Yip and Bourassa-Moreau Win Tour de Bloc 14 Championships
The 2017 Tour de Bloc 14 Championships took place at Up the Bloc in Mississauga, Ontario. Qualifiers and Semis took place on Sat. April 1 and Finals on Sunday. Some of Canada’s top bouldering competitors made the trip, including recent Canadian title winners Alannah Yip and Sean McColl.
Finals Results Female/Male
1. Alannah Yip / Julien Bourassa-Moreau
2. Allison Vest / Sean McColl
3. Lia Wieckowski / Jason Holowach
4. Bronwen Karnis / Zach Richardson
5. Em Pellerin / Lucas Uchida
6. Tanya Mireault / Dylan Saffery
The Finals started late in the afternoon with six men and six women climbers competing on four problems. The final four problems ranged from technical face moves to big dynos. Tyler Norton and Dustin Curtis commentated the live stream.
Allison Vest and Alannah Yip were the only two climbers to top W2 and McColl was the only to send M2. Problem M3 was a technical slab, which Julien Bourassa-Moreau was the only one to top. McColl nearly sent but fell twice from the top.
On W4, the cruxes were compression sloper moves that shut down most competitors. Vest was the first to control the bonus, but could not finish it off. Yip had won heading to W4, but went hard into the crux and nearly stuck it but swung away from the wall.
The women continued after the comp ended to try to send the route and the crowd kept the cheering going. Vest and Yip eventually stuck the move, well after the event wrapped up.
M4 had a monster dyno to hard volume moves. Lucas Uchida sent it first up with ease, as did next up Jason Holowach. Bourassa-Moreau and McColl flashed it in style, but Bourassa-Moreau walked away with the win.
While on the podium, McColl took the mic and said, “No Canadian has beat me in 12 years. The last one was Jason Holowach in 2005, so big shout out to Julien for his strong climbing.” Full results here, more photos to come.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
