.720
structured to some extent, but not massively

00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.200
structured. And the competition sort of lent

00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:49.159
themselves. There were obvious ones that she

00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:53.720
had to do, which were the nationals. So she would

00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:57.500
go to all of those if she could do. And then

00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:01.659
you had some higher profile sort of fun competitions,

00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:05.920
which aspirationally I think she wanted to do.

00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:09.319
But yeah, we didn't really have to. Sometimes

00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:13.980
we had to suggest to her ones to do just because

00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:17.640
we thought it would be a good idea. But generally

00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:21.099
at that age, she was quite happy to compete in

00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:24.240
most scenarios. I would say that that was all

00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:29.019
fine. And then she went to some EYCs. I think

00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:34.359
she did a year. So she had four EYCs, which she

00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:36.900
did okay. And I think she came 25th just in about

00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:40.920
every single one of them. So she didn't make

00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:44.839
semis or anything. But first year on the team.

00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:46.660
She seemed quite happy with that. And we were

00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:51.160
quite happy with that. And then COVID came. So

00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:54.339
the next year was completely wiped out. I think

00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:57.440
she did one national competition, which was,

00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:00.579
she did the Welsh, Welsh boulder and came third.

00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:03.980
And then in her age group, and then she did the

00:18:03.980 --> 00:18:07.859
UK lead or something and won it. And then COVID

00:18:07.859 --> 00:18:11.579
hit and everything was shut down. And then I,

00:18:12.029 --> 00:18:14.309
I think we went like a whole, you know, all the

00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:15.930
way through that season. And then they opened

00:18:15.930 --> 00:18:18.410
up world championships, youth world championships.

00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:22.250
And she got to go to that. And I think she'd

00:18:22.250 --> 00:18:26.490
been allowed to go to two training days as a,

00:18:26.490 --> 00:18:28.150
you know, we were allowed to travel as an elite

00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:32.509
athlete. So she went to the youth world championship

00:18:32.509 --> 00:18:36.490
and came fifth. Oh, okay. Not bad. Which was,

00:18:36.529 --> 00:18:41.009
you know, good or unexpectedly good. Fifth in

00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:46.200
bold, I think. 10th or 11th in lead um and then

00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.759
obviously things started to loosen up and she

00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:51.660
could actually get to competitions the following

00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:55.039
year but then she started to break into the senior

00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:58.599
squad um so she had less interest in going to

00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:00.819
the youth ones and was more focused on the seniors

00:19:00.819 --> 00:19:08.319
um and i think i don't know i we had a lot of

00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.859
discussions because you're around which competitions

00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:13.759
to go to and all that sort of thing. So when

00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:15.039
you're in the senior squad, you can either go

00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.380
to the regionals. So ours would be the European,

00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:20.819
I guess in your case, it would be North, South,

00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:23.039
Asia. It wouldn't be Asia Pacific. It would be

00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:25.299
North, South America. I don't know what they're

00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:31.839
called. So you have a choice between going to

00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:36.220
the European Cups or if you qualify, you can

00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:38.420
go to the World Cups. The European Cups being

00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:42.140
slightly easier. So I think she had a year when

00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:44.819
she first broke into the team, she had a year

00:19:44.819 --> 00:19:47.099
doing the European Cups because they actually

00:19:47.099 --> 00:19:49.400
said, you know, she's transitioning into the

00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:50.799
senior team and we don't think she should go

00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.299
to World Cups. At that stage, she was probably

00:19:54.299 --> 00:19:59.059
second, I think, in Boulder in the UK and second,

00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.680
third in lead. So we were like, what do you mean

00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:04.819
she can't go to World Cups? She's good enough.

00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.819
And actually Tom, who you had on the program

00:20:08.819 --> 00:20:12.319
as well. So Tom sort of said, you know, I think

00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.400
it's right. And with hindsight, he was 100 %

00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.619
correct. So it's a really good example of why

00:20:19.619 --> 00:20:22.119
you should listen to coaches. It was right as

00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:24.380
in she should have started the World Cups earlier?

00:20:24.460 --> 00:20:27.720
No, no, no. She should have eased herself. She

00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:30.019
should and did ease herself into the European

00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:35.390
Cups. Because I think, you know. You always want

00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:38.009
to jump in. Well, yeah, I think as a parent,

00:20:38.069 --> 00:20:40.349
you sort of like, well, yeah, if she's good enough,

00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:42.049
she's good enough. And then there's merit to

00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:47.109
that to some point. But the gap is so big. You're

00:20:47.109 --> 00:20:50.130
going from the European Cup into the World Cups.

00:20:50.150 --> 00:20:53.349
The gap is huge. If you look at some of the results,

00:20:53.509 --> 00:20:55.630
you'll see people winning a European Cup and

00:20:55.630 --> 00:20:59.609
then not making semifinals at a World Cup. Yeah,

00:20:59.630 --> 00:21:01.630
not always. You get some like Orianne Pertone

00:21:01.630 --> 00:21:05.650
smashed it all the way through. Um, so you do

00:21:05.650 --> 00:21:09.569
get some, some exceptions, but, um, yeah, it's

00:21:09.569 --> 00:21:12.269
just such a big jump up and it's a jump up from

00:21:12.269 --> 00:21:14.829
nationals to Europeans or, you know, the, the

00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:17.690
regional side, you know, it was with hindsight,

00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:20.390
it was 100 % the correct thing to do because

00:21:20.390 --> 00:21:23.069
it allowed her to see where the level was, get

00:21:23.069 --> 00:21:25.069
herself up to a reasonable level within the European

00:21:25.069 --> 00:21:29.650
cups and, uh, and then sort of re reset for the

00:21:29.650 --> 00:21:32.730
world cups. And, and weirdly because of. various

00:21:32.730 --> 00:21:34.829
cancellations because covid was still kicking

00:21:34.829 --> 00:21:37.930
around uh some of the european cups were cancelled

00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:40.210
they said oh in that case because you couldn't

00:21:40.210 --> 00:21:42.150
go to those we'll send you to a couple of world

00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:44.230
cups which so it worked out really really well

00:21:44.230 --> 00:21:46.970
in the end she got to see european cups she made

00:21:46.970 --> 00:21:51.650
one final um and then uh and didn't trouble the

00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:55.309
podium actually she made one final and it was

00:21:55.309 --> 00:21:59.349
a lead and she was completely misread uh a section

00:21:59.349 --> 00:22:02.900
of the uh leader and decided to everybody else

00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:06.920
went like it was like it was a sort of uh pockets

00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:10.440
traverse everybody else did it pocket traverse

00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:13.420
with feet and everyone decides you try to campus

00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:15.960
the whole thing and she campus most of it but

00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:17.779
then just ran out of energy on the final move

00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:21.480
um but uh yeah so she did that and then she could

00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:23.859
yeah so she's like oh yeah i made a semi a final

00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:26.720
um and then she went to the world cups and uh

00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:30.079
i think she was 40 something so yeah she was

00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.299
like oh my god that you know that's a whole another

00:22:32.299 --> 00:22:36.680
level what do i need to do and in terms of the

00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:39.380
whole process like memberships teams coaching

00:22:39.380 --> 00:22:43.200
um all of that must kind of add up and be quite

00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.019
expensive if you're comfortable with it could

00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:48.220
you like do you want to give an estimate of how

00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:51.599
much all of it like cost every year yeah i mean

00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:54.440
the the membership is not i honestly don't know

00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:57.099
how much it is British Mountaineering Council

00:22:57.099 --> 00:22:59.640
membership. It's not, I mean, it's not debilitating.

00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:04.539
The, yeah, I mean, you have to go to certain

00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:08.279
competitions and they generally cost 60, 70 quid

00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:11.079
to enter. Well, the only ones that we tend to

00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:13.920
go to are the selection ones now, which are two

00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:18.240
of them. So, yeah, again, that's not, yeah, it's

00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:20.160
cost, but it's not a particularly high cost.

00:23:20.299 --> 00:23:23.740
The biggest one I would say is, again, you know,

00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:25.039
different for different athletes, but I would

00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:30.529
say, When your child suddenly decides that actually

00:23:30.529 --> 00:23:33.150
this is something I want to take seriously, then

00:23:33.150 --> 00:23:36.230
you've got to take it seriously as well. And

00:23:36.230 --> 00:23:38.730
generally that means that you can't just go to

00:23:38.730 --> 00:23:41.190
the same wall every day. So if you happen to

00:23:41.190 --> 00:23:44.269
live close enough to a wall, and we chose a place

00:23:44.269 --> 00:23:46.289
to live in Kent, which at that point in time

00:23:46.289 --> 00:23:49.230
had no walls anywhere near it. I think the closest

00:23:49.230 --> 00:23:52.369
one was about 50 minute drive. They've subsequently

00:23:52.369 --> 00:23:55.410
built about... three quite close when we moved

00:23:55.410 --> 00:24:00.569
away um nice but of course but yeah so so when

00:24:00.569 --> 00:24:03.769
yeah when she made that decision we were like

00:24:03.769 --> 00:24:07.670
okay so yeah we need to get you to various locations

00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:09.809
so you can experience different route setting

00:24:09.809 --> 00:24:12.710
uh you know different problems yeah because they

00:24:12.710 --> 00:24:14.970
they do reset quite frequently but not massively

00:24:14.970 --> 00:24:17.130
frequently and if it's the same setters it tends

00:24:17.130 --> 00:24:22.750
to be similar styles um yeah so so basically

00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:26.170
we were writing off weekends um so you make a

00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:29.470
sacrifice in time sacrificing cost because you

00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:31.390
know so we had to you know we'd go up to sheffield

00:24:31.390 --> 00:24:35.049
a lot um that was a four -hour drive staying

00:24:35.049 --> 00:24:40.690
overnight um yeah so yeah i think that's that's

00:24:40.690 --> 00:24:42.630
probably where the the cost element comes in

00:24:42.630 --> 00:24:47.849
and then yeah because they're unknowns a lot

00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:49.410
of the walls would say oh yeah we'll let the

00:24:49.410 --> 00:24:52.809
gb senior squad come and climb for free but uh

00:24:52.809 --> 00:24:54.410
you know the junior squad we won't you've got

00:24:54.410 --> 00:24:57.390
to pay um then you're paying as a parent as well

00:24:57.390 --> 00:24:59.650
often you know if you if you happen to want to

00:24:59.650 --> 00:25:01.349
have a little play as well which is all fine

00:25:01.349 --> 00:25:05.230
but yeah that's another 10 to 15 pounds per day

00:25:05.230 --> 00:25:08.009
uh and then food that you're spending whilst

00:25:08.009 --> 00:25:11.910
you're there and stuff even if you try to you

00:25:11.910 --> 00:25:16.750
do as much of that as you can um and then if

00:25:16.750 --> 00:25:19.180
they get the internationals you obviously got

00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:22.839
to pay for them to go out there, pay for them

00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:25.339
to stay somewhere. Often when they're young,

00:25:25.380 --> 00:25:27.619
I think a lot of parents do accompany them out.

00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:30.039
So then you're paying for yourselves to go out

00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:34.099
as well. Yeah, so I think that's where the cost

00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:41.240
comes in. I'd say it's probably 10 ,000 to 20

00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:46.759
,000. Yeah, I mean, that might be... 10 10 would

00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:48.759
be the minimum 20 would be the absolute maximum

00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.859
i'd say um yeah whilst whilst they're spinning

00:25:52.859 --> 00:25:54.460
i've been right at the beginning of it wasn't

00:25:54.460 --> 00:25:57.720
that much towards the end towards the end of

00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:01.339
of us paying for everything it was probably closer

00:26:01.339 --> 00:26:04.559
to that because we were obviously paying for

00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.920
everything for her she was living in a lot of

00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:13.000
different hotels to train um and then we were

00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.670
ferrying around everywhere And all that sort

00:26:15.670 --> 00:26:19.130
of stuff. Yeah. So I think, you know, it's slightly

00:26:19.130 --> 00:26:21.029
different now because she has got other funding

00:26:21.029 --> 00:26:23.710
options. But yeah, I think at its worst, it was

00:26:23.710 --> 00:26:27.490
probably pushing towards 15 ,000, 20 ,000. Yeah,

00:26:27.490 --> 00:26:31.730
geez. And I suspect, you know, you could probably

00:26:31.730 --> 00:26:33.269
do it cheaper. But that was, you know, we used

00:26:33.269 --> 00:26:36.589
to send her off to competitions with a sort of

00:26:36.589 --> 00:26:39.450
suitcase in which there was a hot pot, you know,

00:26:39.470 --> 00:26:41.809
which you can plug in and make your own pasta

00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.819
and stuff. Oh, that's nice. So, yeah. Which,

00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:47.019
weirdly, she still does that, even though she

00:26:47.019 --> 00:26:48.880
doesn't have to now. She still does that because

00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:53.200
she actually likes that process, weirdly. Yeah,

00:26:53.220 --> 00:26:56.259
I mean, like the ritual consistency. Yeah, I

00:26:56.259 --> 00:26:59.839
think, yeah. And it's easy, isn't it? It's not

00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:01.900
particularly exciting. She just makes pasta,

00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:04.779
pesto, and tuna. So she can take all of that

00:27:04.779 --> 00:27:06.299
with her, so she also then doesn't have to sort

00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:08.119
of go out and find it. Oh, yeah, that totally

00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:11.299
makes sense. Okay, geez, yeah. I mean, a lot

00:27:11.299 --> 00:27:14.420
of sacrifice, and it's not cheap to... cheap

00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:17.000
to get into no i do i do remember one of the

00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:20.859
fathers turning around to me i think at the beginning

00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:23.180
of the second year and saying you're going to

00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:27.299
destroy destroy cars and he was right we did

00:27:27.299 --> 00:27:30.759
we did put a lot of miles onto cars yeah i mean

00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:34.059
that's yeah really far drives i didn't know that

00:27:34.059 --> 00:27:36.940
it would i didn't know that the uk was that big

00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:40.420
um yeah if we drive up to uh from from where

00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:44.000
we lived in which is just outside london or commuter

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.720
town of London we used to if we had to go to

00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:50.400
Ratho we'd either fly up there or it would be

00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:55.519
a 7 -8 hour drive which in itself then you start

00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:59.980
to get into the whole debate of you've got to

00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:02.480
factor in the fact that sitting down for 7 -8

00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.130
hours is not the best uh you know sort of um

00:28:06.130 --> 00:28:08.269
preparation to then go and climb as hard as you

00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:09.950
can because you're going all the way to a really

00:28:09.950 --> 00:28:12.390
really good wall so then you start to get into

00:28:12.390 --> 00:28:14.589
the well actually it would be better to fly even

00:28:14.589 --> 00:28:16.130
though it might be more expensive because then

00:28:16.130 --> 00:28:17.809
i'm gonna have to hire a car when i get at the

00:28:17.809 --> 00:28:22.230
other end and uh drive so yeah so you start to

00:28:22.230 --> 00:28:23.890
get into a lot of those sort of considerations

00:28:23.890 --> 00:28:26.150
good thing you went through the sacrifice it

00:28:26.150 --> 00:28:29.779
paid off thankfully But I mean, it looks like

00:28:29.779 --> 00:28:32.720
when you look through her results, I felt like

00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:36.839
before maybe like 2023 -ish, she was still pretty

00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:40.220
unknown, sort of like even like a little bit

00:28:40.220 --> 00:28:43.200
quiet in the youth scene. What happened between

00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:48.099
like 2023 and 2024 that made it such an incredible

00:28:48.099 --> 00:28:52.220
season after? Yeah, so 2023 was the year when

00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:55.420
she did World Cups. I think it was exclusive.

