I had been climbing for just over a year and was doing the best among
my friends so I decided to try my skill in a proctored environment
for prizes and glory. Some friends and I were having a little trouble
sticking together the 15 dollar entry so I tried begging. We went to
a few friends and girlfriends houses and asked for sponsorship and by
the end of the night we had more then enough to cover the entry and
the gas and food money we may need to get 20 miles north. I was very
nervous on the day of the competition and had some bad poops in the
run up. We arrived and were given our score cards and had the rules
explained to us and we were free to pick the climbs and the rates at
which we participated with the scores to be tallied at the end. I was
in the beginners division and quickly climbed the routes designated
for that group but so did the rest of my cohort. We moved onto the
intermediate and then to advanced with decreasing success. At the end
of the hour I new I had the highest score among my friends but I had
no idea about the other roustabouts and hooligans in the place. They
started off with third place for beginners and It wasn't me and then
second was my friend Jordan and that meant that I had won first bu
then they called out some other dude's name. I was mad and confused
but still essentially a non-confrontational passive aggressive. I had
made a plan to go up and complain with my score card in hand but I
had to wait for the intermediate and advanced to be called. I was so
agitated that I didn't notice that they had called my name for first
place in intermediate. My friends were yelling at me to go up and
that is when the judges told me that I had scored high enough to win
the intermediate division where the prize was a climbing rope and not
a 15$ gift certificate to a coffee spot. That seemed to me a lot
more fair then cutting me our of the beginner standings on a
misunderstanding and graciously accepted a free rope. I felt amazing
and was convinced I would go onto greater and greater climbing
achievements but that was about it after competing many more times I
never placed first again. Now I am a fat washed-up has-been who
hasn't climbed seriously in years and never mention it in
conversation
