Awesome Walls

October Mint Conditions Cork

Mint Conditions

Mint Conditions at Awesome Walls Cork: October’s Mint Conditions Is Done!

What a finish! From October 14th to 30th, the Cork walls were full of climbers working their way through the 30 boulders. Now the final results are official, and there are plenty of stories to tell.

A Clean Sweep and a Photo Finish

In Open Male, Jack Murphy Flynn topped every one of the 30 boulders to win with 559 points. Billy O’Driscoll followed on 498, with Mihail Nedkov third on 392. Ten climbers made it onto the Open Male leaderboard, the biggest field of the month.

Open Female was far tighter. Isabelle Shelly took the win on 455, just six points ahead of Sarah Hoare on 449. Laetitia Cazzini finished third on 277.

Over 40s Go Deep

Over 40 Male was a real contest, with nine climbers on the board. Simone Rodigari led on 460, followed by Federico Fala (432) and Michal Blin (389). Down the order, Matthew McNaughton and Matt Chojan finished tied on 301. In Over 40 Female, Mags McCarthy took the title on 281.

The Next Generation (and a Few Familiar Names)

In Under 13 Male, Jack O’Loughlin won on 356, ahead of Isaac and Patrick O’Donovan. Aisling O’Donovan took Under 15 Female, Keira Delaney won Under 17 Female, and Maya Stepien topped Under 13 Female. There’s a lot of family spirit on these results: the O’Donovan name appears seven times across five categories, and the Hoares, Stepiens and O’Driscolls show up too. Brothers, sisters, parents and kids all climbing together is what we love to see.

In Over 50, Alan Walsh led the men on 346 and Caroline Murray won the women on 226. David Whyte took the Over 30 Male title on 331.

Thank You, Cork!

Thanks to everyone who climbed, cheered and chalked up with us. The atmosphere through October was brilliant.

Check Your Results

Click your category below to see the official results on Vertical Life. The spot prize winners will be drawn at random now that the round has ended, so keep an eye on our social media to see if you’ve won!

Eight weeks ago I was idly checking my social media when a friends post in our running group caught my eye.
‘I’m injured, does anyone want my Race Across Scotland place?’ As expected no one snatched up his offer as running 225 miles over Scotlands Southern Upland Way in under 100 hours appealed!
Funnily enough though a few people mentioned my name…
Whilst big epic running challenges are my thing, I felt with only six weeks notice and a lack of big training days, I wasn’t quite ready for such suffer fest.
I also had the slight complication that I had a 100 mile race two weeks before that one!

To cut a long story short I accepted the place, I only ran 40 miles of the 100 and arrived at Portpatrick on Friday the evening before the big race.

On Saturday 6am 163 of us set off heading East to push our bodies and minds to their limits.
As the miles clicked away we ate plenty and slept little but pushed on regardless.
Day 1, day 2, day 3 were a blur and eventually day 4 arrived.
Everyone was totally spent but with the finish line close (40+ miles) we needed to crack on and complete this epic journey.
Unfortunately many people had had to drop out along the course but 63 competitors pushed on.
After running for 85 hours and sleeping for less than 5 hours I eventually hit a pain barrier that tried to thwart my progress.
Blisters on four toes, the base of one foot and around both ankles brought me to a hobble/wobble!
I had a final nine miles to the finish and NOTHING was going to stop me. While I walked, hobbled, tripped and jogged, a few hardier runners passed me but we all had the same goal in mind.

I’m pleased to say that I crossed the finish line after 227 miles and 89 hours and raised an awesome £2100+ for Mind Charity (the JustGiving page is still open for donations https://bit.ly/DavesRAS24)

I had a good friend Dave Jones help me along the way with nutrition (pot noodles), kit (sweaty clothes) and encouragement (move it…). Without his tremendous support the outcome would not have been the same.

I’ve received so much positive support via emails, social media and personally that I can’t thank my supporters enough.

My years of climbing have taught me many things, but one of the most important things is ‘Stay Positive’.

Hope to see you at the climbing wall soon,

Dave Douglas