00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.259
She won the European Cup at the beginning of

00:28:57.259 --> 00:28:59.319
the season, then she just did World Cups. And

00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:02.119
that was the year when you had to get the OQS

00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:05.480
points, basically the top 40, I think, ranked,

00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:10.440
went to OQS. And then, yeah, so she was basically

00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:12.279
looking at that year and saying, okay, so this

00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:14.819
is the year I need to try to get myself into

00:29:14.819 --> 00:29:19.539
the top 40. not really trained changed her training

00:29:19.539 --> 00:29:24.759
plan massively um and yeah it was all it was

00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:27.279
all relatively new as well we'd we'd moved to

00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.319
a company called lattice who create training

00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.000
plans um and we just moved from working with

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:38.339
um jen wood who's who's a really great gb athlete

00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:41.460
and a coach with lattice and we'd moved to ollie

00:29:41.460 --> 00:29:43.740
tor who who sort of owns and runs lattice who

00:29:43.740 --> 00:29:46.279
was providing even more bespoke because I think

00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:47.960
Jen was in a bit of a weird position because

00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:49.460
she was still on the team at that point in time

00:29:49.460 --> 00:29:53.940
so she was coaching Erin so that was sort of

00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:57.440
new she was working really closely with or starting

00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:59.819
to work more closely with Rachel Carr who was

00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:03.920
one of the GB coaches yeah so we sort of went

00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.779
through that year and then she did yeah I think

00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:08.279
she said yeah she squeaked in literally squeaked

00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:13.099
in and then we sat down with Tom Greenall who

00:30:13.099 --> 00:30:15.900
was the GB head coach at the time with Rachel,

00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:26.160
with Ollie and me. And they sort of said to her,

00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:29.200
so Erin's very good at talking to us. She's not

00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:31.460
very good at talking to other people openly.

00:30:31.539 --> 00:30:34.519
She's much, much better at it now. But then she

00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:37.400
was quite quiet. They were like, oh, yeah, what

00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:39.779
do you want? And she was like, well, you know,

00:30:39.799 --> 00:30:41.970
I'm going to do my best, blah, blah, blah. I

00:30:41.970 --> 00:30:44.990
think Tom was saying, but what do you want? Do

00:30:44.990 --> 00:30:48.089
you want to go and do your best and enjoy it?

00:30:48.210 --> 00:30:51.089
Do you want to go and qualify for the Olympics?

00:30:51.309 --> 00:30:56.250
Do you want to go and put down a statement sort

00:30:56.250 --> 00:31:00.210
of thing? And she went, yeah. I think she actually

00:31:00.210 --> 00:31:03.069
said, yeah. And Tom was like, say it, say what

00:31:03.069 --> 00:31:04.569
you want. And they did actually make her say,

00:31:04.650 --> 00:31:10.799
I want to go to OQS and I want to qualify. um

00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:14.839
ideally i'd like to qualify comfortably um so

00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:17.819
they sort of said that and then um and then they

00:31:17.819 --> 00:31:21.039
they basically sort of said okay so there's a

00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.799
lot to workshop it wasn't they didn't sort of

00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:27.059
pull any punches in terms of you know what that

00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:29.079
was going to look like in terms of the training

00:31:29.079 --> 00:31:30.559
plan and yeah they've sort of said you're going

00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.480
to go go deep into a hole you're going to feel

00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:36.259
like absolute crap um yeah we're going to have

00:31:36.259 --> 00:31:39.059
to push it really hard i think that's the famous

00:31:39.930 --> 00:31:42.829
yeah famous top line of you know well they keep

00:31:42.829 --> 00:31:46.029
pushing if she doesn't break keep pushing yeah

00:31:46.029 --> 00:31:49.710
but yeah she was she was massively behind where

00:31:49.710 --> 00:31:53.410
she needs to be uh yeah and she'll say that as

00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:57.910
well yeah she was nowhere nowhere near um the

00:31:57.910 --> 00:32:03.450
level one to to qualify for the olympics at that

00:32:03.450 --> 00:32:05.970
point in time but actually to be any sort of

00:32:05.970 --> 00:32:09.849
a contender at a world cup she was a non -entity

00:32:09.849 --> 00:32:13.450
um and i don't mean that in a nasty way i mean

00:32:13.450 --> 00:32:16.710
you know there was there was no there was no

00:32:16.710 --> 00:32:21.990
um event which could have happened where she

00:32:21.990 --> 00:32:25.589
would have um you know made a final let alone

00:32:25.589 --> 00:32:30.250
podium um just like honesty of yeah yeah yeah

00:32:30.250 --> 00:32:33.730
yeah absolutely brutal honesty, I think, which

00:32:33.730 --> 00:32:36.390
I think really works well with Erin. And it may

00:32:36.390 --> 00:32:39.109
not work well with other athletes, but it certainly

00:32:39.109 --> 00:32:44.049
worked well with Erin. And she had seen, I think

00:32:44.049 --> 00:32:46.410
she'd been observing some other athletes that

00:32:46.410 --> 00:32:49.910
she'd seen who were dead on their feet at the

00:32:49.910 --> 00:32:51.809
end of a session. And she was like, well, I don't

00:32:51.809 --> 00:32:54.910
actually feel like that a lot of the time. And

00:32:54.910 --> 00:32:57.849
I think the other key thing we said to Ollie

00:32:57.849 --> 00:33:02.609
was, if you look at her 24 season, sort of it

00:33:02.609 --> 00:33:07.309
started off okay um i can't remember where she

00:33:07.309 --> 00:33:09.250
came i think she did one boulder world cup which

00:33:09.250 --> 00:33:12.509
came 39th or something and then she made a semi

00:33:12.509 --> 00:33:16.150
-final in in south korea came 17th or something

00:33:16.150 --> 00:33:18.589
and then she just tailed off it got worse and

00:33:18.589 --> 00:33:23.470
worse um in the 23 season or 23 yeah let's say

00:33:23.470 --> 00:33:26.130
24 i'm pretty sure she made a final yeah yeah

00:33:26.130 --> 00:33:29.410
yeah so uh so we sort of said well how do we

00:33:29.900 --> 00:33:32.799
We need to change the training plan so that it's,

00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.799
you know, that we are continuing to work and

00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:37.559
keep up the standards so we can maintain and

00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:40.619
actually ideally improve. So if you look at,

00:33:40.619 --> 00:33:43.319
you know, I think Toby's performances, Toby Roberts,

00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:47.640
they tend to sort of get better. And obviously

00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:50.359
he's had a massive turnaround this year at Innsbruck.

00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:57.460
That's pretty cool. So, yes, all these things

00:33:57.460 --> 00:33:59.759
came into play. She went into a... you know,

00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:05.900
a brutal, brutal training plan. And our job in

00:34:05.900 --> 00:34:11.960
that was quite simple. I guess quickly we realised

00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:15.119
that often she'll have, you know, Rachel will

00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.039
sort of work with her, but Rachel can't go there.

00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:19.000
And there were eight, nine hour days. So, you

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:20.679
know, Rachel can't be there for all that time

00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:22.519
because she's obviously servicing a lot of other

00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:25.519
athletes. You know, Ollie would sort of pop in,

00:34:25.559 --> 00:34:31.369
pop out, have a look at stuff. We brought in

00:34:31.369 --> 00:34:34.110
an S &C person, so they were sort of involved.

00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:39.469
But in reality, I think she just needed company.

00:34:40.010 --> 00:34:44.469
So that tended to be me, sometimes my son and

00:34:44.469 --> 00:34:49.070
Lindsay and me probably more on the, naturally,

00:34:49.510 --> 00:34:52.190
I think I was happy to do the actual physical

00:34:52.190 --> 00:34:55.650
activities. But emotionally, I'm probably a little

00:34:55.650 --> 00:35:00.010
less. uh turned on whereas lindsey my wife she's

00:35:00.010 --> 00:35:02.269
she's much more attuned to that side of it so

00:35:02.269 --> 00:35:04.309
i think she was much better picking her up and

00:35:04.309 --> 00:35:08.769
sort of saying um you need to step away from

00:35:08.769 --> 00:35:11.230
it but not not step away from the training yeah

00:35:11.230 --> 00:35:13.010
so there were a number of occasions i think where

00:35:13.010 --> 00:35:15.690
she was like you you're getting upset you're

00:35:15.690 --> 00:35:20.079
getting frustrated stop And then we'd be like,

00:35:20.199 --> 00:35:22.139
well, I've still got two or three hours. She

00:35:22.139 --> 00:35:23.579
goes, yeah, well, you can still do two or three

00:35:23.579 --> 00:35:25.719
hours, but stop, grab a coffee or grab something

00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:28.159
to eat. Just have a 10, 15 minute break and then

00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:31.219
go back to it. Yeah, so it wasn't sort of making

00:35:31.219 --> 00:35:33.119
an excuse to say, oh, no, you know, you're upset.

00:35:33.260 --> 00:35:35.820
Let's go home. It was sort of saying, take a

00:35:35.820 --> 00:35:39.039
step away and then go back to it. So, yeah, you're

00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:41.619
not here the nicest possible way. You're not

00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:44.760
here to feel good. Yeah, but you knew this is

00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:46.760
what you signed up to. You knew you would feel.

00:35:47.259 --> 00:35:49.860
crappy and tired and all this sort of stuff.

00:35:49.940 --> 00:35:52.500
So it's just part of the process. But obviously

00:35:52.500 --> 00:35:54.480
the first time you do that, it's quite horrible.

00:35:54.579 --> 00:35:56.159
And probably, actually, to be fair, the second

00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:58.260
time you do it, it's not that nice either. But

00:35:58.260 --> 00:36:02.340
the results are nice. So if it all works. So

00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:06.139
yeah, so that was the slightly different aspect

00:36:06.139 --> 00:36:08.940
that we got to experience there because suddenly

00:36:08.940 --> 00:36:12.000
it was like, well, yeah, we need to split our

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:13.940
time up. So yeah, most of my holiday that year

00:36:13.940 --> 00:36:17.630
was spent in a cold gym somewhere. Just being

00:36:17.630 --> 00:36:20.690
there for Erin Lindsay basically sort of wound

00:36:20.690 --> 00:36:23.110
up her work that she was doing so she could spend

00:36:23.110 --> 00:36:27.630
more time at gyms and ferrying Erin around to

00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:31.769
the various locations, which was absolutely fine

00:36:31.769 --> 00:36:33.789
because it meant that we were still sort of involved.

00:36:34.989 --> 00:36:37.730
I got to find weird and wonderful things to do

00:36:37.730 --> 00:36:40.630
to sort of make some of those exercises more

00:36:40.630 --> 00:36:43.030
fun. Yeah, what were some of those exercises?

00:36:44.510 --> 00:36:49.389
There's so much stuff now on YouTube. on the

00:36:49.389 --> 00:36:53.449
internet. So you can look at the sort of exercises

00:36:53.449 --> 00:36:57.170
that athletes do in other sports and then sort

00:36:57.170 --> 00:36:59.150
of either adapt them or say actually that one's

00:36:59.150 --> 00:37:04.050
relevant to climbing. Plyometrics is one we really

00:37:04.050 --> 00:37:06.570
got into but only where they sort of had some

00:37:06.570 --> 00:37:10.590
element of you could use this for quick footwork.

00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:14.460
on a coordination boulder or you could use this

00:37:14.460 --> 00:37:17.880
for explosive movement off of a boulder you know

00:37:17.880 --> 00:37:19.400
then you adapt that to say okay so let's get

00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.039
ourselves into a really uncomfortable position

00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:25.360
and then try to explode out of it or you know

00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:28.260
let's let's you know balance on on one foot on

00:37:28.260 --> 00:37:31.900
this block and that you know if you sort of move

00:37:31.900 --> 00:37:33.599
a weight around and then you can actually start

00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:37.579
to understand which muscles to move in your body

00:37:38.349 --> 00:37:40.489
Um, and a lot of stuff with resistance bands

00:37:40.489 --> 00:37:42.750
where you, you know, you're resisting the movement,

00:37:42.829 --> 00:37:45.909
but still keeping the balance. Um, so you, you

00:37:45.909 --> 00:37:48.030
know, personally, I think it starts to teach

00:37:48.030 --> 00:37:51.590
you how to stop swings and how to counteract,

00:37:51.610 --> 00:37:55.190
uh, barn door, dooring off of stuff. Um, so we

00:37:55.190 --> 00:37:56.889
deal with a lot of that, a lot of balance stuff.

00:37:57.269 --> 00:38:00.510
Um, and we still muck around with a lot of that.

