British Team News

Here is up to date news about the Scottish Climbers who are selected to the British Team or to compete at international competitions. We will be concentrating on the youth categories. The four age categories for young climbers at international level competitions are as follows: Youth C (13yr / 14yr) Youth B (14yr / 15yr) Youth A (16yr / 17yr) Junior J (18yr / 19yr) BREAKING NEWS Youth Open Comp August 2011 Report 9th Youth Colors Climbing Festival at Imst, Austria June 2011 Youth Open Comp 2010 Report British Team Elite Video 2010   British Team News Letter                 "Psyched"is the newsletter for the British Team. It is edited by Ian Mackenzie (Chair of the BMC Competitions Committee) and Assistant Editor Natalie Berry (MCofS member &British Team Member). It contains profiles, reports, advice and competition results from IFSC events as well as UK competitions. It is available as a downloadable pdf. below or on the BMC site. Psyched 3 (June 2010) Psyched 2 (January 2010) Psyched 1 (September 2009)   Archive News: British Team Trials 2008

The British Junior Team for 2011: Red: Selected Scottish Team Members Name 2011 CAT STATUS Carmel Moran C Team Angus Davidson C Team William Bosi C Team Nikki Addison B Team Rachel Carr B Team Tara Hayes B Team Eleanor Hopkins B Team Molly Thompson Smith B Team Dylan McKenzie B Team Steven Addison A Team Tom Bonnert A Team Edd Mowbray A Team Jonny White A Team Charlotte Ellison A Team Charlotte Garden A Team Sarah Pashley A Team Caitlin Wallace A Team Jonathan Field J Team Ed Hamer J Team Jonathan Stocking J Team Luke Tilley J Team Paul Williamson J Team Catherine Whiteman J Team Team – MA: medical assessment required in March           British Youth Team Selection 2011 Following the Team Selection Weekend in Leeds  on March 26th - 27th the Team has been virtually halved in size for this year and now numbers 23, with 10 Scots. This means Scottish Youth climbers make up 43% of the British Team as it stands.

BREAKING NEWS:

BMC Youth Open Lead Climbing Competition
EICA: Ratho 30th July

By Avril Gall

The Girls	Coach Neil McGeachy
Rachel Carr, William Bosi & Angus Davidson	William Bosi
Eilidh Vas Payne in action	Gabriella Stewart in action
Rachel Carr (1st) Rebekah Drummond (3rd)	Jessica MacCaskey Wins 1st, 2nd & 3rd!

This is one of two Open Youth comps the BMC run each year (the other being in Nov/Dec) and as well as being a fun competition is used by the GB Team management to gauge team members’ development and suitability for competing abroad.

There were 74 competitors on the day with the biggest group the Girls Youth C (12/13 years).

Being held on their home wall at EICA: Ratho there were 13 Quickdraw Climbing Club members taking part, as well as climbers from Glasgow Climbing Centre Youth Team, Granite City Rock Stars and the Highland Youth Climbing Club.

Edinburgh’s Jessica McCaskey found her self on her own in the Junior Girls (18/19) group but was grouped with the Youth A girls to give some semblance of competition. She put on an excellent show only being out-climbed by the Youth A winner, and GB team member, Charlotte Garden on the final route.

In the Junior Boys local EICA:Ratho instructor Calum Forsyth held his own against 3 GB team members topping both qualifying routes and finishing in second place only 2 holds down from winner Ashleigh Wolsey-Heard. Jonny Field, on his way back from injury, took third place with Paul Williamson in 5th.

Christie Macleod climbed valiantly in the Girl’s Youth A just missing a place in the final and finishing 8^th. In the Youth A Boys Alasdair Johnstone and Scott Keir did enough to get a final climb finishing in 6^th and 9^th place respectively while Steven Addison (11^th) and Willis Morris (14^th) will no doubt be back to try the routes again sometime soon.

Scotland has 3 GB team member in the Girls Youth B (14/15) category. Eleanor Hopkins was unable to compete due to injury and Rachel Carr and Nikki Addison had to contend with some fierce competition from YCS 14-16 winner Gracie Martin and South Scotland Squad member Rebekah Drummond. Rachel’s surer hold on the final climb gave her first place ahead of Gracie and Rebekah with Nikki 4^th and Megan Saunders 9^th.

In the Boys Youth B competitor Scott Donaldson was the only one of the Scottish triumvirate to make it through to the final finishing in 8^th place ahead of Euan King (12^th=) and Alexander Bosi (14^th). The category was won by James Nugent.

