TNFC Podiam and moving toward the future

女子オープンクラスの表彰式（Women’s Open class awards ceremony）

１位小田桃花、２位野口啓代、３位野中生萌
みんな素晴らしいクライミングだった。
それぞれの活躍に注目だね！！
First ― Oda Momoka, Second ― Noguchi Akiyo, Third ― Nonaka Moe
Everyone climbed extremely well. Watch out for them in the future!



１位ダニエル ウッズ、２位杉本怜、３位安間佐千
強い日本選手の中で勝ち抜いたこの３人はほんと凄い、そして優勝したダニエルはもう半端なかった。
この三人も今年の活躍に注目したい。
First ― Daniel Woods, Second ― Sugimoto Rei, Third ― Anma Sachi
It was awesome to see these distinguish themselves from the pack of strong Japanese competitors, and the victorious Daniel Woods was no joke.


思い起こすとあの熱い戦いが終わってもう２ヶ月が経ってしまいました。この間、大会の最後にも伝えたように今後の毎年開催のために準備を進めてきました。
同時にこの２ヶ月間はこれからどうThe North Face Cupの未来を切り開いて行くかじっくりと考えていました。
Thinking about it now, it has been two months since that amazing battle took place. Since then, as I said at the end of the competition, we at the Base Camp gym have been making preparations so that we can host a yearly competition from now on. At the same time, over these two months, I have been thinking deeply about how to open up things for the future of The North Face Cup.

現在The North Face Cupは多くの方の協力と選手に支えられ１２年（前身の大会から）と言う歳月を経てここまで発展してきました。その多くの可能性を秘めたこの大会は皆さん一人一人の存在があって今日の形になっています。そしてカテゴリーも現在１０カテゴリーとより多くの方が楽しめるようになっていますが今後も支えてくれる選手が増えれば増える程にカテゴリーは増えて行くことでしょう。
そしてこの先の未来はと考えると多くの選手が世界と繋がっていると言う感覚を持てるような大会にして行きたいと考えています。今後すこしずつ詳しいことを発表していくと思うのですがオープンクラスの優勝者を世界各地のThe North Face Cupに派遣し日本にも世界各地から来てもらうと言うものが一つです。
The current North Face Cup has been sustained through the cooperation of many people and competitors. It has grown a great deal over 12 years (including the competitions previous incarnations). It has a lot of hidden potential and it has assumed its current form precisely because it has taken account of each of these people. And though there are now 10 separate categories in which a great number of climbers can enjoy themselves, as we find more and more competitors supporting our comps. the number of categories will probably increase.

So when I think about “the future,” I think that I would like to hold competitions in which it feels like many competitors are bringing the world together. I think that I will provide more details on this little-by-little in the future, but for now suffice it to say that I think that one thing we want to do is to send winners from the Open class of our The North Face Cup competition to participating countries around the world AND have climbers from all of those countries come to Japan.

世界各地にはThe North Faceがバックアップする大会はいくつかあるので小さなつながりを一つ一つ作って行きたいと考えていています。そして点と点もいつかは世界地図のように描けるかもしれないのです。
There are several competitions around the world that are backed by The North Face and I am thinking about making small connections with them one-by-one. Then maybe, one day, these points will be connected like the lines on a world map.

そもそもこういった考えに至ったのも、僕自身がトルコや中国でクライミングが持つ大きな可能性を感じたからです。それは政治や人種、文化など多くの壁を越えクライミングと言う共通点で一つになれることを感じました。
Originally I arrived at this thought because I felt for myself the amazing possibilities that climbing holds while climbing in Turkey and China. I felt that it was climbing itself that allowed us to overcome the many barriers of politics, race and culture while I was there.

実は先月僕がチリのボルダーコンペに参加したのもその一環で先日チリの大会で優勝した選手が来年２月に日本に派遣してくれることを約束してくれました！！！
Actually, the fact that I participated in a bouldering comp. in Chile last month is one link in the chain of causation surrounding these feelings and just the other day the competitor who won that competition promised to come to Japan in February of next year.

このように今考えていることが一つ一つ繋がって行けば未来は大きく広がって行くことでしょう！！！
今後のThe North Face Cupに注目してください！！！
In this way, if the things we are considering now link-up one-by-one, this idea will get really big in the future! Watch out for the next The North Face Cup!


最後になりますが今回参加頂いた選手の皆さんならびにご各地区予選で協力いただいた各地のジムの皆さん、そして本戦でご協力頂いた、ブッダホールド、レッドブルの皆さんありがとうございました。今後ともよろしくお願いいたします。
Finally, to all of those competitors who participated in this comp. and to the gyms that helped out with all the regional qualifiers, and of course to those who supported the competitions this time around, namely BUDDHA HOLDS and RED BULL, thank you very much. We really hope to work with you again next year.

そして予選から本戦まで各大会会場を多いに盛り上げてくれたJazzy Sportの皆さん最高でした！！！
ありがとうございました！！またぼろぞうきんセッションを今後も続けさせてください！！！
メチャ楽しかったです！！！！
Also, all the guys from JAZZY SPORT were awesome as they kept each and every competition, from the regional qualifiers to the finals, pumpin’!!! Thanks a ton!! Keep the “mop-top rag” sessions coming! They were super fun!!!

そして全面的にThe North Face Cupを支えてくれたThe North Faceには感謝しても感謝しきれません。ありがとうございました。今後ますますクライミングの可能性を求め大会も発展させて行きたいと思っていますがなにとぞよろしくお願いします。
And of course, no matter how much we thank The North Face for supporting The North Face Cup we can’t say it enough. THANK YOU. In the near future I want put together more and more competitions that present the appeal of climbing to the world and I would love it if we can continue to work together.

平山ユージ（Hirayama Yuji）
translation by Kevin Wilson