00:38:01.750 --> 00:38:05.659
Uh, yeah. Chucking balls. you know multiple balls

00:38:05.659 --> 00:38:08.980
and sort of throwing them back um i think also

00:38:08.980 --> 00:38:11.000
like med i love doing stuff with medicine balls

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.019
where you catch it at weird angles okay yeah

00:38:14.019 --> 00:38:17.420
and then so you again you sort of utilize your

00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:19.460
muscles which you would normally use and you

00:38:19.460 --> 00:38:21.500
can make that very aerobic if you're throwing

00:38:21.500 --> 00:38:25.469
it all over the place um so that's fun um And

00:38:25.469 --> 00:38:27.590
I think, you know, therefore the warmup can actually

00:38:27.590 --> 00:38:29.710
end up being sort of, you know, an hour plus

00:38:29.710 --> 00:38:31.789
long, but actually you've done a whole load of,

00:38:31.809 --> 00:38:33.050
you've got your body warm, but you've actually

00:38:33.050 --> 00:38:35.449
done a whole load of other stuff, but it's sort

00:38:35.449 --> 00:38:38.550
of badged up as a bit more fun. If that works

00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:41.710
for the person. How are you involved in her training

00:38:41.710 --> 00:38:43.929
nowadays? Or like, how has that evolved? You

00:38:43.929 --> 00:38:46.550
mentioned, yeah, you were like pretty involved

00:38:46.550 --> 00:38:49.030
before and now maybe it's kind of waned a bit.

00:38:49.150 --> 00:38:51.929
Yeah. So I would say we were not that involved.

00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:54.500
Early, early on, because we just relied on the

00:38:54.500 --> 00:38:58.320
coaches. Then when she became more serious, yeah,

00:38:58.380 --> 00:39:01.440
through COVID, we became more involved just because

00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:03.719
we sort of had to because it was all at home.

00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:07.579
And then as she came out of COVID and became

00:39:07.579 --> 00:39:09.639
more serious, we became more involved just because

00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:15.440
we were pulling together a team. So one of the

00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.300
challenges we've got is you've got Rachel, Car,

00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:23.070
Olly, Tor. Tom Parkinson, who's the S &C coach.

00:39:25.789 --> 00:39:30.250
Yeah, those three are working together. And they

00:39:30.250 --> 00:39:31.670
do, they work together really well, but obviously

00:39:31.670 --> 00:39:33.829
that's a risk to have that many people involved

00:39:33.829 --> 00:39:36.590
in a training plan. And I remember a number of

00:39:36.590 --> 00:39:37.969
people actually sort of said to me, I don't think

00:39:37.969 --> 00:39:40.389
it will work. But it works for Aaron and it works.

00:39:40.550 --> 00:39:44.170
But one of the things I try to do is make sure

00:39:44.170 --> 00:39:47.929
that we have regular meetings as a threesome.

00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:52.099
to discuss all that sort of stuff and you know

00:39:52.099 --> 00:39:54.880
look at when the next training block is yeah

00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:57.219
and that's where it's really it's quite interesting

00:39:57.219 --> 00:39:59.960
to see them all work together um yeah because

00:39:59.960 --> 00:40:01.860
rachel's at the competition so she's got direct

00:40:01.860 --> 00:40:04.659
feedback ollie's got all this sort of science

00:40:04.659 --> 00:40:06.760
and knowledge and but but obviously you can only

00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:08.900
put so much of it into play at a certain point

00:40:08.900 --> 00:40:11.079
in time and from an snc perspective there's only

00:40:11.079 --> 00:40:13.559
so much you can do so there's a bit of maintenance

00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:15.880
but actually you know if you suddenly sort of

00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:18.239
say to tom we're not going to do this comp So

00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:20.159
that gives us a four week block. You can be like,

00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:21.880
okay, in four weeks, we might be able to achieve

00:40:21.880 --> 00:40:23.579
something. So let's do this, this and this. And

00:40:23.579 --> 00:40:25.780
then your Ollie's feeding into that. Rachel's

00:40:25.780 --> 00:40:27.139
saying, yeah, I think that's a good idea. Or

00:40:27.139 --> 00:40:28.480
actually, no, I don't think it's compression.

00:40:28.679 --> 00:40:31.219
I think we need to work on contact strength or

00:40:31.219 --> 00:40:35.420
whatever. So it works. Yeah, for this dynamic,

00:40:35.539 --> 00:40:37.280
it works really well, but you do have to work

00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:41.320
at it a bit. So I would say our, as she went

00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:43.719
into the Olympic qualifying bit. We were more

00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:45.940
in support role and making it fun and adding

00:40:45.940 --> 00:40:48.079
in exercises which we thought might add value.

00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:53.679
After the Olympic year, we had another discussion

00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:57.039
around what we want to achieve. We wanted to

00:40:57.039 --> 00:41:03.000
achieve 25 and she wanted to be more consistently

00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:08.179
challenging for a medal. So obviously that required

00:41:08.179 --> 00:41:11.550
more training. We had more specific areas of

00:41:11.550 --> 00:41:15.630
weakness to identify there. So winter wasn't

00:41:15.630 --> 00:41:18.230
massively different, to be fair. It was back

00:41:18.230 --> 00:41:22.670
in a hole. But I would say during this year,

00:41:22.710 --> 00:41:25.349
we've probably taken more of a backwards step

00:41:25.349 --> 00:41:30.550
because Erin's getting older, so she knows what

00:41:30.550 --> 00:41:34.269
she has to do. She's got access to more people

00:41:34.269 --> 00:41:40.489
who she can train with. But yeah, we still, I

00:41:40.489 --> 00:41:43.710
probably, when she's in the country and when

00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:45.449
she's in a training mode, I'm probably still

00:41:45.449 --> 00:41:50.150
see her at least once a week. I think her brother's

00:41:50.150 --> 00:41:52.269
a lot more heavily involved in training with

00:41:52.269 --> 00:41:55.929
her now. And to be fair, he's far, far better

00:41:55.929 --> 00:41:58.929
at setting problems than I am and things like

00:41:58.929 --> 00:42:01.789
that. He doesn't set, he doesn't root set, but

00:42:01.789 --> 00:42:06.139
he's actually. doesn't root set yet but yeah

00:42:06.139 --> 00:42:08.300
he will he'll be able to go to a woody board

00:42:08.300 --> 00:42:10.679
and sort of say yeah i'll make up this route

00:42:10.679 --> 00:42:16.159
for you um or he'll be at a point on a on a splat

00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:18.400
wall you know and sort of do a 70 move route

00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:23.280
um to to sort of simulate a lead route and he'll

00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:25.019
be able to eliminate stuff and sort of say okay

00:42:25.019 --> 00:42:28.579
you know either climb that but eliminate that

00:42:28.579 --> 00:42:31.750
and that or actually climb up to the top using

00:42:31.750 --> 00:42:33.730
these three routes but only that hold that hold

00:42:33.730 --> 00:42:36.309
he just sees stuff like that a lot better than

00:42:36.309 --> 00:42:39.170
than i can so yeah that's been really useful

00:42:39.170 --> 00:42:41.190
and i think yeah some of the some of the more

00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:44.650
recent videos certainly on the boards most of

00:42:44.650 --> 00:42:46.769
those problems have been set by callum and they're

00:42:46.769 --> 00:42:49.809
all they're really horrible well it's nice to

00:42:49.809 --> 00:42:51.889
have a lot of family support so yeah earlier

00:42:51.889 --> 00:42:55.429
you mentioned that being you as a parent physically

00:42:55.429 --> 00:42:59.920
being there could be a distraction um which competitions

00:42:59.920 --> 00:43:03.139
did you choose to go to and then i guess i wonder

00:43:03.139 --> 00:43:06.320
like if you only go to a few select competitions

00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:08.980
doesn't she like maybe feel even more pressure

00:43:08.980 --> 00:43:10.960
because that's like the one that you see please

00:43:10.960 --> 00:43:13.219
excuse this brief intermission but if you're

00:43:13.219 --> 00:43:15.139
interested in deleted scenes from this episode

00:43:15.139 --> 00:43:17.500
where he talks about the pivotal moments in her

00:43:17.500 --> 00:43:20.119
training growing up and his perspective on the

00:43:20.119 --> 00:43:22.579
weird parent dynamics in the youth climbing scene

00:43:22.579 --> 00:43:25.659
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00:43:25.659 --> 00:43:28.559
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00:43:44.670 --> 00:43:48.610
helps a great deal as well back to the show yeah

00:43:48.610 --> 00:43:51.599
and i suspect that's some of the some of the

00:43:51.599 --> 00:43:54.000
issue so we're not a constant feature at the

00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:56.519
competition so we're not part of her her setup

00:43:56.519 --> 00:43:58.139
for the comps whereas and you know some of the

00:43:58.139 --> 00:44:00.300
other parents are are a constant feature which

00:44:00.300 --> 00:44:02.800
is you know which which works well i think or

00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:07.900
can work well um yeah so we went to prague which

00:44:07.900 --> 00:44:11.039
to be fair park worked you know quite well um

00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:14.780
she did she did well qualified for finals in

00:44:14.780 --> 00:44:18.139
fourth and then finals were cooled off so there

00:44:18.139 --> 00:44:22.440
was no finals Which was upsetting. Well, upsetting

00:44:22.440 --> 00:44:25.800
was a shame. But yeah, I still think Oriana had

00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:29.519
done a really good job there. So that is what

00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:34.079
it is. And then we went to Innsbruck. Mainly

00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:36.300
because we'd never, we go to Innsbruck a lot

00:44:36.300 --> 00:44:39.079
to train, but we'd never been, she'd never actually

00:44:39.079 --> 00:44:42.360
done the World Cup there. And it was obviously

00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:46.719
quite a well -informed audience and stuff like

00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:50.369
that. one we wanted to go to anyway just to experience

00:44:50.369 --> 00:44:56.550
um yeah and and that i think us being there was

00:44:56.550 --> 00:45:00.929
me lindsey and callum uh and and her partner

00:45:00.929 --> 00:45:07.230
so uh yeah i think it just threw her off yeah

00:45:07.230 --> 00:45:10.710
not not in a big way uh you know and it might

00:45:10.710 --> 00:45:13.170
have happened anyway but but why have that risk

00:45:13.170 --> 00:45:16.250
there i mean at the end of the day like i say

00:45:16.250 --> 00:45:19.960
yeah we were we were sort of stood in the crowd

00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:24.219
um and i tend to do little hand movements so

00:45:24.219 --> 00:45:26.219
i'm stood in the crowd going oh god i look like

00:45:26.219 --> 00:45:30.239
an idiot um and and you're you're yeah you're

00:45:30.239 --> 00:45:31.960
basically climbing every move with them you don't

00:45:31.960 --> 00:45:34.400
you know we don't always get a fantastic view

00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:37.619
i and i just found it really you know really

00:45:37.619 --> 00:45:40.000
stressful lindsey's finds it really stressful

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.460
as well um and and yeah so when we when we had

00:45:44.460 --> 00:45:46.000
the discussion it was quite an easy discussion

00:45:46.849 --> 00:45:49.570
And I think you're backed up by the coaches as

00:45:49.570 --> 00:45:53.150
well. You almost get to the point of saying,

00:45:53.210 --> 00:45:57.610
well, yeah, if this is the equivalent of a Masters

00:45:57.610 --> 00:46:02.489
or a Grand Slam, you're there in your unit of

00:46:02.489 --> 00:46:06.170
professionalism with your coaches, with your

00:46:06.170 --> 00:46:09.690
separate hotels, you're removed from all those

00:46:09.690 --> 00:46:12.050
influences. And yes, you might see them in the

00:46:12.050 --> 00:46:15.150
audience, but it's, you know. but they'd be doing

00:46:15.150 --> 00:46:18.550
it probably for a number of years. So, yeah,

00:46:18.550 --> 00:46:21.329
for me and Lindsay and actually all of us, it

00:46:21.329 --> 00:46:24.110
was a very simple, you know, we're saying if

00:46:24.110 --> 00:46:26.909
we present any issue to you at all, we're very

00:46:26.909 --> 00:46:29.909
happy not to come. Yeah, we can watch it on,

00:46:29.909 --> 00:46:32.389
in Europe, you have to watch it on Discovery+.

00:46:32.389 --> 00:46:37.250
But, yeah, we can watch it on Discovery+. Yeah.

00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:40.159
She always calls us up after each of the rounds.

00:46:40.219 --> 00:46:43.139
So we get to talk to her anyway. And then when

00:46:43.139 --> 00:46:46.320
she does get back, we can celebrate or commiserate.

00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:50.280
So yeah, it doesn't massively change anything

00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:55.000
because as you go through the rounds, you can't

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:56.960
really celebrate because you're straight back

00:46:56.960 --> 00:46:59.320
into recovery and all that sort of stuff. And

00:46:59.320 --> 00:47:01.559
generally when it finishes, if you do well. So

00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:04.619
I think Innsbruck, she got third. By the time

00:47:04.619 --> 00:47:06.619
she'd gone through anti -doping and stuff, it

00:47:06.619 --> 00:47:10.139
was... gone 11 o 'clock at night oh yeah so you

00:47:10.139 --> 00:47:14.300
can't really get anything done in in the um yeah

00:47:14.300 --> 00:47:16.139
you can't celebrate too much because you know

00:47:16.139 --> 00:47:18.880
she's not she's not wanting to go to a nightclub

00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:22.860
or anything like that um uh yeah so literally

00:47:22.860 --> 00:47:28.219
it was like oh okay um i think uh we we had the

00:47:28.219 --> 00:47:30.619
leftover food that was in the in the cafe at

00:47:30.619 --> 00:47:33.159
the wall in innsbruck and then uh and then went

00:47:33.159 --> 00:47:36.400
home So, yeah, you know, in some ways it's always

00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:39.119
nicer and easier to celebrate when she gets back

00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:41.519
to the UK and, you know, all of that bit's done

00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:44.420
and she could be 100 % with us. You know, it

00:47:44.420 --> 00:47:48.280
wasn't a hard decision at all. And, you know,

00:47:48.300 --> 00:47:50.119
it was the right decision for her. You know,

00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:54.800
it might not be as we move into 26, 27, 28, however

00:47:54.800 --> 00:47:58.480
long, then I'm sure that we can try to introduce

00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:01.860
it back in, in some way or shape, but I'd much

00:48:01.860 --> 00:48:04.719
rather. her be able to perform at her best than

00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:07.940
you know physically be there and her maybe not

00:48:07.940 --> 00:48:10.840
perform at the best yeah that makes sense yeah

00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:12.800
you also said that the experience of actually

00:48:12.800 --> 00:48:16.039
watching a competition is kind of terrible um

00:48:16.039 --> 00:48:18.639
have you like found any strategies that helps

00:48:18.639 --> 00:48:23.519
you calm down from that or no the uh i i think

00:48:23.519 --> 00:48:25.579
one of the first things that we went to is as

00:48:25.579 --> 00:48:28.119
when she got onto the youth team was was some

00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:31.659
sort of psychology thing for parents you're sort

00:48:31.659 --> 00:48:34.639
of saying oh yeah yeah this is obviously stressful

00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:36.679
for your kid and stuff but actually you've got

00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:40.079
to try to find a way to enjoy it but obviously

00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:44.260
no way i've had to do that um i i've never i

00:48:44.260 --> 00:48:46.760
said yeah i've never found a way of of taking

00:48:46.760 --> 00:48:51.159
away the stress um i i am less stressed about

00:48:51.159 --> 00:48:57.019
it now than than previously um but i think that's

00:48:58.579 --> 00:49:06.500
I think when she first started competing, we

00:49:06.500 --> 00:49:07.920
really didn't have any clues. So we're like,

00:49:08.019 --> 00:49:11.000
oh, maybe, maybe, maybe. And then with knowledge,

00:49:11.199 --> 00:49:16.920
we were like, no. They don't televise the qualification

00:49:16.920 --> 00:49:19.239
and she's not going to get out of qualification.

