Hans Wins National Speed Comp!

This past weekend (March 5/6) Hans Florine returned to the national competition at Mission Cliffs gym in San Francisco. The format was three runs up the wall to qualify for the final eight, single elimination format. The wall was forty feet high, and dead vertical. Hans did this in 4.95 seconds! He was the fastest qualifier. In the finals he went against Patrick Cassidy, the North American Champion from a comp in Mexico City. He beat Patrick on the first run up the wall by 0.25 seconds. Then they switched routes and he lost by just 0.1 seconds, so he won the national comp!

In the difficulty competition, 26 entered and 16 made the semi-finals. Hans finished 12th on the qualifying routes (12a - onsight, and 12c - eight people onsighted). Semi-final route was 13a and Hans got 3 holds from the end and finished 10th, just making the finals. The finals route was 13b and Hans finished 9th.

Hans is 40 years old and the next oldest competitor was 26.

Bill