Worlds Diary
Josiah: JJ’s Account of day one and two
Day One
I got up really early to catch my flight to Auckland. When I got there I couldn’t find the pathway to the International Airport so I caught the bus. I then met up with the others and got given my uniform and after they had checked in (I didn’t have to as I had already checked through to Sydney in Wellington) we said goodbye to the parents and we upstairs for lunch. We then went through security and on to our gate. I had to have my boarding pass swapped for a new one because the planes had changed.
On the plane I didn’t have a vegan meal prepared for me because it wasn’t pre-ordered, but it was ok because some had ordered a vegetarian meal but changed their mind so I got it.
Once we were in Australia we caught a taxi to Glebe Village Hostel and unpacked. We then caught a bus to the climbing gym which was massive and really busy. We stayed for around three hours and had dinner in the kitchens provided. At around 10.30 (12.30ish NZ time) we left the gym and travelled back to the hostel.
Day Two
We got up and ate breakfast. Then we caught a bus to the train station and Chase got told off by a security guard for attempting to slack line a chain. We took a 50 in train ride to the Villa Wood gym and climbed there for a while. I practise on a template of the official speed route. When we got back to the hostel we had to get all ready to go at 4.15 am the following morning.
Chase : Day 3, Australia to Korea
The boy’s room was very clever and woke up at two in the morning instead of four because we didn’t account for the time change from New Zealand. Just before we walked out the door Josh realised so we all went back to bed for two hours.
Four in the morning and we all went out front and piled into three taxis. Got to the airport and checked in and then wandered about for an hour and a half waiting to board. We enjoyed a long ten hour plane ride to Korea.
We arrived in Seoul to find that Korea is a very hot and humid place, and began, what would be six days of almost uninterrupted sweating. We went through immigration and waited with the guy with the “New Zaland” sign. We saw some very awesome looking security guards with machine guns walking back and forth through the airport at a terrifyingly slow pace.
Team New Zealand collected Mark and boarded a bus to Chun Cheon. A three hour bus ride later we arrived at the resort. We had pizza and watermelon for dinner and then went off to bed. A long day, but very excited to be in Korea.
Mark and Sarah: Day 4 Korea
On our rest day in Korea we went to Ocean World. This was a 5 min walk from our hotel. The water park was quite different. It had a discount if were a foreigner (not from Korea). Some of us started to feel weird as everyone stared at us wherever we went in the park, the most looked at probably Mark, because of his insanely good looks. Actually generally the boys were quite popular, but mainly Mark. Nobody got on any of the larger rides because of the two hour lines, but some of us managed to witness an unusual diving display will plenty of crotch thrusting (Josh’s favourite part if he was there)
Later that night we had the opening dinner. We all tried to squish round a table but Glenda, James and Tayla had to cuddle with the Czech Republic team. Te food was awesome, and funky. Then we rested up for the next day.
Jesse: Day 5, World Cup in Chuncheon, Korea (Leisure Games)
Early start for all of the competitors, as we needed breakfast before we caught the bus to the Games. During breakfast everyone was told by Glenda to meet in the lobby absolutely no later than 7:50am. The Boys (Chase, Mark and Jesse) arrived a whopping 2 minutes late to find everybody waiting on them. After boarding the bus we then had to wait for the entire Austrian team (troublemakers) to turn up. This was followed by a fairly uneventful bus ride, although there was some question as to whether our bus would make it up the hill to the parking lot.
Upon arriving at the venue it became apparent that as well as being late for the bus Chase and Jesse had forgotten their competition numbers. Apparently they had been so excited by the contents of their goody bag ( that had contained the number) that they had managed to bring all of it (including the Chuncheon Leisure Games 2010 pen, cap, t-shirt and badge) except for their numbers. Glenda managed to sort out some replacement numbers and everyone started warming up. Shortly after, the little ones arrived and were sent on errands by Glenda or made to take photos of the competitors warming up with famous climbers. As soon as the climbing began the weather packed in and it began to bucket down, causing a mass scramble for the covered warm up area. Luckily the rain didn’t manage to wet the wall (yet), so climbing went ahead. Everyone climbed really well.
After the climbing we either bouldered or visited the Chuncheon leisure market. During the day we got served lunch and dinner in the Athletes lounge and could help ourselves to drinks from the fridge: “You know that you’ve made it as an athlete when you get given free Powerade”- Chase
After our dinner (butter chicken, yum yum) everyone went to the stadium for the opening ceremony. We were a bit unsure of what to expect, but it turned out to be the real deal: Flags, fireworks, parading around, photographers and (my favourite bit) lots of speeches. There was even a video of speeches from people who couldn’t make it to the games such as teachers, farmers, supermarket workers and many other randoms from Chuncheon. By the time the ceremony was finished we were all exhausted and after a quiet bus ride back to the hotel we all went straight to bed.