00:49:19.599 --> 00:49:24.000
So this is what it is. So you were basically

00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:30.840
watching it on the app. And then when she had

00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:36.699
the 24 season, it was like, geez. So that was

00:49:36.699 --> 00:49:39.059
all like a massive shock. So that was relatively

00:49:39.059 --> 00:49:42.420
low stress because we're like, Jesus, this can't

00:49:42.420 --> 00:49:44.219
be happening. But then by the time of the Olympics,

00:49:44.280 --> 00:49:47.739
you then had that glimmer of hope that could

00:49:47.739 --> 00:49:49.480
she make the final? And then she made the final.

00:49:49.519 --> 00:49:53.539
Like, my God, could she get on the podium? So

00:49:53.539 --> 00:49:55.579
you had that glimmer of hope, which added a bit

00:49:55.579 --> 00:49:58.590
of stress. uh into it but i guess that's good

00:49:58.590 --> 00:50:02.070
stress so you know and even now i'm still i i

00:50:02.070 --> 00:50:03.869
think i'm still coming to terms with the fact

00:50:03.869 --> 00:50:06.670
that she's performing at a really high standard

00:50:06.670 --> 00:50:11.309
so you know you would on the performance she's

00:50:11.309 --> 00:50:13.329
done so far you sort of expect her to make finals

00:50:13.329 --> 00:50:15.550
it would be a bit of a shock if she didn't but

00:50:15.550 --> 00:50:17.690
but in my head i'm still like oh you know oh

00:50:17.690 --> 00:50:21.230
she might not make semis um so it did that that

00:50:21.230 --> 00:50:24.230
aspect is weird but but yeah but less stressful

00:50:24.230 --> 00:50:26.480
now i think because she does generally she delivers

00:50:26.480 --> 00:50:29.159
and you know certainly getting into semis that

00:50:29.159 --> 00:50:33.360
seems to be quite yeah you can see quite quickly

00:50:33.360 --> 00:50:36.599
whether it's a boulder or lead that she is where

00:50:36.599 --> 00:50:40.219
she needs to be um we used to joke because you're

00:50:40.219 --> 00:50:41.719
on the lead because you've got those two qualification

00:50:41.719 --> 00:50:44.739
routes often you can qualify on the first one

00:50:44.739 --> 00:50:47.760
if you do a really high or top it and you can

00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:50.019
actually look at the results say you you don't

00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:51.500
actually have to bother to climb the second one

00:50:51.500 --> 00:50:55.659
you'll be in um And that's happened a few times.

00:50:55.920 --> 00:50:57.719
So that was, you know, it was almost like a wow.

00:50:57.860 --> 00:51:00.320
I never thought that would happen. Is that the

00:51:00.320 --> 00:51:02.880
strategy? Like just don't really do the second

00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:06.079
one? No, I think, I don't think, well, you know,

00:51:06.079 --> 00:51:07.699
certainly, I mean, some of the athletes have

00:51:07.699 --> 00:51:09.559
talked in the past around, you know, I don't

00:51:09.559 --> 00:51:13.360
want to come out last. So I'll deliberately muck

00:51:13.360 --> 00:51:16.880
up a bit. But I just, the margins are so close

00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:19.760
now. Yeah. Especially with the boulder scoring

00:51:19.760 --> 00:51:24.019
system and stuff. I think you can't. You can't

00:51:24.019 --> 00:51:26.460
have that attitude. So yeah, certainly for Erin,

00:51:26.539 --> 00:51:28.619
I don't think she ever gives anything less than

00:51:28.619 --> 00:51:32.440
100%, although she will sometimes tape her fingers

00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:34.800
for the lead routes. Oh, that makes sense. On

00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:37.900
the qualification. So she'll sort of bank a bit

00:51:37.900 --> 00:51:40.900
of skin and maybe compromise the climb slightly.

00:51:41.389 --> 00:51:44.289
Okay, smart. Yeah, I'm surprised you would say

00:51:44.289 --> 00:51:48.570
that it's a lot less stressful now because now

00:51:48.570 --> 00:51:52.050
there's more expectations involved too with making

00:51:52.050 --> 00:51:55.630
finals. And then if you don't make finals, then

00:51:55.630 --> 00:52:00.530
it's a lot more painful maybe. Yeah, but it was

00:52:00.530 --> 00:52:03.289
depressing. I can't think of the right word.

00:52:03.530 --> 00:52:07.610
I sort of think it's quite hard to maintain that

00:52:07.610 --> 00:52:13.239
level all the time. So you, I think, I think

00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:16.699
she's been on a final streak since the beginning

00:52:16.699 --> 00:52:19.420
of 2023. I mean, she was, she made the finals

00:52:19.420 --> 00:52:23.539
in Prague in 23, but then was appealed out, which

00:52:23.539 --> 00:52:29.099
is fine. And then every finals through to Innsbruck

00:52:29.099 --> 00:52:31.360
Boulder, where she didn't make the final. Well,

00:52:31.420 --> 00:52:35.050
and that was purely down to performance. Yeah,

00:52:35.150 --> 00:52:38.070
like was that a stressful moment or like disappointment?

00:52:38.230 --> 00:52:40.090
Yeah, it was more disappointment for her because

00:52:40.090 --> 00:52:44.190
she was so close to Boulder 3 and Boulder 4 on

00:52:44.190 --> 00:52:46.949
another day. I'm sure she would have sent one

00:52:46.949 --> 00:52:50.170
or both of them and that would have got her in

00:52:50.170 --> 00:52:52.969
quite comfortably. Yeah, I think you've got to

00:52:52.969 --> 00:52:55.389
be pragmatic. I remember she called us up after

00:52:55.389 --> 00:53:02.239
when she got appealed out in Prague in 24. we

00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:04.260
were bracing ourselves for, you know, full -on

00:53:04.260 --> 00:53:07.880
depression. And she was just like, we're like,

00:53:07.980 --> 00:53:10.199
oh, yeah, you sound okay. And she's like, yeah,

00:53:10.239 --> 00:53:12.260
I just wasn't good enough. We're like, yeah,

00:53:12.260 --> 00:53:13.780
but you weren't good enough. Yeah, you got in.

00:53:13.820 --> 00:53:15.639
She goes, no, no, I wasn't good enough. If I'd

00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:18.320
been good enough, it wouldn't have mattered if

00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:20.019
they'd appealed me out of one. I would have had

00:53:20.019 --> 00:53:23.239
enough points to get through anyway. So, you

00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:24.880
know, I wasn't good enough. I just need to get

00:53:24.880 --> 00:53:27.260
better. So she was really massively pragmatic

00:53:27.260 --> 00:53:29.519
about that. And, you know, I'd sort of say after

00:53:29.519 --> 00:53:31.940
Innsbruck. boulder that was when we had the discussion

00:53:31.940 --> 00:53:34.639
so yeah again pragmatic about it and sort of

00:53:34.639 --> 00:53:37.820
saying well what yeah what's different why you

00:53:37.820 --> 00:53:41.079
know why didn't i perform as i would have expected

00:53:41.079 --> 00:53:43.579
to perform why did i throw myself so much at

00:53:43.579 --> 00:53:45.460
boulder three and not save something for boulder

00:53:45.460 --> 00:53:50.420
four which was the power boulder you so yeah

00:53:50.420 --> 00:53:52.659
i think as long as she's taking something from

00:53:52.659 --> 00:53:55.019
each of them you know it's disappointing but

00:53:55.019 --> 00:53:57.079
um as long as she's taking something from it

00:53:57.079 --> 00:54:00.019
and moving forward in her mind and and you know

00:54:00.019 --> 00:54:02.780
from what we can see i think it's sort of oh

00:54:02.780 --> 00:54:06.920
yeah okay and i guess that's the journey towards

00:54:06.920 --> 00:54:10.179
uh getting to that point where you're like okay

00:54:10.179 --> 00:54:12.739
i'm i now feel i am good enough and i've got

00:54:12.739 --> 00:54:15.480
the mindset and i've got the the structure and

00:54:15.480 --> 00:54:18.119
the team that actually i should be making finals

00:54:18.119 --> 00:54:20.179
and i should be challenging for the medals every

00:54:20.179 --> 00:54:23.099
single time getting into the yanya like category

00:54:23.099 --> 00:54:25.469
yeah Well, that's a good mindset to have. I'm

00:54:25.469 --> 00:54:28.230
glad to hear that. None of these were like super

00:54:28.230 --> 00:54:32.329
depressing moments for her. I think they were.

00:54:32.369 --> 00:54:35.030
I think she was upset. But I think you could

00:54:35.030 --> 00:54:36.690
be upset, can't you? But then you just need to

00:54:36.690 --> 00:54:39.969
process it and think, OK, well, what do I change?

00:54:39.969 --> 00:54:42.449
What do I do differently? Yeah. Can you think

00:54:42.449 --> 00:54:45.449
of like the most stressful competition that you've

00:54:45.449 --> 00:54:49.730
had to watch? Yeah. Budapest OQS. It was the

00:54:49.730 --> 00:54:53.269
second qualifier. And she, yeah, she'd got third

00:54:53.269 --> 00:54:57.190
in the first one in Shanghai. So it was, you're

00:54:57.190 --> 00:54:58.969
sort of thinking, oh, yes, this is nailed on.

00:54:59.030 --> 00:55:02.030
She's going to get the Olympic ticket. And she

00:55:02.030 --> 00:55:04.469
had a disaster, well not disaster, she had a

00:55:04.469 --> 00:55:08.150
really bad for her boulder round. And we were

00:55:08.150 --> 00:55:10.090
suddenly like, oh God, she's got to come out

00:55:10.090 --> 00:55:12.409
and do, she had to, she had to get to the headwall.

00:55:12.710 --> 00:55:14.949
Actually, I think a hold or two onto the headwall

00:55:14.949 --> 00:55:18.360
in order to get into semifinals. And we're like,

00:55:18.400 --> 00:55:20.340
God, if she doesn't make semifinals, then this

00:55:20.340 --> 00:55:24.059
is going to be the most stressful watch because

00:55:24.059 --> 00:55:28.659
people could actually overtake her. So that was

00:55:28.659 --> 00:55:34.380
hugely stressful. I think there's a video that

00:55:34.380 --> 00:55:37.380
is on one of her YouTubes, which is Callum, my

00:55:37.380 --> 00:55:42.260
son, videoing her. And he's super, it's literally

00:55:42.260 --> 00:55:45.260
like this. He was like, and then I think there's

00:55:45.260 --> 00:55:47.750
a bit where he goes, that's it, she's in. in

00:55:47.750 --> 00:55:51.030
semis yes that was probably the the most stressful

00:55:51.030 --> 00:55:54.309
it was about 34 degrees it was really baking

00:55:54.309 --> 00:55:57.070
hot so you're sort of like you've got heat stress

00:55:57.070 --> 00:56:01.050
as i say this is a non -athlete so you as a as

00:56:01.050 --> 00:56:04.050
a as a spectator you got heat stress and stress

00:56:04.050 --> 00:56:05.909
it was it was uh yeah that was quite an unpleasant

00:56:05.909 --> 00:56:08.530
environment um obviously the athletes had it

00:56:08.530 --> 00:56:10.329
easy because they just had to climb up this wall

00:56:10.329 --> 00:56:13.469
in 34 degrees oh yeah that's pretty simple yeah

00:56:13.469 --> 00:56:15.570
that was probably the most stressful because

00:56:15.570 --> 00:56:18.719
he's thinking my god this is a a huge dream and

00:56:18.719 --> 00:56:21.039
a huge moment which might be about to disappear.

00:56:21.579 --> 00:56:23.920
So you were there in person for that? We were.

00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:25.820
We went to the Budapest ones, which was really

00:56:25.820 --> 00:56:30.599
great because, again, we were bystanders in that.

00:56:31.760 --> 00:56:33.579
Probably the first time I'd seen her when she

00:56:33.579 --> 00:56:38.360
actually got your approach by fans. I'd never

00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:41.500
seen that before, so that was quite nice. So

00:56:41.500 --> 00:56:44.159
when she came out of the Atelier area, we'd sort

00:56:44.159 --> 00:56:47.380
of migrated around there. But we didn't get to

00:56:47.380 --> 00:56:49.179
talk to her for quite a long time because she

00:56:49.179 --> 00:56:52.219
was just working her way through a crowd, which

00:56:52.219 --> 00:56:56.260
is quite surreal to see a daughter with strangers

00:56:56.260 --> 00:56:58.840
wanting an autograph and stuff. Yeah, no, she

00:56:58.840 --> 00:57:02.280
had suddenly blew up. I think it was, I don't

00:57:02.280 --> 00:57:05.760
want to say like surprising, but yeah, I think

00:57:05.760 --> 00:57:07.780
still like around that time, it was still pretty

00:57:07.780 --> 00:57:10.440
early. Not a lot of people knew who she was.