Youth C Girls had 15 competitors, 9 of them Scots, with many competing in their first Lead Competition. Eilidh Vass Payne finished in third place behind GB team member Carmel Moran who dominated the day with some superb climbing. Emily Eadie (5^th), Gabriella Stewart (7^th =), Kirsten Gray (9^th), Keira Farmer (10^th), Jodie Brown (12^th), Elle Hogarth (13^th=), Amy Ryan (13^th=) and Kirsten Taylor (15^th) should all be proud of their efforts.

Angus Davidson’s excellent 2^nd qualifier route was enough to give him the Boys Youth C title ahead of fellow GB team mate William Bosi when both reached the same hold on the final route.

Following the judges’ training, provided by Martin Hopkins at the MCofS prep day the week previously, we had 3 new parents taking up the clipboards and stop watches. The video feedback was also called upon more than once to clarify judging decisions and sort out final positions and belayers had to contend with tricky final routes that kicked off quite a few competitors early on and tested their ‘don’t drop me’ skills. Thanks to everyone who helped with these areas.

Imst 2011: 9th Youth Colors Climbing Festival (YCCF)

Angus, Gabriella and William at Imst Outside Wall PHOTO: Martin Bosi

Jim Pope, Angus Davidson and William Bosi. PHOTO (above & below): Nick Pope

Three GB climbers in the top ten! PHOTO: Martin Bosi

Reports from The Scottish Contingent

When we arrived in Imst, I signed my name and registered on the sheet for next day. I found out that there were forty-two people in my category, from fourteen different countries - two more than last year (I think?).

We (me and dad) then booked ourselves into the 'Hershen Hotel', which was very nice. I got to meet William (Bosi from Edinburgh – also in the GB Team – Youth C) before the competition, as they came over for dinner at our hotel.

The next day, I had to wake up at 0630 to get my stuff ready, then went down to breakfast at 0700. The breakfast was delicious. There was a massive selection of cereals, bread, cheese, to start my day. We then got into the car to get there for 0745 for the warm up. After the warm up, the demos started at 0900, so we could get a good warm up.

Throughout the first day, I topped 5 out of 6 routes. The first route, I timed out on, because you only had 4 minutes to complete it - and I didn't know that.

On the last day of competition, I was feeling good because I was in 6^th position, and leading team GB. The second day was a lot harder. The routes were all 'nails'. Also, I was on the hardest route first – climbing at 0900 (exactly!).

When I came off my first route; I thought I did really badly, but only 3 people got past where I got to. I completed my second route, but I did badly on my last which overall put me in 7^th. I am really pleased with what I achieved.

But it was't over there, the same day, we went to the water park, 'AREA 47' – a short 15 min drive from Imst. It was amazing! It had giant flumes, 'deep-water soloing', white water rafting, a trampoline on the water and lots more.

IT WAS AMAZING!

After we went deep-water soloing, we went to the water parks' cafe. I ordered a HUGE plate of chips, smothered in salt and a dollop of ketchup - and a Fanta to finish it all off.

Later that day went to a hotel in Garmish. We put our stuff into the hotel room and went out for supper. We found this crazy restaurant, with a guy playing a 'squeeze-box' and the whole restaurant clapping along. Lunatics!

I had a 'Weiner Schnitzel' and chips, and two bottles of coke. (Healthy – eh?). We then went back to the hotel to have a good night's sleep. The next day, we got up and went for a swim, then to this very nice cafe. I had a hot chocolate and two croissants. Delicious! After that we packed our stuff away and went to the airport. The flight was on time – no delays.

Shortly after landing in Edinburgh I was snuggled into my nice warm bed.

Angus Davidson: Team GB, Youth C (aged 12)

Edinburgh Academy

The competition is very well run, and great fun. I think it is good that everyone who takes part gets a prize. Our trip to Imst was really good - you can go very fast on the alpine coaster down the mountain and visit a local water park which has a climbing wall overhanging the lake. In my category there were 42 climbers from 14 countries. The routes in the competition were hard but good fun and I was pleased that I finished in the top ten.

William Bosi: Team GB, Youth C (aged 12)

William had a fantastic experience and we would recommend the Youth Colours to other young climbers and their families - it is a well organised competition with a friendly atmosphere. The Kletterhalle in Imst is a great location and the new outside wall is stunning. The use of numbers to organise and identify climbers makes the competition run efficiently.

