May 17 and 18, 2008: This is it!

Edmonton’s Urban Uprising Climbing Complex and the University of Alberta are this year’s hosts for the 2008 MEC Tour De Bloc National Championships. We’re pullin’ out all the stops to make this the biggest and best stop on the tour. Of course there’ll be great bouldering and lotsa prizes, but most importantly there’ll be YOU coming out to test your mettle against the country’s strongest indoor climbers!

Registrations Start: April 1st and End: May 13th (Pre-registration is mandatory)

REC and EXP Competitors go for - Boulder Scramble Format;
OPEN Competitors are - 2 rounds of Onsight and Zone/Bonus Format

Call 780.492.2231 OR 780.492.2767 to set up your online registration

Once registered, we’ll send you back a confirmation package including: a receipt, accommodation options, and a general schedule of events.

If you have questions or want to help out in ways other than competing, you can email us at climbing@ualberta.ca You can also find our links through the official Tour De Bloc website.

As promised, here’s the promo video: Get psyched…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hE5o02SpbeM

Much more to come…Big Up!

Alex ‘A-Frame’ Faid
afaid@ualberta.ca

I have been checking out flights to Edmonton - WestJet has some deals out there today, if you are willing to travel at slightly off-times.

Here are some prices - all are return:

From Vancouver: 8 - 8

From Toronto: 8 and higher

From Ottawa: 8 - 3

From Montreal: 8 - 8

From Halifax: 7 - 3

Also, check out http://www.cheapticketscanada.com/flight/index.php for an easy way to get all the prices from all the airlines on one page.

Hope we can get a great out-of-town showing for this event!

Chris

It is awesome to hear Jody is coming out to set!  The qualifier and finals problems from last years Nationals were amazing.  Looking forward to more of the same.

Alex here with a couple of updates for this year’s TDB Nationals:

General Schedule of Events:
Saturday -
Open Qualifiers for both Female and Male competitors
Sunday -
Rec/Exp. climbers go for 3 hours using the boulder scramble format
BBQ for lunch
Open Finals
Award Ceremony
After Party

Registrations: We’re ready to sign you up!  Please review the top post and get in touch with our staff as soon as you can.  I’ve heard that signing up early gets you training harder (wink).

Route Setting: Yes Dustin, we have route setters.  Thanks to the TDB, we’ve got Jody Miall representing the East and for the West, we’ve got our gym’s fave route setter Aaron Pellerin.  Moreover, Edmonton has always got a great group of additional route setters, fore-runners, and volunteers to get you movin’.  I know we’ve got what it takes to ensure that everyone has a great time, and that a female and male national champion gets crowned.

Recreation and Experienced competitors: Urban Uprising Climbing Complex will be setting an additional 30 boulder problems for these categories. 

Open competitors: If you don’t make the finals, we want you to join us for the boulder scramble the following morning.  This will give everyone more value for their comp fee as well as keeping everyone close for the finals later in the avo.

Judging: Urban Uprising, the Tour De Bloc, and Competition Climbing Canada are working closely together to make sure that all competitors are on a level playing field.  All competitors are strongly encouraged to educate themselves on the rules prior to competing.  Go to the TDB website for the latest.

Entertainment: We’ve got awesome staff and volunteers looking to keep things fun and entertaining throughout the weekend.  This means great accommodations, seating, food, music, and after party.  Yuh!

Certainly we’ll be sharing more details in the weeks to come.  If you’ve got questions, you can post ‘em or email me at afaid@ualberta.ca

Good luck to everyone at Regionals!

Finals -

10 Canadians will be making finals.  This means that if climbers from other countries join us and make the top 10 after qualifiers, we’ll reach back into 11th, 12th, or 13th spot(s) until 10 canucks are represented in each division. 

Keep those questions coming!

Alex