00:57:10.480 --> 00:57:13.980
And so it was kind of like... I'd say even in

00:57:13.980 --> 00:57:16.699
the UK, even in the UK, she was still relatively

00:57:16.699 --> 00:57:20.400
unknown. I think Rachel used to say, Coach used

00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:23.039
to sort of say, you're the best boulder in the

00:57:23.039 --> 00:57:29.420
UK and nobody knows it. Yeah, it was a silent

00:57:29.420 --> 00:57:33.400
rise, wasn't it? And I think, yeah, and even

00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:34.980
at the Olympics, because I think she must have

00:57:34.980 --> 00:57:37.179
been one of the lowest, because it was on, I

00:57:37.179 --> 00:57:40.139
think it was on World Cup ranking or World ranking.

00:57:40.559 --> 00:57:43.610
So she was. Always either the last out or the

00:57:43.610 --> 00:57:45.369
first out, depending on which round it was. It

00:57:45.369 --> 00:57:48.809
was a long way back. And Okuress as well. So

00:57:48.809 --> 00:57:50.190
she was like, yeah, you're still thinking, oh,

00:57:50.250 --> 00:57:51.630
yeah, these are the positions. And then Erin

00:57:51.630 --> 00:57:55.590
came out almost like last and was able, well,

00:57:55.630 --> 00:57:57.449
unfortunately for somebody, knocked them out.

00:57:57.849 --> 00:58:00.050
Yeah, I mean, it was so interesting. Like I remember

00:58:00.050 --> 00:58:03.090
when I first interviewed her, she was just saying

00:58:03.090 --> 00:58:05.550
that she was still like waiting hours in ISO

00:58:05.550 --> 00:58:09.340
for like quality. It came a really long way.

00:58:09.420 --> 00:58:13.199
It's very interesting to see. Yeah, yeah. That's

00:58:13.199 --> 00:58:17.539
also presented a challenge because I think qualifying,

00:58:18.059 --> 00:58:20.900
she struggled a bit with the qualifying high

00:58:20.900 --> 00:58:24.679
up in semis. It means you come out earlier for

00:58:24.679 --> 00:58:28.519
semis and that didn't give her enough time to

00:58:28.519 --> 00:58:31.099
warm up. Oh, yeah. So she had to adapt her warm

00:58:31.099 --> 00:58:33.719
up. Yeah. So, yeah, it's quite weird how you

00:58:33.719 --> 00:58:37.219
have to continue to adapt. to uh to your sort

00:58:37.219 --> 00:58:39.539
of yeah what your performance is giving you yeah

00:58:39.539 --> 00:58:42.539
it's ever -changing and of course how was your

00:58:42.539 --> 00:58:45.699
experience at the olympics did you get to enjoy

00:58:45.699 --> 00:58:48.079
the venue much or was it mostly just stressful

00:58:48.079 --> 00:58:53.219
uh stressful to watch that was um yeah it was

00:58:53.219 --> 00:58:58.219
it was okay actually it yeah it was there was

00:58:58.219 --> 00:59:02.880
a little bit of stress actually there's probably

00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:05.250
quite a lot of stress around the Because at that

00:59:05.250 --> 00:59:08.690
point, she really wanted to make finals. And

00:59:08.690 --> 00:59:12.650
there was a possibility. It wasn't beyond the

00:59:12.650 --> 00:59:15.090
realms of possibility. So that was a bit stressful.

00:59:15.250 --> 00:59:20.650
But I'd say the atmosphere was fantastic. The

00:59:20.650 --> 00:59:23.090
venue was fantastic. It was bloody hot again.

00:59:23.190 --> 00:59:27.989
But it was an amazing venue, packed, literally

00:59:27.989 --> 00:59:31.809
at capacity as well, which was fantastic to see.

00:59:31.889 --> 00:59:37.980
They did a really... really good job um yeah

00:59:37.980 --> 00:59:41.179
and so that that sort of i guess being in that

00:59:41.179 --> 00:59:44.539
environment and that um setting sort of took

00:59:44.539 --> 00:59:47.480
away some of the stress yeah but it was it was

00:59:47.480 --> 00:59:50.280
a bit stress i i the things i can remember is

00:59:50.280 --> 00:59:53.440
for whatever reason when she qualified it was

00:59:53.440 --> 00:59:56.199
like the the lead part was was what determined

00:59:56.199 --> 00:59:57.719
whether she was going to get into the final or

00:59:57.719 --> 01:00:01.059
not but somehow we were sat with a whole load

01:00:01.059 --> 01:00:03.639
of other parents So I'm guessing it must have

01:00:03.639 --> 01:00:05.639
been the friends and family tickets. Yeah. So

01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:07.719
we were, we were sat with all, you know, a number

01:00:07.719 --> 01:00:12.159
of the other parents. So you had to be quite

01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:15.099
careful around, you know, what you, what you

01:00:15.099 --> 01:00:17.159
were like, you know, you know, cause obviously

01:00:17.159 --> 01:00:19.659
you want them to get in, but in order for her

01:00:19.659 --> 01:00:21.699
to get in, other people had to fall earlier.

01:00:22.480 --> 01:00:26.000
So, yeah. So it was, it was quite weird, you

01:00:26.000 --> 01:00:28.179
know, weird, weird vibe. But I mean, you know,

01:00:28.179 --> 01:00:30.900
you know, generally all the parents are so. at

01:00:30.900 --> 01:00:33.320
that level they're so supportive and stuff um

01:00:33.320 --> 01:00:39.360
yeah so i think we were sat next to um uh what's

01:00:39.360 --> 01:00:43.139
the name casper cova oh yeah jenya jenya yeah

01:00:43.139 --> 01:00:46.940
her her parents or her mother in particular um

01:00:46.940 --> 01:00:49.340
yeah she was lovely giving us sort of hugs and

01:00:49.340 --> 01:00:53.000
stuff um yeah so it was really really quite cool

01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:56.420
i do i do uh although the other bit i remember

01:00:56.420 --> 01:00:59.739
is she yeah she qualified we knew she'd qualified

01:00:59.739 --> 01:01:04.139
so i was super happy um and then i saw her that

01:01:04.139 --> 01:01:06.360
you had barriers at the front where the where

01:01:06.360 --> 01:01:07.639
the athletes could mill around and then there

01:01:07.639 --> 01:01:10.320
was a sort of area off to the far right which

01:01:10.320 --> 01:01:12.159
is all behind barriers but you could actually

01:01:12.159 --> 01:01:13.579
go and talk to the athletes and get the design

01:01:13.579 --> 01:01:16.219
stuff but it was sort of security patrolled but

01:01:16.219 --> 01:01:17.980
she was at the front and i thought oh yeah i'm

01:01:17.980 --> 01:01:21.179
literally two things away and somebody had gone

01:01:21.179 --> 01:01:23.869
out of the seat So I thought I could jump that

01:01:23.869 --> 01:01:26.070
and get to go and talk to her. So I did jump

01:01:26.070 --> 01:01:28.869
it, really athletically jumped it and went to

01:01:28.869 --> 01:01:30.530
talk to her. I was like, wow, yeah, this is amazing.

01:01:30.570 --> 01:01:31.909
It's happening. And she was like, yeah, I'll

01:01:31.909 --> 01:01:34.110
leave it. And then I could see people minister.

01:01:34.130 --> 01:01:36.130
I'll go back to my seat. And I tried to jump

01:01:36.130 --> 01:01:38.449
back into my seat, completely messed it up. And

01:01:38.449 --> 01:01:41.650
then he smacked my head. So I looked very uncool

01:01:41.650 --> 01:01:46.630
getting back into it. Yeah. So that was, yeah,

01:01:47.030 --> 01:01:48.789
I mean, that was, I guess, stressful, but happy.

01:01:48.869 --> 01:01:51.809
And then the... The final was less stressful

01:01:51.809 --> 01:01:56.250
until there was a brief moment where you're thinking,

01:01:56.349 --> 01:02:01.110
oh, could she scrape into third? I don't think

01:02:01.110 --> 01:02:02.469
she was ever going to get first or second because

01:02:02.469 --> 01:02:04.829
I think Brooke and Yanya had sort of wrapped

01:02:04.829 --> 01:02:08.869
them up. But depending on her lead, I or Jessie

01:02:08.869 --> 01:02:11.650
may not have overtaken her. But I mean, by her

01:02:11.650 --> 01:02:13.670
own admission, she made that lead route really

01:02:13.670 --> 01:02:15.949
hard. I mean, she fought really hard as well,

01:02:15.949 --> 01:02:20.619
but yeah, she didn't read it. maybe in the most

01:02:20.619 --> 01:02:23.260
efficient manner but yeah in reality i think

01:02:23.260 --> 01:02:25.099
by that stage we were just massively happy she

01:02:25.099 --> 01:02:27.900
was she'd made it to the final and got to climb

01:02:27.900 --> 01:02:30.340
again yeah and then suddenly she had all the

01:02:30.340 --> 01:02:32.659
power i remember running over to the the athlete

01:02:32.659 --> 01:02:34.920
area where you could talk to them and and the

01:02:34.920 --> 01:02:37.019
big security guards would step in front of her

01:02:37.019 --> 01:02:40.019
and say she almost stopped you and say is it

01:02:40.019 --> 01:02:42.079
is it okay if this person approaches you yeah

01:02:42.079 --> 01:02:48.139
i was like it's me So yeah, that was quite exciting

01:02:48.139 --> 01:02:51.119
watching her. Yeah, he can come over. Okay, that's

01:02:51.119 --> 01:02:54.179
nice to hear. I'm glad you had a not too stressful

01:02:54.179 --> 01:02:56.800
time. I was going to say the other interesting,

01:02:56.920 --> 01:02:59.760
we went to the, I'm assuming everybody does this,

01:02:59.820 --> 01:03:04.119
but they have like houses, like the GB house.

01:03:04.440 --> 01:03:06.840
So all the athletes and all the friends and family,

01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:08.159
because you can't go to the village, obviously,

01:03:08.159 --> 01:03:11.519
where they're staying. So generally after the

01:03:11.519 --> 01:03:13.719
event, they can invite you to this GB house,

01:03:13.940 --> 01:03:16.760
which is like, I didn't know this was a thing,

01:03:16.840 --> 01:03:21.519
so that's interesting. Yeah, so we went there,

01:03:21.739 --> 01:03:24.780
which is really nice. It's a really nice location.

01:03:24.840 --> 01:03:27.280
They have a bar, and they have a bar which I

01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:29.539
think lots of people can go to. Then by special

01:03:29.539 --> 01:03:31.280
invitation, you can go into the special athlete

01:03:31.280 --> 01:03:34.119
area where, again, they have another bar and

01:03:34.119 --> 01:03:36.260
food and nibbles and stuff. It's a really beautiful

01:03:36.260 --> 01:03:40.019
setting. So she invited us there. Toby had just

01:03:40.019 --> 01:03:43.000
won his gold, I think, the night before. So he

01:03:43.000 --> 01:03:47.480
was there. discovering alcohol i think oh yeah

01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:54.079
uh um but uh yeah i had my dad out there uh erin

01:03:54.079 --> 01:03:56.000
had one of her sort of best friends from school

01:03:56.000 --> 01:03:58.400
where lindsey was there kind of was there uh

01:03:58.400 --> 01:04:02.019
so he went into this um yeah this this area and

01:04:02.019 --> 01:04:05.519
uh yeah and all proceeded to get really really

01:04:05.519 --> 01:04:07.599
quite merry and about halfway through getting

01:04:07.599 --> 01:04:11.940
merry um the uh she was offered this interview

01:04:11.940 --> 01:04:15.480
with eurosport or somebody but it was at the

01:04:15.480 --> 01:04:17.940
eiffel tower or looking out over the eiffel tower

01:04:17.940 --> 01:04:19.920
she was like oh i can't get there i can't get

01:04:19.920 --> 01:04:23.119
there they'll send you a limo so they'll put

01:04:23.119 --> 01:04:25.059
you in a limo drive you out there you'll get

01:04:25.059 --> 01:04:28.260
interviewed by shauna coxie and and other olympians

01:04:28.260 --> 01:04:32.800
and then they'll drive you back um and toby had

01:04:32.800 --> 01:04:34.420
done it it's like yeah it's really good go for

01:04:34.420 --> 01:04:38.179
it go for it So she was, I think, she hardly

01:04:38.179 --> 01:04:41.019
ever drinks, but she was definitely semi under

01:04:41.019 --> 01:04:42.659
the influence when she had to do that interview.

01:04:42.980 --> 01:04:44.800
And then they put it on the big screen where

01:04:44.800 --> 01:04:46.800
in GB House, they put it on the big screen so

01:04:46.800 --> 01:04:50.199
we could watch it. And they'd obviously, she

01:04:50.199 --> 01:04:52.539
never wears makeup, but they'd obviously put

01:04:52.539 --> 01:04:55.480
makeup on there for this television appearance.

01:04:56.139 --> 01:04:58.380
And she just looked bemused for the whole thing.

01:04:58.440 --> 01:05:01.500
Like she went up in a lift and she walked through

01:05:01.500 --> 01:05:03.139
this crowd of people who were all clapping her.

01:05:03.199 --> 01:05:05.480
She's walking through going. what what's happening

01:05:05.480 --> 01:05:08.059
but that was quite cool then she yeah then she

01:05:08.059 --> 01:05:10.539
arrived back we uh we had some more food and

01:05:10.539 --> 01:05:12.340
drink and then that was really really really

01:05:12.340 --> 01:05:15.219
good and yeah really nicely i'd obviously never

01:05:15.219 --> 01:05:17.039
experienced anything like that before but that

01:05:17.039 --> 01:05:19.920
was quite nice quite a nice way i think for the

01:05:19.920 --> 01:05:22.320
athletes to then celebrate with the the families

01:05:22.320 --> 01:05:24.099
because you know you really don't get to see

01:05:24.099 --> 01:05:26.340
them personally because they're always on another

01:05:26.340 --> 01:05:29.389
side of a fence yeah Well, now that I know that

01:05:29.389 --> 01:05:31.929
backstory, I think I would need to go back and

01:05:31.929 --> 01:05:34.789
try to watch that again and see if I can see

01:05:34.789 --> 01:05:39.809
that she's under the influence. Same with Toby,

01:05:39.849 --> 01:05:44.789
I guess? Yeah, well, I'm not sure when he went

01:05:44.789 --> 01:05:49.030
large on the alcohol fund. You were about to

01:05:49.030 --> 01:05:52.269
say Shauna? I think Shauna did a lot of the talking

01:05:52.269 --> 01:05:54.920
for Aaron. Which is lovely. I mean, Sean has

01:05:54.920 --> 01:05:57.599
been absolutely fantastic to Aaron through the

01:05:57.599 --> 01:06:01.679
whole sort of experience. Yeah, I hope I can

01:06:01.679 --> 01:06:04.119
find that video again. I feel like I must have

01:06:04.119 --> 01:06:06.099
watched it at some point, but now I really got

01:06:06.099 --> 01:06:09.260
to find it. Yeah, I think it was Eurosport. If

01:06:09.260 --> 01:06:12.800
I can remember it, I'll ping you. Yeah, I'll

01:06:12.800 --> 01:06:14.860
try to find the link too. But if you find it,

01:06:14.880 --> 01:06:17.840
let me know. So, yeah, I mean, you've watched

01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:20.400
the sport evolve over time. Lots of variations

01:06:20.400 --> 01:06:24.139
in setting. What do you think about the evolution

01:06:24.139 --> 01:06:26.559
of setting? Like, does it ever scare you to watch

01:06:26.559 --> 01:06:29.079
Erin throw herself around on dynamic boulders?

