So today I entered my first NZAC National Indoor Bouldering Series event, held at Northern Rocks.

I was a bit shocked to realise that my age category in climbing (45+) is called Veterans! Apparently I am already too old to be in Masters. I am pretty sure that the age for Veteran athletes is about 60+ in running events, but maybe that is wishful thinking!

Anyway, there were 20 Veteran Males and I managed to come equal first on points with 55 points for my 7 top problems.

I topped a black (V7+; 10 points), three reds (V4-V6; 8 points each) and three oranges (V0-V3; 7 points each).

I actually managed to flash the black and one of the reds (they were both slab problems which suit my skill set).

I took two goes on the other two red problems. The oranges I flashed as well. Overall my fitness is lacking, so getting them done fast was essential. I tried a couple of other red problems but didn’t get them done after 2-3 goes and decided not to tire myself out.

My final position was second overall on count back, which breaks ties based on who did a larger number of difficult problems outside their top 7. I had done only one other orange problem before deciding I wasn’t going to improve my top 7 score. Rooky mistake, but good to learn it on my first outing.

The climber I missed out to was none other than Zane Bray, a local legend who also took out the Veteran class for the whole 2021 series.

My second out of 20 in the Veteran Male translates to 30th out of 130 in the Open Men category (27th for Zane), so maybe veteran is the right name for it after all.

Anyway I had a great time, won a nice North Face cap and now I think I will enter a few more climbing events next year 🙂