2011 Dark Horse Dates

November 6th: Dark Horse/ABS
December 4th: Dark Horse/ABS
February 5th: Dark Horse Championship

We are introducing a new element to the Dark Horse this year by having a Young Gun Finals before Pro Finals.

Young Gun Finals: YOUTH (13 to 15 year olds); JUNIOR (12 years old and under).

NOTE: Competitors older than 15 must declare their intention to compete in the PRO category and compete with the adults. There will be a maximum of three competitors each gender for YOUTH and JUNIOR finals.

Dark Horse Championship

Last weekend marked the Finale of the Dark Horse Series at MetroRock in Boston, MA, where Rob D'Anastasio and Francesca Metcalf took the whole caboodle. Great job to everyone tried HARD on Saturday. Can't wait for next year.

P-BAGS: PhotoMan

Check out Pat Bagley's blog for some sick Dark Horse photos and behind the scenes edits.

http://www.bagleyheavybags.blogspot.com/

Thanks Pat.

March 26-27: Dark Horse Championship

With just three weeks away, we are looking down the barrel into the final stop of the Dark Horse Series. The first three inaugural events are out of the way, and the season finale is all that remains. Here's how it going to play out...

Friday Night: MetroRock North in Newburyport will be holding Open Qualifiers with climbers that wish to compete in Finals the following night. There will be five problems for Male and Female division. Since Rob D'Anastasio, Brian Kim, and Vasya Vorotnikov have already qualified for Finals due to their previous title wins, they have a by, which leaves 7 spots for Finals in the Male category. There are 9 spot open for Finals in the Female category because Francesca won all three titles.

Isolation closes at 6:30pm on Friday. So get on up early.

Saturday: Citizens comp from 12-4pm. Finals from 6-8pm

Looking forward to seeing you all soon. Check out the updated photo gallery in the gallery section of DarkHorseSeries.com for pictures of all age categories and athlete divisions (novice, intermediate, advanced, and open). It's all there and the pictures are rad!

Dark Horse: February 27th, Third Stop

Mike Foley wishing the slopers were crimps on Finals #2. The kid is a machine.

After what seemed like a hundred hours of setting and preparation, Saturday came barreling down the rails without fail and despite the deceiving weather, we had a fantabulous turnout. Little rock-star kids of the future threw themselves at micro-crimps like they were handle bars, an older crowd of masters proved to everyone that their steel-reinforced fingers still somehow worked, and a few ridiculous mutant-fied dingdongs pulled their way into Finals--a show that always brings a smile to my face even bigger than the Grinch's grin after he steals little Cindy Lou Hoo's Christmas tree.

The crowd was as loud as ever too, but that may have been entirely due to the fact that they housed both of our kegs within an hour. I'm hoping it was the sick Finals competitors and bomb proof problems though too! Well done.






















I was trying to make it look purty.

Thanks to everyone who helped us pull this event off for the third time, including all of our amazing sponsors: FiveTen, MadRock, EMS, Mammut, La Sportiva, Organic, Evolv, Sterling Rope, Wilderness House, and Sonora DesignWorks. What remains? The Dark Horse Championship: March 26 and 27, weighing in with a $5,000 cash purse for Pro Competitors and loaded with even more prizes for the Novice, Intermediate, Advances, Masters, and Junior categories. Holy bajeezers, it's going to be the real deal folks.

Video of this last comp is in the making! Plus, there are over 50 more photos to come. They will be updated in the photo section. Full results will also be posted this week. For top three in each category, scroll down. See you all in a few weeks for the Finale!
















Nina Williams, FiveTen Athlete, making dust out of the caves tufa feature on Finals #3.
















Mike Foley and I enjoying the plastic comp life. I love this stuff--you too Mike Foley. What?

















Mike Dondero amidst a sea of his own thoughts--and holds. Credit: Sean Harris

















I don't know his name, but he is 6-years-old and absolutely unbelievable to watch climb. He is the future. His name is FUTURE. Credit: Sean Harris

















Max "Boot-strap" Zolotukhin climbing his way into Finals. You're an animal and something else that I cannot say on this blog for fear that I'd get fired. Credit: Sean Harris

















Melissa Godowksi's hand on a sloper. What an artsy-fartsy photo! Naht. Credit: Sean Harris


Results:

Open
Male:
1. Vasya Vorotnikov
2. Mike Foley
3. Connor MacDonald

Female:
1. Francesca Mecalf
2. Nina Williams
3. Emma Chilton

Advanced
Male:
1. Steve Patrick
2. Evan Paigle
3. Jon Haggerty

Female:
1. Robin Berk
2. Cora Harvey
3. Katie Bond

Intermediate
Male:
1. Alex Stange
2. Matt Shreve
3. John Felch

Female:
1. Aly Nesson
2. Caitlin Rivers
3. Talia Jaffe

Novice
Male:
1. Robin Chase
2. Jeremy Haber
3. Josh Locks

Female:
1. Emma Burgh
2. Kathryn Hansis
3. Barbara O' Connell

Junior
Male:
1. Mark Olchanyi
2. Evan Daniels
3. P-Funk

Masters
Male:
1. Alex Chenvainu

Female:
1. Kristi Chenvainu

February 27th: 3rd Comp in the Series!

Behind the Scenes

Photos: Pat Bagley






















The boys, Brian Rafferty MC Extraordinaire and Brett Australia, trying to relax before the big NUMBER TWO. This was taken at 2:30AM.






















Me making the final tweaks on Men's Finals #4 around 2:00AM before the comp a few hours later. Tight! Setting for each comp has been a blast. Psyched every single one.















Me chillen with my fellow crushing Captain Neil Mushaweh during the plastic pulling madness. We are both lit, thinking "This crowd is impeding our ability to get to the keg." Photo: Brian Bittner




Kyle McCabe and I getting dirty.