Lucy Mitchell, an ambitious second year Nutrition student, has it all. She balances her studies and her ultimate passion, climbing with fierce determination. HC Leeds caught up with her to see what she has to say.
When did you first start climbing?
I first started climbing when I was 16. It all started when I typed “climbing in Belfast” into Google! The climbing community in Northern Ireland is pretty unheard of in comparison to England. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that climbing was an activity that you could do everyday, I thought it was just a one off, adventure weekend activity.
Tell me a bit more about your climbing experience.
I always loved to climb things, I’d climb in and out my window, up onto the shed roof, over the fence etc. I have no idea why, I just wanted to climb. Like I said climbing is not well publicized or respected in Ireland, so I didn’t know it was possible as a hobby. After a fun outdoor weekend away, I looked into it further and I found a local climbing wall, which in comparison to the walls in England was tiny! It was only about 10m high and not steep, but that didn’t matter. From the start I was hooked. I was also very lucky with who I started climbing with as most of the people who I climbed with were much better than me, so I was constantly being pushed to try harder things. Although I loved just climbing, inevitably, everyone competes to complete the climb first. Beyond this the support and encouragement I have received from those people is the reason I’m still climbing. Soon after I started I was asked to go to a competition, mainly for experience and as an opportunity to see different walls. Luckily I climbed well and soon after was made part of the Northern Ireland youth team and later the Irish youth team.
What is your favorite thing about climbing?
Everything! I love the movement, the challenge, the satisfaction, the places and the people! I love climbing long routes, being really high up on a rope, but also I love the satisfaction of climbing a really hard boulder problem, which could be only 4 meters long! There are so many aspects and so many different challenges both mentally and physically. Climbers are different, every climber will admit it; we’re all a bit odd. Having played almost every sport under the sun in the 16 years before I started climbing I can safely say that I have never been able to fit into any group as well. Climbers have different attitudes and motives to other athletes. It’s a brilliant sport to get involved with, and there is something for everyone. You can climb routes with a rope or a boulder with a crash pad, you can ice climb, rock climb, abseil and you can climb inside or outside. Recreational climbing is not classed as a competitive sport but realistically everyone competes to climb the hardest. However, the majority of the time you’re competing with yourself, to push yourself that bit further, to try that bit harder, hold on for that bit longer. The best thing is, you choose your climb, so you always choose your best opponent!
What sort of competitions have you enrolled in?
I have competed locally in Ireland and also throughout England and Scotland in national and local competitions. I have even been lucky enough to be selected to compete for Ireland in numerous European championships throughout France, Austria and Slovenia and two world championships. In reality though every time you go to a climbing wall it’s a competition, whether it be with yourself or other people, every climb is a challenge, every move is a challenge.
Have you won any competitions? If yes, how did it feel to win?
I have won both the Irish lead championships and the British lead championships, and a few local competitions, but unfortunately no Europeans yet as sadly the French are incredibly strong. Winning is weird for me, yes I want to win, but I don’t want to win because someone else messed up and I don’t want to climb badly and win. I want to win because I have climbed the best that I can, and that everyone else that day has climbed to the best of their ability, not made silly mistakes, falling off early, leading to my victory. I want to win because I deserve to, not because I was lucky to. Thankful in both the major competitions I felt I climbed the best that I could have, so with that in mind I was over the moon!
What are your future hopes in pursuing climbing?
Despite what may look like a good competition record, I don’t compete well. When it all goes right, it feels great, but the majority of the time it doesn’t. Although I have a relatively high resilience and perseverance for failing, sometimes there is such a thing as enough experience. I still like comps and I will continue to try but what I really love is just climbing, especially routes and especially outside. Try hard, try lots; no pressure, pure pleasure! Currently I’m really excited to get fit and strong for this coming Easter break and get away to France and try some hard routes, and some very long multi pitch routes if I get the opportunity. All I want to do is climb, I feel so relaxed and free when I do that really there is nothing else I want, so I will always climb to the best of my ability. I’ll keep trying to get stronger and keep trying to climb harder and harder and I’m sure I’ll meet more amazing people and visit even more outstanding places in the near future. For now… more pull ups are needed.
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Lucy Mitchell