Last year, Dan Kraus of Seattle lost the men's International Tree Climbing Championship to German climber, Bernd Strasser, by just 0.34 of a point.

But this year, after seven years of competing at the international level, Kraus's dedication demonstrated that he is a winner.

"For over ten years, I've dreamed of winning the championship," said Dan. "I was afraid my time to win had come and gone."

With more than 20 years of climbing experience, Dan has competed in at least 30 different competitions across the nation. Along with these competitions, he has spent countless hours preparing for this win.

To prepare for previous competitions, Dan would set up mock events in a local park. He focused heavily on perfecting his technique with the throwbag, a weighted bag tied to a line and used to set a climbing rope. He knows that a bad throw as well as bad luck can cost everything in competition.

Recently, Dan switched his training regime to working out and now visits the gym two to three times a week. He also owns a cat-rescuing business and has retrieved more than 400 cats from trees and other high spots, making for good climbing practice.

As part of a pre-competition ritual, Dan grows out his hair until he can barely stand it. A few days before the competition he cuts his hair short. "It makes me feel lighter," he explains.

During competitions, Dan says he worries about bad luck.

"I know I can climb once I am in the tree, but it's the uncertainties, like getting ropes stuck or setting lines, that make me worry."

This year, he had nothing to worry about.

Dan thinks climbing is a great sport. It combines strength, agility, the ability to use various types of climbing equipment, and, of course, intense mental work.

"Planning how to tackle each event is the main challenge because there are so many different climbing events-aerial rescue, belayed speed climb, the work climb," Dan explains.

What this year's champion loves about tree climbing competitions is that no one really does it for the money. It's just purely competing and having fun.

"We all share a love for the sport and have been able to form a brotherhood among climbers." Now after his win, Dan feels his tree climbing career is complete, and he says he could retire. But he doesn't plan to.

He is, however, thinking of getting a little tattoo of a monkey to celebrate his win.

WOW! This is what many in the audience probably thought or said as they watched this year's women's International Tree Climbing Championship. The crowd probably couldn't help but think, "These women are amazing!"

The courage, technique, strength, and agility of the 15 female competitors were noteworthy and inspiring. They not only showed a mix of creativity and skill when competing, but they also were able to cheer on and support their opponents.

After the exciting preliminaries on the first day of the event, two of the competitors remained to compete in the women's Masters' Challenge: Kiah Martin (2003 world champion) from Melbourne, Australia, and Chrissy Spence from Gisborne, New Zealand.

Both Kiah and Chrissy said that their favorite preliminary event was the Work Climb because it simulates a climber's daily routine. On the other hand, while Chrissy thinks the Aerial Rescue event was the most challenging, Kiah said that the Throwline event was the hardest for her.

On Sunday morning, the day after the preliminaries, the women's Masters' Challenge took place in a beautiful willow oak (Quercus phellos). Chrissy and Kiah demonstrated knowledge and skill with their creative climbing techniques and were exemplars of safe work practices and self-assurance in the tree.

After the event, it was clear that the audience wanted to know the final scores right away, but the winner wouldn't be announced until later that evening, during the conference's opening ceremony.

At the awards ceremony, the audience held its collective breath and watched Chrissy Spence be awarded first place, edging out Kiah Martin.

Chrissy is the first Kiwi to bring the women's ITCC trophy to New Zealand. This traveling contract tree climber/arborist started climbing four years ago, at age 21. Her brother, a professional climber, not only talked her into climbing trees but also taught her the climbing techniques.

In addition to tree climbing, Chrissy enjoys wall climbing and loves to travel and hang out with her friends. Her favorite trees to climb are oak (Quercus) and plane (Platanus) trees.

Kiah made history five years ago when she competed in the first women's ITCC. Kiah, who is a senior arborist at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, serves as the chair and events coordinator for Women Of The Trees (WOTT), a special interest group of the Australia Chapter that seeks to maintain and improve connectivity among women in the field of arboriculture.

Kiah says that the key to being accepted in this male-dominated environment is to "have confidence, be genuine and friendly, and get it [the job] done."

Watching the Masters' Challenge, one wonders how could these climbers focus on their task, with so many people looking, talking, and judging them? Chrissy says that she takes the five minutes just before the competition to concentrate in a spot away from everybody else-even her close friends, present at the competition, know that these five minutes are somewhat sacred.

Chrissy says she is still searching for what she might consider her favorite friction hitch. She also likes to climb wearing her old climbing boots because they give her more flexibility up in the tree.

When asked about her diet and training routine, Chrissy says, surprisingly, that she has no special diet and that she was not able to train as much as she wanted to before the competition.