We sit down and have a Chat with Chris Moyle the GM, Jack of all Trades, at Goat Climbing Gym about the upcoming comp, 77 Showdown. Where the Goat Team plays with the format to change things up and keep it exciting! The Northeastern comp scene is competitive and fierce! So, keeping the Athletes on their toes is crucial!
CN - To kick things off, Chris, can you introduce yourself? Tell us a bit about your background and the story behind Goat Climbing Gym.
Chris - Hey I'm Chris, I'm a Brit lost abroad in the USA! I'm a climber, coach, routesetter and I run Goat Climbing Gym! Goat climbing gym is a three floor climbing gym with 60ft lead walls, beautiful EP Bouldering Walls, and an awesome team of routesetters led by our in house Head Blake Green. Both myself and Blake hold the USAC L4 Routesetter cert and have between us over 20 years of comp setting experience!
CN - This is the third year for the 77 Showdown, right? Can you tell us where the name “77 Showdown” comes from and what it represents?
Chris: - Yeh it is! The showdown name came from a finals planning team brainstorm with our owners and crew! We wanted a new finals format to keep the NE comp scene fresh and with our address being 77 river st, the 77 Showdown was born!
CN - Over the years, you’ve played with the competition format, which keeps things fresh and exciting. This isn’t your standard USA Climbing event! What inspires you to come up with these unique ideas for the comp?
Chris - We've been striving to give athletes something new and a reason to keep coming back to these community boulder comps, it also gives our audience a new experience and our setting a fresh challenge!
CN - Can you walk us through the different formats you’ve tried in the past? Which format did you find the most successful, and what made it stand out?
Chris - We've experimented with a bunch of formats from the traditional to something new and I think last year's format was the most successful, although.. controversial! Last year's knockout bracket Finals format really put the pressure on athletes to perform their best in qualifiers, read boulders effectively, have a strategic finals strategy and then pull hard and climb their best in the finals round. All of which really tested athletes' competition climbing skill, technique and drive and their ability to deal with high pressure scenarios.
CN - Last year, you made waves with some surprising eliminations early on in the event. Any hints about what you’re planning this year? Are there any surprises we can look forward to?
Chris - This year our focuses are to increase the quality of our finals and give a super show and to refine our qualification boulder spacing, giving more room for all the athletes to work hard on the boulders, and really dive into some funky unique movement patterns. As usual we will bring in a host of awesome talented guest setters to keep the boulders at the highest level and keep our athlete community on their toes.. quite literally!
CN - To close things out, who would you like to thank for supporting Goat Climbing Gym and the 77 Showdown? And thank you for everything you’re adding to the East Coast comp scene!
Chris - A huge thanks to our sponsors and collaboration partners; Metolius, BetaBreakers, Petzl, BetaLabs, Butora, OnCrux, Arc'Teryx, 8b+ and Madrock!
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