Scottish Mixed Masters 2008

On Saturday we held the finals of the Scottish tooling series, with an all-star cast attending and a hefty group of spectators, it equated to a good finish to an excellent series of competitions. We had several qualifying boulder problems as well as a very realistic route outside which all the competitors worked their way around. A couple of the climbers flashed all the routes, others ended up with arms like soggy newspapers and a handful just found some routes just too hard. After the qualifying boulder problems, the finalists went into isolation, coming out to tackle their routes up the articulated wall. The junior girls were first, then the boys and then the women followed. The juniors climbed on top ropes and the women had to lead. The veterans category were next with some awesome moves from the 'old boys'. The men's final was very tense, with 6 finalists, all showing great power and skill, not to mention some good 'whippers'! This was followed by a super final between Dave MacLeod and Tony Stone, who had both topped out on the final route. The crowd decided that the articulated wall should be cranked out as far as it can go and they have to lead up again! Some serious strength was demonstrated both by Tony and Dave but Dave came out on top, climbing one hold higher than Tony. A speed ice climbing competition followed with Blair Fyffe thrashing himself to the top. Top effort by everyone and we will hopefully do it all again next year.