Martin Bosi (Dad)

See a short video by Martin Bosi of Angus and William ‘route reading’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBEhv5XI1N8

Results for British Competitors:

Aiden Dunne 2^nd (not in Team GB)
Angus Davidson 7^th
William Bosi 8^th
Jim Pope 9th (not in Team GB)
Carmel Moran 15^th
Gabbriella Stewart 30th (not in Tem GB)

BMC Youth Open Competition
Awesome Walls, Liverpool

27^th November 2010

By Avril Gall

With 114 competitors turning out on a chilly Saturday morning this year’s winter YOC was marginally quieter than last year, but the competition was just as hotly contested. There were only 16 Scots taking part as some of our more experienced climbers were out with injury after an extremely long competitive season. Nevertheless we managed to get 13 climbers into the Finals and bring home two first and two second places.

As well as an Open competition the event was being used to help GB team management select their squad for 2011. Everyone was competing in their IFSC categories for 2011, so there were some new faces and often a new group of climbers to pitch skills against. Zippy, Tom Randall and Neil Busby had set some exciting routes and they were testing from the start. Even so over a third of competitors (39) managed tops on their easiest qualifier in the 8 groups. This dropped to 12 on the harder qualifier and over the course of the day only 9 competitors went through to the finals with 2 tops.

Youth C (12/13yrs) saw many climbers competing for the first time at this level and while nerves were apparent on qualifying routes, scores were relatively close going into the Finals route for both the boys and girls. A tricky triangular volume proved too much for most girls but Inverness’ Emily Eadie made that all important ‘positive climbing move’ from the volume to gain a + and take 2^nd behind Carmel Moran. Gabriella Stewart (Loanhead) was pleased with her 6^th placing in her first YOC.

In the boys Angus Davidson (Edinburgh) had an excellent climb on a complex Finals Yellow route that had been used previously by Youth B boys. His final score of 29+ beat most of the older boys and gave him the Youth C title 6pts clear of his nearest rivals. Fort William’s Stephen Dent finished in 7^th place in his first YOC.

The largest turnout was in the Youth B (14/15yrs) category which had 42 climbers. This was 10 more than last year demonstrating the level of interest amongst this age group (the youngest category that competes as the GB team on the International circuit). From Scotland there were 5 girls and 2 boys.

While there were many gutsy performances throughout the day, with heart stopping foot slips recovered, determined campus grips held for an inordinate length of time while feet sought a hold and brave lunges for that extra + point, the climb of the day went to London’s Molly Thompson-Smith who, despite having just moved up to Youth B, had an outstanding Final route on a tricky Green to the left of the Barrel Wall. This 7c climb had previously been the 2^nd qualifier for the Youth A girls and Elite GB team member Kitty Wallace had achieved a near top 35- score.

Molly had the crowd cheering loudly as she achieved 34+ a mere touch away from Kitty’s position and an example to all climbers who claim they aren’t tall enough to make moves. Molly is at least a foot shorter than Kitty. Edinburgh’s Rachel Carr took 2^nd with Nikki Addison (Inverness) 4^th, Rebekah Drummond (Brechin) 7^th, Megan Saunders (Broxburn) 11^th and Alexandra Blunt (Edinburgh) 15^th.

There were 2 Scots among the 23 competing in Youth B boys and scores were close going into the final route. Dylan Mackenzie (Inverness) clinched first place thanks to his 2 Qualifying route top outs and Alexander Bosi (Edinburgh) finished 16^th. It was Dylan’s second win that day as he had already won the Scottish Tooling Series Youth title despite missing the final round in EICA: Ratho that coincided with this competition.

The Youth A boys were also out in force with 20 competitors and with most of the current GB Youth A boys moving up to Junior next year this was perhaps the most unpredictable group. The climbers were warned that they were tackling their hardest route first so that they didn’t get too discouraged. Steven Addison (Inverness) finished in 5^th behind winner Sam Brannigan (Newcastle) with Glencoe’s Alasdair Johnstone taking 10^th place.

Scotland had no competitors in the girls’ Youth A (16/17) or Junior (18/19yrs) categories which were won by Kitty Wallace and Catherine Whiteman respectively.

The girls’ junior group had only 3 competitors. By contrast the Male Junior group was 17 strong and sported 3 Scots. Scores were close going into the Final, once again on the Green Barrel route, now altered from a 7c to an 8a. Luke Tilley took the title with Paul Williamson (Glasgow) 4^th, Ross Kirkland (Edinburgh) 7^th and Calum Forsyth (Ratho) 9^th.

