Awww Yeah!

2 and a bit more weeks ’till the 2008 MEC Tour De Bloc Canadian Bouldering Championships!

Registrations:
Calls/Emails are coming in daily from all over the country.  Thanks to all those that have signed up nice and early!  For those of you still not registered, remember that Open category climbers have until Monday, May 13th to get on the list (we’re open till 10pm).  We’ll then go about randomizing a running order for Saturday’s qualifier.  Recreation and Experience category climbers can still sign up until the day, but we’d very much appreciate you signing up early so as to not have any bottlenecks on Sunday morning.

More Updates:

Prizes - The Tour De Bloc have sent us two big boxes of climbing prizes to give away during the event.  A big thanks to the following tour sponsors:
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Gripped climbing magazine
Friction climbing
Metolius
Beta clothing
Blurr clothing
Urban Equiped
So Ill climbing
Sequence climbing
Evolv
Organic bouldering mats
Acopa
Everything looks great - Way to go Tour De Bloc!

Prize Money - We’ve got as much as 00 from the TDB and local sponsors to distribute amongst Open Finalists.  We’re planning on putting a few hundred bucks on each Final boulder problem, which means the more boulder problems you send, the more money you win!  Additional details will be shared during the event.  In the meantime, just get psyched on making it to the final round.

Big News! 
Edmonton’s own Teknik Handholds Inc. have come through in a massif’ way, check this out:

Seth and Zoe are sending us their best grips for an exclusive Teknik finals!  To help things along, they’re also getting us one of North America’s best setters, Chris Danielson, to get in the mix with our head route setter Jody Miall.  If you didn’t know already, Chris is also setting for the World Cup in June - what better way to get our athletes ready for international competition!?!  Finally, Teknik will be set up with a merch table to sell you some of their fave yeti chalk, teesh-iz, and grips.  I’m gushing!

Okay errrbody, I’m telling you straght up: this is going to be an amazing event!  Don’t miss out, get registered, and be prepared to have your mind’s fully blown.

I’m ready for any questions or comments, so lay them on me.

Big Up!

Hi All

There have been a bunch of new developments for our 2008 MEC Tour De Bloc Canadian Bouldering Championships!

Here’s the dilly -

Registrations

There are just a few more days to register as an open competitor.  Get on the ringer and call us up before the end of Monday night (May 13th).  Unfortunately, we at UUCC have limited access to the phones this weekend in lieu of a big trade show going on in the UofA Butterdome. This means you’ll likely have to leave us a message, but we’ll follow up with you as soon as possible to confirm your registration.  Recreation and Experienced category climbers can sign up on the day but, as Chris mentioned above, we’d love it if you got involved early so that there’s no line ups before the round of climbing.

Prize money keeps on rolling in - We’re up to K for sure!

0 for first
0 for second
0 for third
0 for forth
0 for fifth

We’re throwing 0 on each boulder problem.  If you send it along with everyone else, you get .  If you’re the only one to send it, you get 0! If nobody sends, we’ll count back to the bonus/zone hold.  And if nobody even scores a bonus, we’ll put all the dosh to the following problem - same as a skins match in golf (yes, we’ll put the money back onto bp #1 if nobody gets anywhere on #5).  Kapisch?!?! 

Our BBQ planned for Sunday from 1:30-4pm is lining up nicely.  All those involved in the event will be encouraged to join us outside for burgers (both meat and veggie), hot dogs, veggies, and fruit.  Pop is available, but I’ve also scored us a liquor license to sell some Big Rock Beer to those 18 and over. 

We’re hosting the award ceremony and after-party at the Windsor Bar and Grill, which is right across the street from the gym.  The finals will wrap up just before 7:30pm and we’ll all head over to the pub before the 8pm awards.  Youngin’s (those 18 and under) can join us in the bar before 9pm so we’re hoping to have everyone order some pub-grub as they arrive and then stay for the ceremony.  We’ll announce the rec., exp., and open category winners and give’em their prizes.  We’ll also be announcing this year’s National Team!  We hope that all those 18 and over will stick around and party a little bit - there’s only two kegs to get through.  Yowza’s.

To raise the profile of the event, we have worked hard to create a series of press releases to local media.  Turns out we have a lot to be proud of:

The UofA is celebrating 100 years of being open

The Tour De Bloc is completing its fifth season

Competitors are coming from all over Canada:
New Brunswick to British Columbia to the Yukon

Winners of this event will determine the 08/09 National Team

The team uniforms will be unveiled at this event

Competition climbing has just recently been granted provisional status by the IOC, and the sport is looking to be seen at the Olympics as early as 2016 in London, England

…the list goes on…

We’re just a week away and Urban Uprising is ready to deliver. 

Get registered, tell all yer friends, and be here to support the Tour De Bloc!

Let’s keep this post afloat with questions, comments, and feedback!

Really!?

Hi All -

Registrations: Lookin’ Good!

We’ve got 60 open competitors (38 men; 22 women) ready to battle their way to the finals and a chance to make the National Team.  For both men’s and women’s divisions, the field is deep (i.e. lots of experience).  The finals are going to be insane! 

We’ve got another 30 rec. and exp. climbers signed up, but we are expecting another 20-30 for sure on-the-day.  This will make for a great boulder scramble round.  We’ll have 30+ boulder problems to entice you with.

My goal was to have as many as 120 climbers in the event - I’ll be sure to let you know how close we get.

Jon -
Don’t think of this situation as less for the existing sponsors; it’s more for everyone.  Urban Uprising has fulfilled all the obligations of existing Tour De Bloc sponsors and gone further by securing a number of local event sponsors (sugarbowl cafe, cobbs bakery, Lotus Soul Gym, River Valley Health, Lululemon, Movie Studio, as well as Teknik) to help raise the profile of the event.  We are doing our utmost to make this the best climbing competition possible.  I strongly encourage you to show up and see for yourself that everyone is treated fairly.

Silver -
We’re doing the math on how long everyone will be in isolation.  At this point we’ll be doing two 2 1/2 hour rounds.  The TDB will help us post running orders.  We’ll run two separate judging meetings. Qualifiers at this point will last a full 5 1/2 hours when all is said and done.

Noah Z -
Really!!!

Red Stallion -
Thanks big fella, that’s the spirit!

Much Love Errrbody - can’t wait to see you this weekend!

AWWW YEAHHHHH!!!!!!!! THIS WEEKEND BABY!!!!!!!!!!!   THERES SOME MAJOR PLASTIC CRUSHING GOING DOWN SOON!!!!  BEST COMP OF THE YEAR AHHH I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!! I’M ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!!!