New Zealand TCC

[rimu]

A great comp was held in Auckland a couple of weeks ago. Smallish trees (except for the masters) for a NZ comp but well set up.

Two young climbers made it to the masters. James Kilpatrick and Ross Kite joining the experienced Paul Kenny and Tony Wilson.

After a day of fine weather a shower came down while James was making his ascent, making moving around in the smooth barked Eucalyptus sp very difficult. Under very difficult conditions he didn't manage to finish the climb but on the way to the masters he had set a new NZ footlock record of just over 16 seconds.

Paul Kenny the defending champion was next out. The rain was easing but the tree still very slippery. He displayed great skill in the conditions completing the climb but unfortunately having his acsess line snag on itself and was unable to be removed in time.

After a short delay removing the stuck line the sun now shining and a brease slowly drying the tree it was Tony's turn.

Tony showed the crowd how the difficult tree could be climbed with grace and acuracy. With little time to spare he calmly reset his anchor point to easily complete the limb walk station return to ground and remove all gear with only seconds to spare.

Time for Ross. Ross displayed great strength, determination and sheer guts as he boldly swung his way around the gum. With an aggresive yet precise style he also completed all stations sucsessfully and removed his gear without clitch.

And the final placings were;
1. Tony Wilson from Waikato
2. Ross Kite from Waikato
3. Paul Kenny from The Bay of Plenty
4. James Kilpatrick The Bay of Plenty

Womens results
1. Elana (sorry no last name on score sheet)
2. Nikki Ward-Allen

So Tony and Elana will join our world champ Chrissy Spence in MN next year.

Well done to all of the competitors. Thanks to the Judges, Techs, Scorers and Organisers, plus of course the sponsors.

A

 

[johnmeiszner]

Thanks for the post!

 

[rimu]

Forgot to add some of the other highlights of the day were;

Paul Kenny's winning work climb. He still managed the fastest time and the perfect landing even after his rope tangled prior to decending. He casually stopped sorted it out and leaped.

Andrew Harrison and Paul K both recieved the perfect 50 score in the rescue, Harrison won the event with the quicker time.

Fraser Robinson scored 20 pionts with i think only two throws in the throwline event.

James K's 16.69 second footlock, and he slipped near the top.

Isaac Ries amazing speed climb. He was more than 5 seconds ahead of second. He can just read the tree and is never looking at the branch he touches but is thinking about three moves ahead of himself.

The depth of competition here is improving out of site. The top 6 climbers were less than 10 pionts apart after the prelim events.

Looking forward to next year already.

 

[flying_kiwiman]

Congrates to all who took part!! nice one, sounds like a wicked comp!

jelte

 

[treebeach]

Nice job out there Tony and Elana! Good luck in Minneapolis!

 

[Norm_Hall]

Congratulations Tony and Elana. Best of luck in Minneapolis. I'll see ya there.