Young Scottish Climbers Excel in British Championships (BLCC)
2008
By Kevin Howett
Development Officer
The annual BLCC competition was held at Blackpool Towers outdoor climbing wall over the weekend of 24th/25th May and organised by the British Mountaineering Council. This championship event is open to any climber in Britain, with Senior (male and female) categories, Junior (male and female) categories and finally Veterans.
The Junior category (12-15yr) saw a very strong contingent of Scots male climbers fresh from their Youth Climbing Series Rounds in Scotland. The Scottish lads almost took a clean sweep with Jonathan Stocking coming 1st, Ross Kirkland 3rd, Paul Williamson 4th and Jonathan Field 5th.
This is the first time that Scottish Junior climbers have dominated the British competitions in this way. The support they have had from their local climbing walls, particularly EICA, Ratho and Neil McGeachy, goes some way to explaining this. The series of MCofS Coaching events organised by Scott Muir and held through the winter at Extreme Dream and Ratho using some of the best climbers in the UK (e.g. Neil Gresham and Gaz Parry: who won the Senior category!) was also praised by the parents as helping see significant improvements in the children’s climbing. These sessions were funded by sportscotland lottery as part of a development programme.
Two Scots girls competed in the Junior female category with Jessica McCaskey gaining a 6th place, whilst Jamie Davidson gained 8th place (both from Scotland South Region).
With these young climbers seemingly untouchable at present, the British final of the Youth Climbing Series on 28th June at EICA Ratho could see a similar top result for the Scottish kids.
For a report of the Junior event see:
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=2565
Finally:
In the Senior category, Scottish climber Alan Cassidy gained a very credible 5th place against such strong climbers as Gaz Parry and Adrian Baxter, and was theonly Scottish senior competing at British Championships.
For a report of the Senior event see: