2010 ABS Youth Regional Championship - Competition Report

This past Saturday, January 16, Urban Rocks Gym hosted its first ABS Youth Regionals Championship for the southeast region and the first of its kind in Chattanooga. The ABS is the American Bouldering Series and is the nation’s leading competitive circuit for bouldering. Competitors ages 5 – 18 travelled as far as South Carolina to compete against some of the region’s best climbers. Teams that competed included: Adrenaline, Urban Core, TBA Ballers, Stronghold Athletic Club, Team Reality, Atlanta Rocks, Evolution Climbing, Trailhead Climbing and West High school.

After 87 local ABS events, the regional championship is the competition that determines which climbers get invited to the National Championship. The top one or two climbers from each category received invitations to nationals, which will be held next month in Alexandria, VA. With 67 competitors and twice as many spectators, the event was a great success. USA Climbing sent Chris Danielson and Mark Mercer as head route setter and head judge for the event.

Urban Rocks would like to give a big thanks to both Chris and Mark for all of their help as well as our sponsors who included: USA Climbing, the American Bouldering Series, The North Face, Rock Creek, Native Eyewear, Mountain Hardwear, Mountain Khakis, La Sportiva, E-Grips, Climb On, Vibram, Clif Bar, Metolius, Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber Magazine. In addition, Urban Rocks wants to send out a thank you to all of our volunteers who stuck it out with us for the full day event and helped make the entire day run smoothly.

For competition results check out USAClimbing.org.

For photos of the event search Urban Rocks Gym on Facebook.

ABS Locals Results

November 17, 2009

We are psyched to announce that our 1st ABS locals compeition was our largest comp to date. We had 68 competitors and just as many spectators to make it a packed house. This comp is also the 1st time that we stripped the entire boulder of all 100 problems to set on a blank palette. Urban Rocks setters put up 50 new problems and with several new hold sets from E-grips to challenge the competitors, everyone had to bring their A-game to place. Locals Jimmy Webb, Kaisa Pietras, Jacob Fellers, and Grant Speers all placed first in their division despite stiff competition from climbers ranging from Atlanta to Knoxville. The comp finished up with a great raffle with gear from Mountain Hardware, Native Eyeware, Klime, La Sportiva, Evolv, and Frickson. Prizes ranged from t-shirts and a pair of La Sportiva shoes to several Mountain Hardware hoodies, beanies, an awesome backpack and a pair of Native Sunglasses.

A big thanks to all of our sponsors:

The North Face, Native Eyeware, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear, Klime, Mountain Khakis and E-grips - Without their support this comp would not have been possible!


Youth Competition Results:

Youth D:

MEN
3rd Micheal Newell
2nd Zach Galla
1st Grant Speer

WOMEN
2nd Jenna Holland
1st Katie Lyne

Youth C:

MEN
3rd Nathan Bramlett
2nd Billy Porter
1st Ryan Lowther

WOMEN
3rd Mollie Cole
2nd Sophia Nabb
1st Melanie Meier

Youth B:

MEN
3rd Matt McDonald
2nd Thomas Pitzel
1st Jacob Wilber

WOMEN
3rd Halley Mallory
2nd Laurel Mailman
1st Carina Claussen

Youth A:

MEN
3rd Ben Vanwinkle
2nd Brady Hart
1st Jacob Fellers

WOMEN
3rd Anne Holmes
2nd Michele Fredrikson
1st Isabelle Faus

Junior:

MEN
2nd Brennan Bull
1st Andrew Minnick

WOMEN
1st Victoria Nabb

Adult Competition Results:

Intermediate:

MEN
3rd Chris Lyne --
2nd Sam Bendriem
1st Caleb Higgonbotham

WOMEN
2nd Chandler Wells
1st Holly McMullen

Advanced:

MEN
3rd Jacob Mund
2nd Jake Higgonbotham
1st Nathan Drolet

WOMEN
1st Sarah Rennich

Open:

MEN
3rd Alexander Presten
2nd Brion Voges
1st Jimmy Webb

WOMEN
1st Kaisa Pietras

Routes this week

New Routes for Sept 21 - 25

Anchors start on the left side of the top rope area with the A anchor next to the bouldering area. At the lead wall the anchor letters start over again and are then referred to as "A2" etc., with M2 being the last anchor by the beginner wall.