01:06:29.079 --> 01:06:31.659
Or where do you draw the line in terms of danger?

01:06:33.079 --> 01:06:37.719
Yeah, I don't really. I think injury is part

01:06:37.719 --> 01:06:42.219
of most sports, isn't it? We went to a youth

01:06:42.219 --> 01:06:49.239
European cup in Graz. And, you know, one of the

01:06:49.239 --> 01:06:53.400
German guys who is now climbing on the World

01:06:53.400 --> 01:06:58.639
Cup circuit broke his leg, like audibly broke

01:06:58.639 --> 01:07:02.940
his leg. And I remember grabbing Erin and sort

01:07:02.940 --> 01:07:07.320
of moving her away from it. But, you know, obviously

01:07:07.320 --> 01:07:11.159
you get bad things like that happening if Natalia

01:07:11.159 --> 01:07:16.449
sort of doing a ACL. um but i sort of think you

01:07:16.449 --> 01:07:19.289
know that that that is the case with any elite

01:07:19.289 --> 01:07:21.590
sport because you're right at the the cutting

01:07:21.590 --> 01:07:27.269
edge of it um i so so in terms of the evolution

01:07:27.269 --> 01:07:30.469
i guess it sort of had to evolve because i think

01:07:30.469 --> 01:07:35.090
the you know the the athletes doing it just became

01:07:35.090 --> 01:07:37.429
more and more focused on competition climbing

01:07:37.429 --> 01:07:40.380
yes i think it sort of evolved from a people

01:07:40.380 --> 01:07:42.619
who climb then doing competition climbing but

01:07:42.619 --> 01:07:45.019
I think you've now got people who just really

01:07:45.019 --> 01:07:46.880
focus on competition climbing and the rock climbing

01:07:46.880 --> 01:07:50.840
is a side hustle if it's a hustle at all and

01:07:50.840 --> 01:07:55.539
so the things which challenged at the early stages

01:07:55.539 --> 01:07:58.340
of the sport just were not challenging I even

01:07:58.340 --> 01:08:01.559
look at some of the lead routes where you sort

01:08:01.559 --> 01:08:03.719
of see you look at it and you think my god look

01:08:03.719 --> 01:08:05.719
there's a horrible crimp section in there and

01:08:05.719 --> 01:08:08.510
they're resting on the crimps because their finger

01:08:08.510 --> 01:08:10.210
strength is so strong they're sort of like oh

01:08:10.210 --> 01:08:15.989
good this is a rest I could just lock in so yeah

01:08:15.989 --> 01:08:17.970
I guess it had to evolve and it had to evolve

01:08:17.970 --> 01:08:23.829
in ways with different sort of holds and macros

01:08:23.829 --> 01:08:27.550
and volumes to force movement and to change movement

01:08:27.550 --> 01:08:32.289
and body shape so yeah I think I sort of think

01:08:32.289 --> 01:08:38.180
it had to evolve and actually i like the um you

01:08:38.180 --> 01:08:40.539
know i think leads probably evolved or changed

01:08:40.539 --> 01:08:42.619
less but even now yeah when you look at a lead

01:08:42.619 --> 01:08:45.579
route now it's it's comprised of multiple sort

01:08:45.579 --> 01:08:50.359
of sections um and you often snakes up rather

01:08:50.359 --> 01:08:53.640
than go straight up um and it's you know you

01:08:53.640 --> 01:08:55.659
still get the sort of power endurance routes

01:08:55.659 --> 01:08:58.619
but they i'd argue they're generally the ones

01:08:58.619 --> 01:09:01.279
which are topped a lot um whereas the ones with

01:09:01.279 --> 01:09:04.359
sort of you know interest here more interesting

01:09:04.359 --> 01:09:08.520
moves which either cause um you know concern

01:09:08.520 --> 01:09:11.260
amongst the athletes or also attest them yeah

01:09:11.260 --> 01:09:13.479
they're the ones where you get separation yeah

01:09:13.479 --> 01:09:15.760
and so you know they're generally like you know

01:09:15.760 --> 01:09:18.520
dinos in in lead routes i sort of think yeah

01:09:18.520 --> 01:09:21.899
they set them relatively easily but it just adds

01:09:21.899 --> 01:09:25.380
another element of stress to to the athletes

01:09:25.380 --> 01:09:27.119
and so they might get it but they might have

01:09:27.119 --> 01:09:29.239
expended a whole load of energy in getting it

01:09:29.239 --> 01:09:31.739
or concern in getting it so yeah i sort of see

01:09:31.739 --> 01:09:34.569
that and on the bolder side Yeah, you've always

01:09:34.569 --> 01:09:38.069
had slabs and you've always had sort of an element

01:09:38.069 --> 01:09:41.850
of power. Yeah, I think the two new ones are

01:09:41.850 --> 01:09:44.829
coordinations and dynos. And I guess they were

01:09:44.829 --> 01:09:46.289
sort of in there before. They've just become

01:09:46.289 --> 01:09:50.029
a lot more intricate and you're no longer dynoing

01:09:50.029 --> 01:09:52.670
to a jug. You're now dynoing to something which

01:09:52.670 --> 01:09:55.609
is not ideal or you're having to grab a tow hook

01:09:55.609 --> 01:09:58.390
in there whilst doing that. And again, I sort

01:09:58.390 --> 01:10:00.069
of just see that as the evolution of the sport.

01:10:00.700 --> 01:10:03.359
Look at the sort of diners they were doing two,

01:10:03.460 --> 01:10:05.500
three years ago compared to what they're doing

01:10:05.500 --> 01:10:09.579
now. They're a lot harder. Coordination moves

01:10:09.579 --> 01:10:13.060
are a lot more intricate. It's just natural evolution,

01:10:13.340 --> 01:10:17.260
isn't it? I think the no -text holds don't look

01:10:17.260 --> 01:10:21.300
very pretty, but they can force a movement. I

01:10:21.300 --> 01:10:22.979
like the dual -text. I think the dual -texts

01:10:22.979 --> 01:10:24.380
are really clever and I think they look pretty,

01:10:24.520 --> 01:10:27.819
but the clear holds, I don't think they look

01:10:27.819 --> 01:10:32.279
pretty. but you know they add another element

01:10:32.279 --> 01:10:34.659
but again most people have got to grips with

01:10:34.659 --> 01:10:37.880
them now so they're not yeah they're sort of

01:10:37.880 --> 01:10:41.000
nothing new so I suspect it has to continue to

01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:43.520
evolve and I suspect it will continue to get

01:10:43.520 --> 01:10:49.520
you know more intricate and harder for the athletes

01:10:49.520 --> 01:10:55.359
but I actually like the fact that yeah you for

01:10:55.359 --> 01:10:57.500
boulder in particular you'll test across a wide

01:10:57.500 --> 01:11:00.939
range of skills so yeah just being good at power

01:11:00.939 --> 01:11:03.960
or just being good at slab is highly unlikely

01:11:03.960 --> 01:11:06.560
to get you into a you know into a semi -final

01:11:06.560 --> 01:11:10.340
um because you have to be good at all sorts you

01:11:10.340 --> 01:11:14.180
know the crimps the slopers the movements which

01:11:14.180 --> 01:11:16.500
which you know i think is much better as a um

01:11:16.500 --> 01:11:20.840
much better demonstration of being um you an

01:11:20.840 --> 01:11:23.260
athlete in an elite sport an olympic sport and

01:11:23.260 --> 01:11:25.039
something which is hopefully becoming more and

01:11:25.039 --> 01:11:29.720
more um watchable um to the public so i like

01:11:29.720 --> 01:11:32.220
that i also personally i like the combined format

01:11:32.220 --> 01:11:34.119
i think that was really exciting i know it's

01:11:34.119 --> 01:11:36.420
not there for the olympics but i uh for the next

01:11:36.420 --> 01:11:39.199
olympics but i i actually thought that that the

01:11:39.199 --> 01:11:41.600
the combined format made for a very exciting

01:11:41.600 --> 01:11:45.180
competition and obviously you know favors people

01:11:45.180 --> 01:11:47.279
who are good at both but uh it sort of added

01:11:47.279 --> 01:11:49.970
some interesting elements of this person's really

01:11:49.970 --> 01:11:53.090
good at lead and has had an okay boulder round

01:11:53.090 --> 01:11:55.590
so they could actually jump up. Yeah, that's

01:11:55.590 --> 01:11:57.789
actually quite a hot take among the community,

01:11:57.930 --> 01:12:00.510
even among the athletes. So it's interesting

01:12:00.510 --> 01:12:03.210
to hear that you like the combined. I mean, I

01:12:03.210 --> 01:12:05.409
feel like part of it is maybe that Erin's pretty

01:12:05.409 --> 01:12:10.409
good at both. I suspect that helps. Yeah. If

01:12:10.409 --> 01:12:12.390
she was like a boulder lead specialist, I don't

01:12:12.390 --> 01:12:14.810
know if you'd be saying the same thing. I probably

01:12:14.810 --> 01:12:17.390
would not know. Actually, I don't mind the fact

01:12:17.390 --> 01:12:19.479
that it's... two separate disciplines would have

01:12:19.479 --> 01:12:22.739
been fantastic if they'd kept it as we've got

01:12:22.739 --> 01:12:27.180
effectively a combined format but we will whoever

01:12:27.180 --> 01:12:30.199
wins the boulder round will get a gold medal

01:12:30.199 --> 01:12:32.960
for the boulder and whoever wins the lead will

01:12:32.960 --> 01:12:35.300
get a lead gold medal and then we'll put the

01:12:35.300 --> 01:12:36.979
two scores together and whoever wins both of

01:12:36.979 --> 01:12:39.300
them will also get medals that would have been

01:12:39.300 --> 01:12:42.760
fantastic but I think, yeah, the fact that we've

01:12:42.760 --> 01:12:44.760
still got it at the Olympics and the fact that

01:12:44.760 --> 01:12:47.359
we are getting more medals is great. It'd be

01:12:47.359 --> 01:12:51.000
really interesting to see, well, to see what

01:12:51.000 --> 01:12:53.180
the selection criteria are for the Olympics because

01:12:53.180 --> 01:12:56.760
it's not very many athletes. And if you give

01:12:56.760 --> 01:13:00.319
whatever 16 or to actually make up a proper speed

01:13:00.319 --> 01:13:02.699
competition, I think it comes down to 11 or 10

01:13:02.699 --> 01:13:05.979
for lead and 10 for boulder. So that's not a

01:13:05.979 --> 01:13:08.479
very exciting competition. So you've sort of

01:13:08.479 --> 01:13:11.470
got to try to find a way to say, well, We'd ideally

01:13:11.470 --> 01:13:13.770
like people to do both because then we can at

01:13:13.770 --> 01:13:16.409
least have 20 odd people and have a proper semi

01:13:16.409 --> 01:13:19.869
-final format leading into a final. But I'm sure

01:13:19.869 --> 01:13:22.010
they're thinking about that. Yeah, I think that's

01:13:22.010 --> 01:13:25.430
info we're all waiting on. I mean, I would love

01:13:25.430 --> 01:13:28.770
to see individual boulder and lead medals and

01:13:28.770 --> 01:13:31.069
then also a combined medal. I think that would

01:13:31.069 --> 01:13:33.590
be really cool to see. They do it in gymnastics,

01:13:33.750 --> 01:13:36.409
don't they? Yeah, exactly. But also, going back

01:13:36.409 --> 01:13:40.350
to safety in the sport, I'm just thinking about

01:13:40.350 --> 01:13:45.010
the mat situation in Burn. Do you have any thoughts

01:13:45.010 --> 01:13:51.840
on that one? Not massively. I mean, I thought

01:13:51.840 --> 01:13:55.140
Bern was an amazing, yeah, I didn't go, but from

01:13:55.140 --> 01:13:56.760
what I could see in the feedback I've had at

01:13:56.760 --> 01:14:02.779
the venue, it sounded amazing. It was obviously

01:14:02.779 --> 01:14:05.699
temperature controlled, really hot outside, but

01:14:05.699 --> 01:14:08.800
okay inside. It takes away all the concern on

01:14:08.800 --> 01:14:12.399
wind, rain, all that sort of stuff. And they

01:14:12.399 --> 01:14:15.340
had, what, 4 ,000 odd people there. So that must

01:14:15.340 --> 01:14:17.720
be one of the biggest audiences, if not the biggest

01:14:17.720 --> 01:14:20.880
audience of any World Cup this year. yeah so

01:14:20.880 --> 01:14:24.039
the venue itself I thought was fantastic setting

01:14:24.039 --> 01:14:26.319
I'm bound to say this the setting was fantastic

01:14:26.319 --> 01:14:28.260
it was the best Boulder World Cup ever and everyone

01:14:28.260 --> 01:14:33.560
yeah okay yeah yeah in terms of the hardness

01:14:33.560 --> 01:14:37.840
of the mats there was that one move of yes I

01:14:37.840 --> 01:14:41.060
think Yuffie Pan hurt himself didn't he falling

01:14:41.060 --> 01:14:45.239
and there was that one specific move and there

01:14:45.239 --> 01:14:48.119
were some some hard falls it was a crazy move

01:14:48.539 --> 01:14:52.819
I really liked it, but yeah. Yeah. It's really

01:14:52.819 --> 01:14:57.319
hard, isn't it? I think the mats were hard, I

01:14:57.319 --> 01:15:03.739
guess, because they were brand new. Yeah. It's

01:15:03.739 --> 01:15:05.060
just really hard, isn't it? You sort of think,

01:15:05.079 --> 01:15:09.819
what can you do? Do you mandate a softer mat?

