By Nicole O’Neill
Amateur and skilled rock climbers gathered the morning of Oct. 26 at the Adventure Program’s climbing wall outside of the Eppley Recreation Center to compete in the University of Maryland’s Throwdown’s 15th annual climbing competition.
The open climbing competition, which is part of the Mid-Atlantic collegiate climbing series, started at 9 a.m. Saturday. The competition wasn’t restricted to the University of Maryland: students from colleges such as York College of Pennsylvania, Loyola University Maryland and the Naval Academy made the journey to compete at the university’s course. This year’s overall winners were University of Maryland student Vlad Leung and George Washington student Emily Shue.
“We’re just kind of hanging out,” said CJ Van Dellen, a senior at the Naval Academy. “We’re just here to have fun.”
The competition attracted climbers of all kinds. Freshman computer science major Gudrun Thorkelsdottir said she considers herself an amateur climber and sticks to the beginner-level climbs. Her brother climbs frequently and she thought it would be fun to get into the sport with him, she said. Other competitors were avid climbers and had solid goals in mind for the competition.
Duncan Smucker, a senior at York College, is the president of his college’s climbing club. He’s been competing for the last three years, but wasn’t able to finish the courses the past two years due to injuries.
“This year I’d really just like to finish,” said Smucker. “Maybe get into the 400 to 500 point range.”
The competition was based on a point system. Each type of climb had a different point value based on difficulty level, and climbers chose to compete in the beginner, advanced or intermediate levels. In the event of ties, falls are counted against the climbers.
The competition awarded one male and one female winner, according to UMD senior environmental science and policy major Kierstin Acuña, who works for the Adventure Program. The climbers had three hours to complete their top five highest-scoring climbs.
Close attention to safety and details was paid before and during the competition. Each climber must complete a waiver that is signed by a parent or guardian if the competitor is a minor. Around the course, soft crash pads were placed over the stony ground in case the climbers fell. Climbers also came prepared with chalk to keep moisture off their hands, specialized rubber climbing shoes and even toothbrushes to brush existing dirt or moisture off the holds where climbers place their hands and feet.
The Adventure Program staff at the University of Maryland had to prepare for the competition just as much as the competitors. The preparation began a week before the event, according to senior business manager major Ben Beard who works for the Adventure Program and is a headsetter for the competition. The staff must remove previous strips of tape indicating point values that were up for the season and set up about 55 different climbing courses for the competition.
The goal of the preparation on both ends is to ensure a safe and fun climbing competition.