The day ran smoothly thanks to Rob Adie and his team of volunteers and it was good to see some of the more experienced climbers, who were out with injury, sharing advice and words of encouragement to those new to the scene. Although some climbers were disappointed with their climbs on the day, many more were pleased with their achievements and the valuable experience they had gained. The next Youth Open Competition is on 30^th July in EICA: Ratho. It would be great to see a few more Scots taking part.

Introducing the British Youth Team Elite Members 2010

The British Team competitors in the World Youth Championships at EICA: Ratho in September were filmed by Lukasz Warcheka. From Scotland it included Steven Addison, Dylan Mackenzie, Robert Mackenzie, Jonathan Field, Jonathan Stocking, Natalie Berry, Paul Williamson, Rachael Carr and Eleanor Hopkins. From England were Catherine Whiteman, Joshua Farrell, Michael Hopkins, Shauna Coxsey, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Pashley, Edward Hammer, Charlotte Garden, Rhoslyn Frugniet, Jonny White and Lily Rosengard.

GB Climbing Team – Youth July 2010

Shade: Elite
Red: World Youth Championship 2010 EICA: Ratho Selection

MCofS Supports Scottish Junior Climbing Teams Training for World Championship at Ratho

The World Youth Championships is being hosted by the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho between 9^th and 12^th of September.

The MCofS supports the Scottish members of the British Junior Climbing Team which currently make up a third of the members of the British team: 13 Scottish climbers will be competing as part of the British Team in the World Youth Championships.

The MCofS provided funding for a training meet on Saturday 28^th August in the final days of preparation for the competition. 10 climbers were able to attend including 2 children from the South Scotland Youth Climbing Team who, although not competing at the World Championship, were invited as they have shown great potential recently and it was felt they would gain a lot from training with the older climbers.

As the climbers’ training programmes peak the emphasis is on onsight training with a focus on competition technique.

MCofS / BMC coaches Neil McGeachy and Ruiraidh MacKenzie developed a new format for the day, drawing upon their observation of the French team at the joint training camp at Ratho at the end of July. Neil, Ruiraidh and Robbie Phillips put up 6 new routes at the hard end of their grades. The climbers were sent into isolation where a coaching team including Tom Bolger and Lynne Malcolm helped the team work through their warm-ups and viewing of the routes. Each climber was then brought out of isolation to onsight a challenging route.

After this demanding start to the day the plan was to get all the climbers on-sighting the hard routes, working together and sharing Beta. This produced a busy afternoon with a lot of hard climbing. Mgeek was heard to say that if he was setting the two 8a routes again he would have made some of the moves a little easier – “but what the heck!”.

MCofS were pleased to extend an invitation to three Canadian climbers who are among the first to arrive in advance of the World Youth Championships and it was good to see the warmth of the welcome which the Scottish climbers extended to their Canadian friends.

At the end of the day the coaching team gave advice on how to make final preparations. They reminded the team of how proud they were to work with young

Climbers with such determination and commitment and how proud the junior climbers should be to have the opportunity to represent their countries in a world championship. ‘BEST OF LUCK’ to them all!

From left to right: Paul Williamson, Steven Addison, Jonathan Stocking, Ross Kirkland, Robert Mackenzie, Natalie Berry, Dylan Mackenzie, Eleanor Hopkins, Rachel Carr, Jonathan Field

British Open Youth Lead Championship
(British Team Selection)

Report by Avril Gall (July 24th 2010)

The BMC Open Youth Lead Championship took place on Saturday 24th July at EICA.There were competitors from around Britain including most of the GB and French national teams so the climbing was off the highest standard.

Competitors were split into their International categories and had 2 qualifying climbs, with the top eight going forward for a final climb. The climbs were scored using the international scoring system that considers the place a climber finishes in relation to the other competitors over the hold points they score.

Scots accounted for 22 of the 93 competitors (11 of its 14 GB team members, together with 11 other climbers from the North and South Scotland regions).

As the event was being used to pick the GB team for the forthcoming World Youth Championships in September the grades were high which resulted in fewer “tops’ than might have been expected. But the GB climbers performed well and even managed to keep the French off some of the podium places with Natalie Berry and Johnny Stocking winning their categories

Despite not having any French climbers to push them the competition among the Youth C climbers was enthralling and current GB team members were pushed all the way by those hoping to claim their own team place later in the year and many outperformed climbers is older categories.

Scottish results were:-