Youth Climbing Series 2008

British Final

Sponsored by Perkins Slade

The final of the British Youth Climbing Series 2008 was held at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena, Ratho on Saturday 28^th June by the BMC and MCofS.

This is the second year that the final has been held at the prestigious EICA, which is probably the only indoor climbing centre capable of catering for what is now the biggest climbing competition in the UK.

The event attracted 180 finalists qualified through the10 regional rounds held in England, Wales and Scotland (there are 2 regions in Scotland)during March and April where nearly600 young people took part.

The top three in each category from the rounds made up Regional Teams to compete in the final, although the children were also competing as individuals. The turn out on the day was the best yet with virtually all competitors taking up their invitation to take part.Most were accompanied by (sometimes extended) family, bringing over 400 supporters to the event.

The standard of climbing in the regional rounds continues to rise each year and has been something of a headache for the route-setters and there followed some stunning performances from the children in the final as a result.

There had to be super finals in the following categories: boys 8 to 10, 11 to 13, 14 to 16and the girls 11 to 13, and 14 to 16 categories. Even after thesuper finals we still had several ties, and time did not allow further climb-offs.

The Scottish competitors did extremely well again this year, coming away with a selection of notable 1^st places: Angus Davidson (Scotland south) gained 1^st in the boys 8-10; Jamie Davidson (Scotland South) gained 1^st in the girls 11-13 but had to share it with 3 others including her team member Eleanor Hopkins (harder routes are needed next time to separate these girls, especially as Jamie thought the climb-off route was ‘easy’!); and Dylan Mackenzie (Scotland North) shared a joint 1^st in the boys 11-13, a good effort as his big toe was black and blue and strapped up after a cart wheeling incident.

Other good performance from Scotland came with Rachel Tennent (Scotland South) gaining 6^th in the girls 8-10; in the girls 11-13 Dawn Longworth (Scotland North) and Nikki Addison (Scotland South) vied with 5^th and 6^th place; Steven Addison (Scotland North) placed 6^th in the boys 11-13; the highest placed Scots in the girls 14-16 were Ellen Macaskill (Scotland North) and Jessica McCaskey (Scotland South) both sharing 8^th place; and finally in the boys 14-16 it was a hard fight between Scotland South team mates Jonathan Field (4^th), Ross Kirkland (5^th) and Paul Williamson (6^th).

As a result of the overall personal performances Scotland South Team gained 2^nd Place and Scotland North 8^th.

Results

Girls 8 to 10
1. Mairi Teasdale
2. Carmel Moran
3. Ellissa Bryant

Boys 8 to 10
1=. Angus Davidson (Edinburgh)
1=. Drew Fielding
3.Jack Graham

Girls 11 to 13
1=. Josie Ball
1=. Jaime Davidson (Kirkcaldy)
1=. Tara Hayes
1=. Eleanor Hopkins (Kippen, Stirlingshire)

Boys 11 to 13
1=. Dylan Mackenzie (Inverness)
1=. Jonny White
3. Randy Roby

Girls 14 to 16
1. Hannah Beresford
2. Catherine Whiteman
3.SuzieZitter

Boys 14 to 16
1=. Edward Hamer
1=. Luke Tilly
3. Andrew Towers

Team results
1. London and South East Area
2. Scotland South
3. North West Area

Full results are available here.

Thanks to all the supporters
The BMC and MCofS would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of the event.This includes all the volunteers who do such tasks as judge, chaperone, belay, score the event, register competitors, allocate T-shirts, warm up competitors, run errands, and so on, the list is virtually endless.The event really couldn't take place without their unstinting support and enthusiasm.

Thanks also go tothe insurers Perkins Slade for sponsoring the Series Final and all the professionals including the staff at the EICA, Ratho for making us feel so welcome, the route-setters for great routes, the sound engineer, Heason Events, and BMC and MCofS staff both present at the event and those in the office who work behind the scenes.

And last, but not least thanks go to those companies that generously donated the large number of prizes needed for this huge event.These include Wild Country, Lyon Equipment, Climbmagazine, Clif Bar, Outside, Tiso, Stone Country Press and Go Outdoors.