Name: Jenny Woodward
DOB: 21/08/1971
Interview By: Ben Moon

Based in Bingley near Bradford, marketing executive turned health promotion specialist, Jenny Woodward, is one of the best female sports climbers in Britain. She has been steadily and quietly ticking most of Yorkshire limestone over the last few years. She is about as keen and motivated as you can get and her highlights include mega classics Supercool (8a+) at Gordale and Zoolook (8a) at Malham.

BM - When and where did you start climbing?
JW - Whilst studying at Newcastle in 1990. There was a really active climbing club with lots of impressive women climbers. We climbed at lot in Northumberland, the Peak and Scotland with occasional trips to places like France, South Africa and the Czech Republic.

BM - Do you have a favorite style of climbing (traditional, sport, bouldering etc)?
JW - When it’s sunny, sport climbing. When it’s not, bouldering.

BM - What would be your top route recommendations in the UK?
JW - Favorite sport routes are The Ashes, New Dawn, Obsession, Cruising for a Bruising, Body Machine and Supercool. Memorable routes include Great Wall at Great Wanneys, Totalitarian at Raven Crag, Thirlmere and Manzouka, Pembroke.

BM - And abroad?
JW - Most routes at Buoux or Ceuse, they’re both fantastic crags in gorgeous places. In particular Papa pas pou, Rose des sables and No Man’s Land at Buoux and Berlin / Blockage Violence in Ceuse. In the Frankenjura, Chasin’ the Train sticks in my mind. Further a field I really enjoyed climbing in Arapiles – Have a Good Flight is entertaining.

BM - What would be your top boulder problem recommendations in the UK?
JW - Desert Island Arête at Earl Crag, Jocks and Geordies or Hitchhikers at Kyloe In, Dog eat Dog at Bowden and on home-ground, Nosey Parker at Shipley Glen.

BM - And abroad?
JW - Pretty much anything at Fontainebleau. Chasse de Prises (not sure about the name – a 7a+ at Rocher Canon?) stands out. It’s got everything – toe hooks, crimps and a font sloper top-out. For a lesson in technical climbing, Beurre de Marge (?) at Isatis.

BM - How often do you climb?
JW - I generally manage to climb 3 – 4 days a week. But it never feels enough. Last year I managed to get out every other day because of a long time off work.

BM - How often do you train and for how many hours per session?
JW - Generally I train by climbing outdoors. But I try to get on our cellar at least once a week in the winter. In the summer, much less as I’m outside a lot of the time. When I do train I don’t do more than about an hour and a half – our boards pretty steep and I start to get injured if I do anymore. For getting fit I try to go down to Leeds wall but realistically I don’t normally start doing that till Easter.

BM - What kind of training do you do?
JW - Over the last couple of years I’ve tried to focus on getting better core strength - our board is tiered so it’s really good for that. To get fit though I try and do a lot of relatively easy mileage – preferably outdoors but if it’s not possible I’ll do that indoors. To sharpen up my technique I’ll try and do as much as possible outdoors on different types of rock.

BM - Your top training tip or tips?
JW - For strength training, aim for quality not quantity – train when you’re feeling good and keep the sessions short. For general climbing, I think it’s really important to have regular successes rather than (or at least before) getting bogged down with a project.

BM - Your best achievement?
JW - Definitely Zoolook. It was something I’d aspired to do for a long time but when I finally got round to it I found it very hard. It took a lot of motivation to keep going back!

BM - What is your opinion on competitions? Good, bad or indifferent?
JW - Difficult to answer because I’ve only ever done one, more than 5 years ago! I think they are probably great for getting fit and covering a lot of miles but quite different to climbing outside – much more about performance on the day, rather than doing something when you feel good.

BM - Your goals for 2005?
JW -There’s lots of great Yorkshire lines that I’ve yet to do…