And the winners are...
Round one of the ClimbScotland Youth Climbing Series (YCS) took place on Saturday 6 February 2016 at CSE Pleasance Sports Complex (Scotland South) and at Transition Extreme (Scotland North). With almost 100 young climbers taking part, we had a fantastic day of climbing and bouldering. Read on for the full low down on the day's events.
The three regional rounds of the YCS are a great chance for young climbers to have their first go at a competition in a FUN environment, testing their bouldering and rope climbing skills against each other. The top three in the series go on to compete for their region in the YCS final held at EICA Ratho on 23rd April 2016 against 300 climbers from around the UK!
YCS Round One: Scotland South
It was a welcome return to Edinburgh University's
CSE Pleasance and an opportunity for many to climb on their new wall for the first time.
The atmosphere was buzzing with 54 young climbers coming from across the southern half of Scotland, plus plenty of their parents, friends and volunteers. Everyone registered before having their first look at the routes and boulders that they would be climbing that day.
The routes and boulder problems looked amazing!
The day before the competition, the route setters went about creating some exciting routes for all the different age groups, making sure there was a challenge for everyone. When you have GB Youth team members competing alongside climbers new to competitions this isn’t an easy task!
It was great watching all the “psyched” climbers try the routes and boulders - the standard of climbing in the region is so high. There were many tired but happy faces as the certificates were handed out by Rachel Carr (ex GB Youth Boulder Team Captain and one of the boulder setters) at the end of the day.
A big well done to Ava Gracey Hamilton (Youth E), Hannah Kerr (Youth D) and Daniel Smith (Youth C) who managed to top all three of their routes and flash all their boulder problems to get full marks! It was also wonderful to see a lot of new climbers along for their first YCS, including a strong team from the
Carnegie Climbing Club.
As usual the climbers all had a great time, meeting and making friends with other climbers from across the region. We are looking forward to the next round at
Avertical World in Dundee on
27 February 2016.
YCS Round One: Scotland North
44 climbers from across the northern half of Scotland gathered at
Transition Extreme in Aberdeen. Out of the 44 climbers who competed, just under half were taking part in the YCS for the first time.
This year we had more competitors than ever, with three climbers making the journey down from Orkney to take part, along with their coaches Ian Rendall and Ella Spence. Another big group arrived from
Speyside Climbing Wall with their coach Tony Brown. The commitment of these coaches makes it possible for the kids to take part.
All day Friday, Robbie Phillips and his team Jay Carr, Paul Freudenthal and Murdo Jamieson had worked hard trying to set fun and interesting routes and boulders which were hard enough for the best climbers in the group, but still not too challenging for those new to climbing. Although perhaps a few of these ended up a little difficult for some, the route setters achieved their goal of separating all the climbers.
Loads of new faces
With so many new climbers at the competition, came many new parents. As the YCS relies on parents to be judges and belayers, it was great to see so many of them stepping forward and taking up the challenge.
Rory Cargill, who has been part of the GB Climbing Team, led the climbers in a group warm-up before everyone split up into their age groups for the day's climbing. There were plenty of cheers, shouts and rounds of applause throughout the day as climbers succeeded in topping out.
All of the categories were close, with very few points separating the climbers, but each category was decided without the need for a super final. Nobody was able to score maximum points, but Reuben Langlands was very close, having to take a second attempt at his third and hardest boulder problem.
After a long, energetic comp day, it was some very pleased and tired winners who received their certificates and prizes.
We would like to thank
Transition Extreme for hosting a great day and providing prizes for the first placed in each category.
Round Two: Scotland North will take place at
Inverness Leisure Centre on
27 February 2016. We look forward to another action-packed day of climbing there!