Strathclyde University’s blog entry for the 2014/2015 comp.
So 2015 was an eventful year for Strathclyde at the British University and college’s sport (BUCS). Not only did we get an individual 5th place from Euan McFadyen and an equal 6th place from Eleanor (Elle) Hopkins, in their respective categories, but we also managed to get 3rd place in the male teams! This meant that we were the highest-ranking Scottish team and considering that 1st and 2nd place went to Sheffield universities, who had the home advantage, this was quite the feat!
Our bronze winning men’s team consisted of Euan McFadyen, Richard Abel and Alexander Bosi.
Elle had this to say about the competition:
“On Saturday I was competing for the first time representing Strathclyde University, an exciting opportunity to climb against students from all over Britain along with climbers from the same uni as me. The atmosphere was very welcoming from the start and The Climbing Works was packed with hundreds of students. We had 20 or so problems to complete in 3 hours so we quickly got warmed and started trying some of the easier problems. The team setting for this competition had done an outstanding job at setting interesting and challenging problems for all levels so everyone could enjoy the climbing. It was great traveling down in a team and staying together in bunkhouse the night before and after which created a good team psyche. I was pleased with how the day went as I placed =6th and enjoyed the day climbing with my fellow team mates. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and I would highly recommend this competition even if you have never competed before as the problems cover a wide range of grades.”
In general I am not most happy about our competition results but happier that 12 brave men and woman went down to compete in such a large event. This was the largest event that most of our competitors had ever competed at and everyone did well and made their university proud.
Thanks again to the route setters and organizers at the Climbing Works Sheffield, it was a great event and we’ll be down to take the gold next year!