Turn Up the VOLUME Competition Results!

On September 17th, 2009 climbers gathered at Urban Rocks Gym to pull down in plastic paradise for a chance to win some gear and cash. This competition would not have been possible without the help from our sponsors: Evolv, Mountain Khaki, La Sportiva and BlueWater Ropes. Thanks to Evolv, 4 place winners went home with a free pair of shoes and some raffle winners left with a new chalk pot and flip flops. Mountain Khaki sent every place winner home with a special discount card. Norm at La Sportiva hooked us up with the biggest raffle prizes of the night: a free pair of Sportiva shoes and a BlueWater Rope!

And to those wondering where the comp name came from…

No, it is not because we have an affinity to Christian Slater, although he did a wonderful acting job in the hit 90’s feature film ‘Pump Up the Volume’; but it is because we received a HUGE shipment of HUGE holds! Thanks to Etch and Nicros, our boulder is chock full of volume-sized holds, features and XXL holds now!

This event was the biggest comp that Urban Rocks has hosted to date with 45 competitors and just about as many spectators watching the show. Everyone competed very well and a couple of categories even tied making the results even more exciting. Competition winners were determined by totaling the top five hardest climbs of the night. In case of a tie, the top six problems were tallied and then the top seven problems, ect. There were three categories: Men’s, Women’s and Youth. Within the Men and Women’s categories there were four divisions: Recreational, Intermediate, Advanced and Open. Below are the place winners of the competition:

YOUTH
1st - Grant Spear *

* A special congratulation goes out to Grant for not only being the only youth competitor at this comp and doing extremely well, but also because he tied Men’s Recreational for 1st place as well.

RECREATIONAL – Women’s
1st - Rachel Gilson
2nd - Summer Wofford

RECREATIONAL – Men’s
1st - Tyler Wilson
2nd - Alex Snider
3rd - Nathaniel Bankhead

INTERMEDIATE – Women’s
1st - Brooke Hadden
2nd - Chandler Wells
3rd - Bethany Sizemore

INTERMEDIATE – Men’s
1st - Andrew Bryne **
2nd - Daniel Gonser **
3rd - Tim Willison **

ADVANCED – Women’s
1st - Ashley Hamilton

ADVANCED – Men’s
1st - Jacob Fellers
2nd - Al Smith
3rd - Robby Gambrell

OPEN – Women’s
1st - Kasia Pietras

OPEN – Men’s
1st - Jimmy Webb
2nd - Brion Voges
3rd - Jeremy Walton

** Due to a miscalculation on our part, the Men's Intermediate category winners that were announced at the competition were incorrect. The appropriate changes have been made and we apologize for any inconvenience that this caused.

A big thanks goes out to all of our sponsors, the competitors and anyone else who brought this comp together!

The Beta - New Triple Crown Video Series

The Beta - Controller from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

After School Sessions

The After-School Programs are 6 weeks long, with a one and a half hour session per week. The sessions run from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm and includes ages 5-15 years old. The program will focus on individualized attention with 1 instructor per 5 students. We believe that climbing is unmatched in building confidence, problem solving abilities, trust and physical fitness all at the same time.

The After school Program is $150 for each six weeks session and participants also receive membership privileges during the duration of the program. Parents wishing to buy a membership during the same time will receive 20% off our monthly membership price.

Sessions

Session 1 - September 14 - October 23
Session 2 - November 2 - December 11
Session 3 - January 11 - February 19

For more information about the specific activities for each age group ad days of the week that they meet please visit the After School Program link below.

Urban Rocks Gym's After School Program

Summer Bouldering Sessions

Up for some night climbing?


During the month of August we will be running a special Summer Sessions bouldering rate. Beat the heat and bugs and start training for fall! With 3,000 square feet of bouldering and over 100 problems to choose from you should be crushing strong by September!

DETAILS:

When: Weeknights
Time: 7 pm - 10 pm
Price: $10.00*

*Bouldering Only