01:15:10.439 --> 01:15:13.079
And then you exclude a whole load of more venues

01:15:13.079 --> 01:15:14.520
from being able to put on World Cups because

01:15:14.520 --> 01:15:17.220
they've got to shell out. X amount of money for

01:15:17.220 --> 01:15:19.779
these specific mats, which are going to be, you

01:15:19.779 --> 01:15:22.600
know, probably not last for very long, um, because

01:15:22.600 --> 01:15:25.640
they're softer, um, you know, more, more open

01:15:25.640 --> 01:15:28.060
to damage or whatever. I, yeah, I don't know

01:15:28.060 --> 01:15:31.140
the ins and outs of it. I, I, I do know the,

01:15:31.140 --> 01:15:33.859
uh, some of the coaches who were appealing that

01:15:33.859 --> 01:15:37.779
particular boulder. Um, yeah. And, and I do,

01:15:37.819 --> 01:15:40.960
yeah, I sort of respect their, their, their views,

01:15:41.079 --> 01:15:46.460
but yeah, I sort of. I almost sort of also go

01:15:46.460 --> 01:15:48.520
down the line of, well, yeah, this is the sport.

01:15:51.079 --> 01:15:56.260
Maybe it's more direct interaction with the route

01:15:56.260 --> 01:15:57.800
setters to sort of say, is there any way we can

01:15:57.800 --> 01:16:00.720
put that move lower or have it as a lower down

01:16:00.720 --> 01:16:03.140
move? But I also think having them high up adds

01:16:03.140 --> 01:16:06.920
another element of, I don't know, excitement

01:16:06.920 --> 01:16:10.460
or commitment to the climbers. So you would not

01:16:10.460 --> 01:16:15.300
have put in an appeal to... make it safer yeah

01:16:15.300 --> 01:16:18.560
i personally wouldn't have but i i'm not you

01:16:18.560 --> 01:16:21.439
know i'm not as uh i'm not as attuned maybe to

01:16:21.439 --> 01:16:23.640
the risks that they may well have been seeing

01:16:23.640 --> 01:16:26.039
sure yeah because some of the women took some

01:16:26.039 --> 01:16:28.039
big hits as well i always think you know i i

01:16:28.039 --> 01:16:30.600
love um watching zelia ramazu because i think

01:16:30.600 --> 01:16:33.260
if there's a way for her to try to hit the wall

01:16:33.260 --> 01:16:36.239
or fall off in a dangerous looking manner she'll

01:16:36.239 --> 01:16:39.560
take it yeah she's she's amazingly committed

01:16:40.279 --> 01:16:43.600
Okay, good to know. And yeah, congrats on her

01:16:43.600 --> 01:16:46.319
performance in Burn. It was a good comp. I really

01:16:46.319 --> 01:16:50.060
liked the Burn comp. Yeah, that was a good, well,

01:16:50.119 --> 01:16:52.520
it seemed to be a good one. Okay, so let's get

01:16:52.520 --> 01:16:56.000
into some of the audience questions. Had a good

01:16:56.000 --> 01:16:57.819
few come in. People were really excited to hear

01:16:57.819 --> 01:17:02.180
from you. So first one, how does having a comp

01:17:02.180 --> 01:17:05.880
kit influence the family dynamic? Is it tricky

01:17:05.880 --> 01:17:08.520
to balance, especially with more than one child?

01:17:09.159 --> 01:17:11.239
So I thought it would be a lot trickier than

01:17:11.239 --> 01:17:18.979
it actually is. So my son climbed pretty much

01:17:18.979 --> 01:17:21.039
all the way up to university and then discovered

01:17:21.039 --> 01:17:23.840
other things at university and then sort of got

01:17:23.840 --> 01:17:25.420
back into climbing at the end of university.

01:17:26.579 --> 01:17:30.560
And now he's probably training harder than he's

01:17:30.560 --> 01:17:34.520
ever trained in his sort of life. I think he's

01:17:34.520 --> 01:17:36.500
got a side hustle or side bet on with Aaron.

01:17:36.829 --> 01:17:41.869
around going to the Nationals and seeing where

01:17:41.869 --> 01:17:45.510
he could place. He's not going to win it. Sure.

01:17:45.989 --> 01:17:50.109
The brutal honesty again. But yeah, I think he's

01:17:50.109 --> 01:17:52.109
sort of thinking, well, I wonder if I could make

01:17:52.109 --> 01:17:55.350
semis or that sort of level. Is that going to

01:17:55.350 --> 01:17:59.329
be this year? I think it's in January. That's

01:17:59.329 --> 01:18:01.210
when they tend to hold them. Can't wait to see

01:18:01.210 --> 01:18:05.350
what happens. So that might be quite interesting

01:18:05.350 --> 01:18:07.510
if he did. somehow make finals and get on the

01:18:07.510 --> 01:18:09.609
team that would be an interesting dynamic but

01:18:09.609 --> 01:18:13.649
yeah so so they've they've always gone really

01:18:13.649 --> 01:18:16.949
well which which uh which i put down to great

01:18:16.949 --> 01:18:21.409
parenting but i think in reality but i think

01:18:21.409 --> 01:18:24.270
in reality it's because um we moved around a

01:18:24.270 --> 01:18:27.630
lot as you know when they were young so obviously

01:18:27.630 --> 01:18:29.409
lived in lots of different countries well quite

01:18:29.409 --> 01:18:31.649
a few different countries and then in different

01:18:31.649 --> 01:18:34.409
locations around the uk so they they sort of

01:18:34.409 --> 01:18:37.710
had to rely on each other that you to get on

01:18:37.710 --> 01:18:39.750
whilst they created new networks then as soon

01:18:39.750 --> 01:18:41.229
as they created a network we ripped them out

01:18:41.229 --> 01:18:42.890
of that and put them into something yeah made

01:18:42.890 --> 01:18:47.609
them strong um but uh yeah for that reason they

01:18:47.609 --> 01:18:49.949
seem to get on really well they both um they

01:18:49.949 --> 01:18:53.649
both share a house in sheffield which i didn't

01:18:53.649 --> 01:18:55.130
you know i thought that might not work that well

01:18:55.130 --> 01:18:57.670
but that works really well awesome um you know

01:18:57.670 --> 01:19:01.029
kind of whenever we can we'll run her around

01:19:01.029 --> 01:19:02.930
to the various walls that she wants to go to

01:19:03.930 --> 01:19:06.729
pick her up uh and then yeah we'll often train

01:19:06.729 --> 01:19:11.130
with her whenever we can as well so weirdly yeah

01:19:11.130 --> 01:19:14.050
there's absolutely no resentment he's he's probably

01:19:14.050 --> 01:19:17.229
more invested in some ways than we are as parents

01:19:17.229 --> 01:19:20.590
in what she's doing he does all of her sort of

01:19:20.590 --> 01:19:22.729
you know social media and youtube content so

01:19:22.729 --> 01:19:26.850
he's he sort of enjoy doing that with her um

01:19:26.850 --> 01:19:32.250
yeah it's yeah i mean i did expect that there

01:19:32.250 --> 01:19:36.409
might be a bit of um yeah resentment on what

01:19:36.409 --> 01:19:39.270
she's achieved in climbing yeah and all that

01:19:39.270 --> 01:19:43.449
sort of stuff but but they touch wood yeah nothing

01:19:43.449 --> 01:19:46.470
yet and uh so yeah that's been really really

01:19:46.470 --> 01:19:48.670
good and actually sort of helped out a lot in

01:19:48.670 --> 01:19:52.189
terms of sharing some of the support burden burden

01:19:52.189 --> 01:19:56.189
that's the wrong word support opportunities yeah

01:19:56.189 --> 01:19:58.630
i mean it takes a village so that's really nice

01:19:58.630 --> 01:20:03.520
to hear So this is a question from another parent.

01:20:03.979 --> 01:20:06.579
How do you balance celebrating podiums so that

01:20:06.579 --> 01:20:09.819
it doesn't place too much emphasis on good results

01:20:09.819 --> 01:20:13.859
equals good vibes? Because maybe that results

01:20:13.859 --> 01:20:18.119
in pressure to perform. And then balance it with

01:20:18.119 --> 01:20:23.539
also seeing bad results as being valuable. Yeah,

01:20:23.579 --> 01:20:26.220
so that's a really hard one, isn't it? No matter

01:20:26.220 --> 01:20:28.529
what level they're... performing at because you

01:20:28.529 --> 01:20:34.489
sort of want them to do well for them. So, yeah,

01:20:34.550 --> 01:20:42.609
I think with Erin, she went through a phase where

01:20:42.609 --> 01:20:47.909
she was moving from sort of doing the fun competitions

01:20:47.909 --> 01:20:52.470
to moving into the sort of more focused on nationals

01:20:52.470 --> 01:20:55.869
and internationals and all that sort of stuff.

01:20:57.970 --> 01:21:03.010
And obviously she had to place highly in order

01:21:03.010 --> 01:21:06.069
to qualify for the teams and then highly in order

01:21:06.069 --> 01:21:07.909
to get selection for the World Cups and European

01:21:07.909 --> 01:21:17.050
Cups. So, yeah, I guess we focused on what she

01:21:17.050 --> 01:21:20.590
needed to do in order to place in those positions.

01:21:20.670 --> 01:21:23.430
But also, if she didn't, it wasn't the end of

01:21:23.430 --> 01:21:25.289
the world. Yeah, we can go away. We can work

01:21:25.289 --> 01:21:30.420
on the areas of development. um and uh yeah let's

01:21:30.420 --> 01:21:34.000
see what happens the the following year um i

01:21:34.000 --> 01:21:37.640
yeah so i think that the key bit i would say

01:21:37.640 --> 01:21:41.859
is that you are constantly looking at if you

01:21:41.859 --> 01:21:45.680
win that's great but but almost in the nicest

01:21:45.680 --> 01:21:47.220
possible way you sort of got to forget that and

01:21:47.220 --> 01:21:50.500
say okay so so you won but what could you do

01:21:50.500 --> 01:21:52.939
better or what didn't you do as well as you could

01:21:52.939 --> 01:21:55.449
have done So there's a great moment where you're

01:21:55.449 --> 01:21:57.010
celebrating and then there's a moment where you're

01:21:57.010 --> 01:22:00.909
actually looking at how you did that and what

01:22:00.909 --> 01:22:05.130
you could have done better. I also think there's

01:22:05.130 --> 01:22:08.029
a challenge, and this might actually come down

01:22:08.029 --> 01:22:10.810
to one of your earlier questions around not so

01:22:10.810 --> 01:22:12.609
much the parent culture, probably more the athlete

01:22:12.609 --> 01:22:17.569
culture. So when you start to flip into a World

01:22:17.569 --> 01:22:21.010
Cup, so one, you've got a selection event in

01:22:21.010 --> 01:22:24.220
January. But if you've pre -qualified, so I think

01:22:24.220 --> 01:22:26.000
most of the governing bodies have pre -qualification

01:22:26.000 --> 01:22:28.979
criteria. So, you know, by winning a World Cup,

01:22:29.060 --> 01:22:31.920
you pre -qualify. So Erin's pre -qualified. She

01:22:31.920 --> 01:22:34.000
has to go to the selection event, but she's already

01:22:34.000 --> 01:22:39.979
selected. Oh, okay. So, yeah, I'm assuming like

01:22:39.979 --> 01:22:42.560
Brooke Rapparty was probably pre -qualified by

01:22:42.560 --> 01:22:45.500
placing where she did in the Olympics. So she

01:22:45.500 --> 01:22:47.319
probably still had to go to selection, but she

01:22:47.319 --> 01:22:49.100
was already selected. So certainly that's how

01:22:49.100 --> 01:22:51.859
it works in the UK. So if you... I think here,

01:22:51.899 --> 01:22:54.460
if you pre -qualify, then you don't compete.

01:22:55.300 --> 01:22:58.880
Oh, right, okay. So we still, well, yeah, they

01:22:58.880 --> 01:23:01.039
still want you to go, I think because it shows

01:23:01.039 --> 01:23:07.260
everybody where the potential level is. But you

01:23:07.260 --> 01:23:11.359
don't have to perform. So she's not peaking for

01:23:11.359 --> 01:23:14.420
those competitions at all. And then, you know,

01:23:14.420 --> 01:23:17.840
as you, in the UK, you tend to have a few competitions.

01:23:19.800 --> 01:23:22.760
I call them fun competitions, but they're like

01:23:22.760 --> 01:23:26.840
the Climbing Works International Festival. I

01:23:26.840 --> 01:23:29.840
think it's called QUIF and Plywood Masters. So

01:23:29.840 --> 01:23:32.920
they're good pre -season comps, which are really

01:23:32.920 --> 01:23:36.319
hard comps. And they operate on a qualification,

01:23:36.699 --> 01:23:40.460
semifinals, final basis. But a lot of people

01:23:40.460 --> 01:23:42.420
use those as a benchmark to see where they are.

