This year it had to be even more of a spectacle, even more of a crowd pleaser, even more impressive than 28 metres of incredible upside down climbing negotiating moving suspended volumes 13 metres off the deck. More suspense than the final competitor in the final round grabbing the final hold in the final seconds with the final bit of strength in his exhausted forearms. We needed a new format. As exciting as it was before, lead climbing competitions are basically dull for the audience. The routes are too long, too ploddy and there is no incentive to hurry up. Speed comps are the opposite, with two climbers sprinting up identical routes side by side on top rope in about 10 seconds. Better for the crowd, but barely anything to do with climbing. The answer is "speedifficulty".

 

That's what makes this comp something special. It's not the norm, everything is that little bit different. Each competitor had to negotiate 14 metres of horizontal climbing moving between hanging volumes. They all wobbled around for extra spice and one in particular spun all the way round being suspended from just one central point. This was a hanging disc with just a single handhold on the rim, the technique being to grab the hold and spin the disc, riding it all the way round to dismount on the other side. The second to last volume, this was usually the decider, two people neck to here only for one to fluff the spin and end up stranded half way round, or over shoot and go all the way back to the start again. For the climbers: rubbish when it went wrong: for the crowd – brilliant!

 

This is the new style. Maybe a few tweaks here and there but watch out for it, old style lead comps are growing old now and just about getting around on their Zimmer frames. Isolation and waiting for hours in dingy back rooms will be gone. You could tell it was a winner. All the competitors loved it and the crowds were stacked up in their hundreds. Most of them didn't know anything about climbing but this was something awesome to see, unlike usual lead comps where the audience know lots about climbing but it's so boring even they can't be bothered to watch.

 

Both male and female finals were perfect, neck and neck all the way it was almost a perfect mirror image. It went to the wire. Perfect. I could breathe a sigh of relief. This is the new style man!