Selecting the Scottish teams...
Round three of the ClimbScotland Youth Climbing Series (YCS) took place on Saturday 19 March 2016 at Glasgow Climbing Centre (Scotland South) and at Ice Factor (Scotland North). With over 100 young climbers taking part, we had a fantastic day of climbing and have selected the team who will go on to compete for Scotland at the British Final. 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 Three: Scotland South
The sun was shining on the Glasgow Climbing Centre as our 50+ climbers arrived excited for the final round of the 2016 YCS. Although many of the top spots were already in the bag, in some categories up to 5 climbers were vying for the remaining podium places.
As some of the volunteers headed upstairs for the wonderful Balcony Café breakfast treats the climbers started reading their routes.
In the Youth E boys category, where we finally had 3 entrants, Lachlan Ross maintained his unbeaten record claiming first in the round and the series. Newcomer Kenzie Allan took second on the day, but having only attended one round missed out on a team slot and finished third behind Francis Hein for the series.
The Youth E girls have been consistent with Ava Gracey Hamilton finishing again in first place, ahead of Erin Partridge and Jessica Humphreys. Ava is to be congratulated for being the only climber in Scotland South to climb two perfect rounds.
Hannah Kerr continued her domination of Youth D girls finishing 35 points clear of second place Ella Flockhart. First time competitor Bethany Lowrie Burns finished third yesterday after Laila Campbell, who finished third in the series, had to leave early. I look forward to watching this group in the upcoming Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships to see how things turn out when Little Mix aren’t playing at the SECC.
Andrew Goodall, Jamie Cross and Scott Connor continued their one, two, three places for each round and series. It will be interesting to see how they transfer their top-rope talents into the leading rounds next year when they move up to Youth C.
Youth C girls was one of the hottest contested categories we had this year with 4 girls sharing the podium places over the series. Caitlin Connors secured top place with her second round win. Stephanie Miller pulled a great performance out of the bag after a week of illness to finish second in the round and third overall and Lisa Kean added a third place to her first and second of previous rounds to finish the series in second place.
In Youth C boys Daniel Smith (GB Youth Team member) completed his triumvirate of wins ahead of Finlay Johnston and Duncan Riley. Daniel moves up to Youth B next year and as team members in that category don’t get to compete in YCS will be aiming for a big Finals finish in April.
Having been involved in running the YCS comps for over 6 years (and attending for8) I’ve watched many of the current Youth B and A climbers develop from wee, gap-toothed, cheeky-smiled monkeys into strong, determined, mature athletes. The quality of climbing on show throughout the series was once again apparent yesterday as Emma Davidson reached a high point on the final 7C pink route which was only surpassed by the winners of the Youth A & B boys categories. Hannah Smith secured second place on her home territory and finished second place overall. Carla Garcia took third in Glasgow to add to her third in Dundee and fourth in Edinburgh, but it wasn’t enough to win her the Youth B girls’ third team place which went to Lexi Dundas.
Matthew Fall had everyone holding their breath as he got within two holds of the top of the final route despite this being his first year in the category. Michael Donnachie in second and Cameron Wood in third place in the Glasgow round reflected the final series results.
Like Matthew, David Miedzybrodski was spat off the wall near the top but maintained his series form to finish with a maximum 300 ranking points. He was joined on the podium by Keith Mauerman and Jack McKechnie who were extremely close throughout the day. As Jack only attended two of the rounds the third team spot went to Fraser Moodie.
We only had two girls in the Youth A, Lucy Ross and Keira Farmer. Despite getting guaranteed team places they battled throughout the three rounds, putting in very good scores and acting as brilliant role models for the younger categories. Lucy finished in first and Keira second.
It was great yesterday to welcome back some past YCS participants Eilidh, Jodie, Christie and Elle, to help out and spectate. Although this was my final year operating the scoring I suspect I will also return because these are such positive events and I want to watch them continue to grow and develop. We welcomed new climbers and volunteers this series, and the record number of entrants North and South points to increasing interest in the sport. With more indoor walls being built and enthusiastic coaches working with youth climbing clubs the future is looking bright. The ClimbScotland Project is here to support that growth, and if we do get climbing into the Olympics later this year who knows where this year’s series winners will be in 2020.
Avril Gall
CCO Scotland South and Director ClimbScotland
YCS Round Three: Scotland North
The third round of the Youth Climbing Series took place at the freshly reopened
Ice Factor. The resurgence of the competition in the North of Scotland this year has been fantastic, with not only greater numbers, but with the standard of climbing being higher than ever.
After registration and a warm up led by Rory Cargill, the young climbers were ready to start the competition.
With it being so close in the series, all the ranking points were going to be fiercly constested.
Louane Dufour finished in first place in Youth E girls with Victoria Reynolds taking second but pipping her sister Charlotte in the overall into first place. Ellen Cooper finished third on the day and in the series. Reuben Langlands who is recovering from a broken ankle still mananged to finish first in Youth E boys and take his spot in the Scottish team.
In the Youth D girls Emma Heslop topped all her routes to finish in first place with Agne Irbe and Rachel McNicol rounding out the podium. With another impressive performance, Duncan Brown managed to top all three routes to take first place in the Youth D boys, and take finish first overall in the series.
In Youth C girls, Zara Whiteside fought really hard on route 3 to narrowly beat Emma Rendall into second. Louis Langlands flashed all his boulder problems on his way to the Youth C boys title with Sandy Bond finishing in second on the day which means he also finishs second for the series.
Emma Halliwell, in Youth B girls, finished first cementing her first place in the series with Tia Whitton finishing 2nd on the day but just missing out on the series podium. In Youth B boys Ben Findlay finished in 2nd place moving himself up to 2nd overall for the series with Rhys Langlands taking first.
In the Youth A girls Erin Geddes finished first on the day, and second in the series. Amy Ryan finished second on the day, which was enough to take the top step of the podium overall. Jamal Ronald maintained his unbeaten record in Youth A boys with another first at Ice Factor beating Finlay Tams-Gray into second.
The Youth Climbing Series is supported by Allcord who have supplied Tendon ropes for the competition this year.