01:23:43.300 --> 01:23:45.640
But obviously, if you're focused, because you

01:23:45.640 --> 01:23:47.020
know you've got the World Cup, if you're actually

01:23:47.020 --> 01:23:51.420
focusing on peaking in April, you're not really

01:23:51.420 --> 01:23:54.199
going to peak for them either. So she sort of

01:23:54.199 --> 01:23:56.399
struggled a bit with, I'm going to go to this

01:23:56.399 --> 01:23:58.479
competition and I might not win it, even though

01:23:58.479 --> 01:24:03.000
theoretically I should. And then I think you

01:24:03.000 --> 01:24:04.739
do start to get a bit of expectation because

01:24:04.739 --> 01:24:07.560
you've got somebody saying, oh, yeah, they're

01:24:07.560 --> 01:24:08.939
not going to say this to your face, but I beat

01:24:08.939 --> 01:24:12.680
Erin. And then, yeah, she's like, oh. i don't

01:24:12.680 --> 01:24:14.460
want to do these competitions anymore yeah it's

01:24:14.460 --> 01:24:16.939
no fun but actually they still have value because

01:24:16.939 --> 01:24:19.520
it's it's sort of showing you where you are even

01:24:19.520 --> 01:24:21.000
though you might still be in the middle of a

01:24:21.000 --> 01:24:23.159
horrible training block and absolutely knackered

01:24:23.159 --> 01:24:29.140
um so yeah so i think that was the other one

01:24:29.140 --> 01:24:33.319
in terms of yeah podium is podiuming isn't everything

01:24:33.319 --> 01:24:37.020
and and we certainly don't still say to you go

01:24:37.020 --> 01:24:39.220
and win another gold medal or you make sure you

01:24:39.220 --> 01:24:41.840
get to the finals we're like you know if you

01:24:41.840 --> 01:24:44.079
climb well there's no reason why you shouldn't

01:24:44.079 --> 01:24:47.020
get there but the margins are so fine um you

01:24:47.020 --> 01:24:49.279
know a simple mistake somewhere doesn't make

01:24:49.279 --> 01:24:51.979
you a bad climber but does mean that we should

01:24:51.979 --> 01:24:54.399
be analyzing results and stuff whether you win

01:24:54.399 --> 01:24:57.140
or not um and then the other one i think is that

01:24:57.140 --> 01:25:02.260
that flip to you know winning you're winning

01:25:02.260 --> 01:25:05.079
everything locally to actually i may not be winning

01:25:05.079 --> 01:25:08.529
this because and you These people might be peaking

01:25:08.529 --> 01:25:10.689
for their GB selection. Some of those athletes

01:25:10.689 --> 01:25:12.590
are absolutely peaking for that because it's

01:25:12.590 --> 01:25:15.229
the competition they have to perform at to get

01:25:15.229 --> 01:25:18.470
on the team. Whereas at that time, you're probably

01:25:18.470 --> 01:25:22.529
at your weakest. You've had two months of intense

01:25:22.529 --> 01:25:26.170
training. You've probably not really had much

01:25:26.170 --> 01:25:27.670
of a break before going into the competition.

01:25:27.850 --> 01:25:30.970
So you're absolutely not peaking for it. You're

01:25:30.970 --> 01:25:33.949
just going to it and sort of accepting that that

01:25:33.949 --> 01:25:36.340
may well mean you don't win it. Yeah. So I guess

01:25:36.340 --> 01:25:40.060
just being realistic and as honest with yourself

01:25:40.060 --> 01:25:43.279
as you can. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Hopefully

01:25:43.279 --> 01:25:47.159
that advice helps out. um this one is a bit more

01:25:47.159 --> 01:25:49.800
of a fun one do you get final approval of the

01:25:49.800 --> 01:25:53.319
shots of yourself on youtube no i get i get no

01:25:53.319 --> 01:25:55.779
i don't even know that i don't even know they're

01:25:55.779 --> 01:25:58.460
filming half the time i'm gonna need some context

01:25:58.460 --> 01:26:00.920
for this but this person said i'm specifically

01:26:00.920 --> 01:26:03.600
thinking of you pretending to ride a horse and

01:26:03.600 --> 01:26:06.760
getting caught by some random passerby i don't

01:26:06.760 --> 01:26:10.380
i don't know this one yeah you have to Have you

01:26:10.380 --> 01:26:12.760
ever seen Monty Python and the Quest for the

01:26:12.760 --> 01:26:15.340
Holy Grail? No, I actually haven't. So they,

01:26:15.399 --> 01:26:18.439
obviously they're Arthurian knights, but they

01:26:18.439 --> 01:26:21.039
don't have horses. They just literally pretend

01:26:21.039 --> 01:26:24.220
that they're riding a horse. And generally they

01:26:24.220 --> 01:26:25.899
have somebody with coconut shells following them

01:26:25.899 --> 01:26:28.840
to make the clippy cloppy noises. But I think

01:26:28.840 --> 01:26:31.800
it was in Innsbruck and we were walking down

01:26:31.800 --> 01:26:35.579
to get coffee. And yeah, I sort of thought there

01:26:35.579 --> 01:26:37.760
was this lovely bridge which looked a bit medieval.

01:26:37.779 --> 01:26:39.640
So I thought, oh, let's ride our horses across

01:26:39.640 --> 01:26:42.279
the bridge. And they were obviously there. Then

01:26:42.279 --> 01:26:45.760
as I rode off, they put their phones on. Then

01:26:45.760 --> 01:26:47.380
when they caught up to me on the other side,

01:26:47.460 --> 01:26:49.699
I had to suddenly pretend to dismount my horse

01:26:49.699 --> 01:26:52.800
because there was a random stranger walking the

01:26:52.800 --> 01:26:55.619
other way looking quite concerned. I'll have

01:26:55.619 --> 01:26:58.710
to find this clip. It was an Innsbruck. Yeah,

01:26:58.750 --> 01:27:01.430
I think it's the Quest for the 8C. Ah, perfect.

01:27:01.569 --> 01:27:04.050
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah.

01:27:04.189 --> 01:27:07.229
But I'm on, yeah. And they'll film when I'm not

01:27:07.229 --> 01:27:10.789
even aware. It's very, yeah. And so there's one,

01:27:10.869 --> 01:27:14.529
yeah. Lots of times when I'm not even aware they're

01:27:14.529 --> 01:27:17.770
filming and then I'll watch it later and I'll

01:27:17.770 --> 01:27:20.329
be like, oh, thanks. Thanks for putting that

01:27:20.329 --> 01:27:23.170
in. You watch all the videos? Well, yeah. I don't

01:27:23.170 --> 01:27:26.670
get to see any of the... yeah the prep or what's

01:27:26.670 --> 01:27:28.750
going in and what's coming out but i yeah they

01:27:28.750 --> 01:27:31.170
that they they generally tell me when they're

01:27:31.170 --> 01:27:33.090
out and then yeah me and lindsey will sit down

01:27:33.090 --> 01:27:35.689
with a cup of tea and watch oh that's cute we

01:27:35.689 --> 01:27:38.609
won't understand half of the humor and the brain

01:27:38.609 --> 01:27:41.189
and all that sort of stuff that's fine but apparently

01:27:41.189 --> 01:27:45.409
it's funny yeah yeah yeah no that's cute um okay

01:27:45.409 --> 01:27:51.970
and let's do one last one um This is all in good

01:27:51.970 --> 01:27:54.430
fun, but how does it feel to be a worse climber

01:27:54.430 --> 01:27:57.869
than your child? Or if you had any other competitive

01:27:57.869 --> 01:28:03.729
goals of your own? I don't know when it happened,

01:28:03.890 --> 01:28:07.109
when they overtook me. They both overtook me.

01:28:09.510 --> 01:28:14.329
I guess I was probably quite happy. I certainly

01:28:14.329 --> 01:28:16.430
wasn't disappointed. And it probably happened

01:28:16.430 --> 01:28:21.159
slowly. they would overtake me on slabs and then

01:28:21.159 --> 01:28:24.859
you know and then gradually on the more powerful

01:28:24.859 --> 01:28:27.699
boulders and and that sort of stuff they've always

01:28:27.699 --> 01:28:29.880
been much better than me on lead just because

01:28:29.880 --> 01:28:32.340
of my i have to grip everything as hard as i

01:28:32.340 --> 01:28:34.319
can right before i'm super pumped about halfway

01:28:34.319 --> 01:28:38.760
up um so yeah so that that that wasn't so bad

01:28:38.760 --> 01:28:43.300
the one which was a bit galling was um When my

01:28:43.300 --> 01:28:45.539
son stopped climbing, I got better than him again.

01:28:45.680 --> 01:28:47.539
And I was doing quite a lot of, I was probably

01:28:47.539 --> 01:28:49.680
climbing maybe four times a week at that point

01:28:49.680 --> 01:28:52.800
because I was working a lot with Aaron or going

01:28:52.800 --> 01:28:57.920
to a lot of stuff with Aaron. And then I broke

01:28:57.920 --> 01:29:02.479
my thumb really badly in Innsbruck. How? Oh,

01:29:02.479 --> 01:29:04.880
yeah, you shouldn't ask that question. I just

01:29:04.880 --> 01:29:06.920
leave it. I broke my thumb in Innsbruck and it

01:29:06.920 --> 01:29:10.140
sounds cool. I actually did it running to catch

01:29:10.140 --> 01:29:13.890
the bus. I fell over, wanted to catch the bus.

01:29:15.229 --> 01:29:19.029
Yeah, really upsetting. Yeah. And then they set

01:29:19.029 --> 01:29:21.170
it and then they called me up the next day and

01:29:21.170 --> 01:29:22.810
said, no, this is much worse than we thought.

01:29:22.890 --> 01:29:24.369
We're going to have to come in and reset it.

01:29:24.470 --> 01:29:27.170
And that's horrible. I wouldn't recommend this

01:29:27.170 --> 01:29:30.229
to anybody, but they took me in and they sort

01:29:30.229 --> 01:29:32.189
of said, oh, you know, we're going to break it

01:29:32.189 --> 01:29:36.369
again. You're not under, your arms sort of, you

01:29:36.369 --> 01:29:38.090
can't feel anything in your arm, but you can

01:29:38.090 --> 01:29:40.170
look. So I was looking at them thinking, oh,

01:29:40.229 --> 01:29:42.630
why would you look at that? And they got a hammer

01:29:42.630 --> 01:29:45.250
and like a chisel thing out. And I looked away

01:29:45.250 --> 01:29:48.869
then. I don't want to watch that. But that was

01:29:48.869 --> 01:29:50.569
all like pinned up for a while. And at that point,

01:29:50.590 --> 01:29:54.250
I was really, I was climbing quite hard for me.

01:29:54.949 --> 01:29:58.090
Yeah, probably on the second hardest grade in

01:29:58.090 --> 01:30:00.750
most of the climbing walls. Wow, really? And

01:30:00.750 --> 01:30:05.140
then whilst I took ages to recover. And whilst

01:30:05.140 --> 01:30:07.140
I was recovering, my son started climbing again.

01:30:07.220 --> 01:30:09.000
And by the time I got back to it, it was better

01:30:09.000 --> 01:30:12.399
than me. So that was the only galling one because

01:30:12.399 --> 01:30:14.399
I thought I could have probably had a few more

01:30:14.399 --> 01:30:16.699
bragging rights for a bit longer if I'd actually

01:30:16.699 --> 01:30:21.380
been fit. Yeah, that's it. No other goals. I'm

01:30:21.380 --> 01:30:26.239
just happy nowadays to sort of keep the aches

01:30:26.239 --> 01:30:29.819
and sprains. manageable so yeah wow it sounds

01:30:29.819 --> 01:30:32.119
like you climb pretty hard whole family climbs

01:30:32.119 --> 01:30:36.239
pretty hard um what grade would you say you climb

01:30:36.239 --> 01:30:41.880
now uh i didn't know the v grades sure so i'd

01:30:41.880 --> 01:30:48.020
say v6 sometimes v7 very occasionally but v5

01:30:48.020 --> 01:30:51.159
that's nice and easy not nice and easy but i

01:30:51.159 --> 01:30:55.359
can happily happily do most of those All right.

01:30:55.420 --> 01:30:58.939
Good to know. Yeah, I think that wraps it up

01:30:58.939 --> 01:31:02.119
then. That's all the questions I had. Thanks

01:31:02.119 --> 01:31:05.539
for joining me. And any like last minute thoughts

01:31:05.539 --> 01:31:08.260
you want to get out there? No, I think the only

01:31:08.260 --> 01:31:14.520
thing I'd say as a parent is I think, yeah, well,

01:31:14.640 --> 01:31:17.939
one, keep it fun as long as you possibly can.

01:31:18.800 --> 01:31:24.420
And then if they really are. serious about making

01:31:24.420 --> 01:31:29.039
it or taking it to the next level uh yeah sort

01:31:29.039 --> 01:31:31.460
of try to find a way to support them in that

01:31:31.460 --> 01:31:33.600
but but i mean i still think the brutal honesty

01:31:33.600 --> 01:31:35.439
bit is is absolutely required because i think

01:31:35.439 --> 01:31:38.479
they've got to agree to that commitment as much

01:31:38.479 --> 01:31:40.979
as you've got to then sort of say well how how

01:31:40.979 --> 01:31:42.720
can i support you to get where you need to get

01:31:42.720 --> 01:31:45.439
but i'm only going to do that if you're 100 committed

01:31:45.439 --> 01:31:49.159
to it as well um yeah so if you've not got any

01:31:49.159 --> 01:31:52.350
interest in committing to this training plan

01:31:52.350 --> 01:31:56.949
and committing to this time and not having the

01:31:56.949 --> 01:31:59.270
sort of social life which you might want at that

01:31:59.270 --> 01:32:03.109
age, then there's no point in me committing my

01:32:03.109 --> 01:32:07.729
time either. So I do think there's a bit of sort

01:32:07.729 --> 01:32:10.289
of brutal honesty or at least feedback at some

01:32:10.289 --> 01:32:14.510
point if one party isn't fully committing to

01:32:14.510 --> 01:32:18.539
it. Amazing advice. Thank you so much. um anything

01:32:18.539 --> 01:32:20.579
else you want to shout out or i don't know if

01:32:20.579 --> 01:32:22.760
you're very active on social media if there's

01:32:22.760 --> 01:32:27.300
like i'm i'm not at all that's it all right well

01:32:27.300 --> 01:32:29.760
then just thank you so much for joining me um

01:32:29.760 --> 01:32:32.760
it was really good to get that insight um yeah

01:32:32.760 --> 01:32:35.720
very unique perspective so it was great thank

01:32:35.720 --> 01:32:39.739
you so much no problem cheers Thank you so much

01:32:39.739 --> 01:32:42.220
for making it to the end of the podcast. Don't

01:32:42.220 --> 01:32:44.220
forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed.

01:32:44.460 --> 01:32:48.060
Otherwise, you are a super big climber. If you're

01:32:48.060 --> 01:32:50.500
listening on a podcasting platform, I'd appreciate

01:32:50.500 --> 01:32:53.220
if you rate it five stars and you can continue

01:32:53.220 --> 01:32:55.979
the discussion on the free competition climbing

01:32:55.979 --> 01:32:59.000
discord linked in the description. Thanks again

01:32:59.000 --> 01:32:59.460
for listening.