Nearly forgot the most important part of the day: Wiz’s birthday!! There were lollies, chocolate and presents.
Tayla and Alex: Day 6, Open World Semi-finals
Semi final were on today everybody was keen to go and watch it. It looked like it was going to be a nice day, so we were all in singlet’s and shorts. When we got off the bus to walk around the corner to the event it was looking pretty bad, the rain clouds were coming and as we got to the big tents it just started to poor down. Korea had been really hot so we didn’t expect it at all so I think only about four of us brought rain jackets. None of our team made the cut for semi-finals, a few were close but they just missed out.
Finally the climbing started and the rain was still coming, the climbs looked really cool. The rain just kept getting harder and harder until the hold on the climbs were getting wet. The girls and the guys look really strong but because of the rain the girls climb (which now had a waterfall running down it) was cancelled. So the girls are to do their semis tomorrow. The guy climb was still running because their climb was not getting wet.
While the holds were getting cleaned we all started to play around in the rain, it was so fun (but cold).In the end it didn’t really matter that we were getting wet because we were running and playing in the puddles anyway, our team seemed the only one though. . We all played card games while eating lunch. Tayla, Jesse, Wiz and Alex were sitting out in the rain when the rest of them were in the food tent watching on the TV. By the time we got back to the hotel we were dripping wet, exhausted and ready for bed. Apart from the rain it was a really fun day.
Wiz: Day 7 , Open finals
It is the final day of the open world cup in Korea and we are all sitting here on our lazy bums in the scorching hot sun waiting for the climbing to start. Unfortunately the day is going to be even longer than we expected since the female semi-finals were called off due to heavy rain yesterday. It is an outdoor wall and the wind and rain just happened to be in the perfect direction to wet the girl’s route. The female semi-finals are being held this morning instead. After watching the very strong girls climb their way to the final we were all ready to watch some awesome guy climb their asses off in the dramatic final of the world cup. The not so well known people such as Sachi Ama from Japan and Julian Romain from Spain both did very well and finished in 2nd and 3rd place. The very well known Paxti Usobiaga climbed high and finished in 1st place again! In the female grade a girl from Korea took away a well deserved 1st place after topping 3 out of her 4 climbs. Then came the speed climbing! Wawa!! The winner of the men’s speed climbing was a guy from China who climbed (ran) to the top of the wall in under 7 seconds, about 10 milliseconds off the world record of 6:47 seconds that he currently holds.
After a couple of us bouldered with THE ADAM ONDRA!
Then we went back to the hotel. We went to a closing ceremony/dinner thing which was awesome and some of us managed to get signatures off the famous climbers. YAYA!! Then we got told off because James caught us getting the hotels flash napkins signed. Haha! The dinners at the hotel are all awesome because it is very nice food and you are allowed to eat as much as you want! Yum.
Speedy: Day 8 (Military Style)
0630 H – Get up and ready after persistent ringing on the hotel door.
0640 H – Make way slowly ( still half asleep) down the hallway and into the dodgy elevator
0710 H – By now be have already finished our buffet breakfast with assortments of cereals, toast, fruits, warm and cold food.
0730 H – Bus arrives, no-one late today Speedy buzzing after a silent but thrilling elevator ride with Maja Vidmar (preferably not pronounced as Maya). Last minute checks PHONE, WALLET, PASSPORT, IPOD, yep everything there, phew the mothers would be proud.
0730-0930 H – Surrounded in a small bus with 20 others who, if in a life threatening situation involving climbing out of a valley or crevice, would definitely have to pull us out and live to tell the tale.
1030 H – Check in after a quick game of hacky and an amazing performance from chasse involving him jumping through a gap made by his other foot and hand.
1245 H – With full bellies and excited faces, the happy NZ climbing team boarded Korean Airline flight KE905 for a lovely 11 hour flight to Frankfurt.
1755 H – Arrive in Frankfurt. Uh Oh, someone lost their passport... (the person will remain anonymous but here’s a clue, starts with S and sounds like Haira). Problem solved when it’s found in the plane’s rubbish bin.
2030 H – Chinese all you can eat buffet (yum yum yum)
1030 H – Bed in the hostel. Night !
