Wild Country and Red Chili climber, world traveller and vet (for those who've seen earlier articles) Sarah Matthews has pulled out all the stops and won her biggest event the annual Oceania Climbing Championships.....
Sarah cranking in the final.....
So here's a few words about the comp direct from her and we've also got her full length story to click through to....
"Dear Richie, I have written an article on the competition for Rock Magazine. It will give you an overview of the competition but as I won it, I had to write the article in an unbiased manner in the 3rd person. Here is a summary - biased, warts and all....
On the weekend of the 5-8th October 2006 I travelled over to Wanaka, a picturesque lakeside town in the South Island of New Zealand for the Oceania Championships. This is the "grand final" of the Oceanic competition season with the top 7 male and female climbers eligible to compete. It is an annual competition and the venue alternates between New Zealand and Australia.
This year there was an added incentive for Open competitors as the winner gained automatic entry into next years World Championships. These are to be held in September 2007 in Marbella, Spain. The format for all Open competition rounds was onsight. The quarter finals were held on Friday evening. We had 2 quarter final routes. I topped both of them. Being the only climber to do so meant that I won this round. Samantha Berry (2006 Australian National Champion) finished this round in 2nd place.
The semi-finals and finals were held on the following day (Saturday). I climbed poorly in the semi-finals (I put the pressure of expectation on myself) and qualified 4th for the finals. Luckily I came out all guns blazing for the finals and won by 2 moves. Samantha Berry placed 2nd and Emma Hawke (four time New Zealand National Champion) was third.
1. An article and photo about me was published in the Western Courrier (a local Sydney newspaper) this week 2. The Sun Herald (THE Sydney newspaper - circulation +++++++) saw it and want to do a feature article and photos of me for next weekends edition - v v exciting..... 3. Travis Winks from 2WS radio is the sports announcer all week and does a show called Whistles and Hooters on Saturday mornings. He saw the article and wants to do a series of interviews on his show before the World Champs next year. 4. Rock magazine have accepted my latest article to be published next issue
XX Sar
All that leaves me to say is a hearty 'well done' from all the guys and gals here at Wild Country and Red Chili and all the Euro and US Team members...good job!!!! The attached Press Release contains Sarah's full story and more pics....
