After three exciting rounds, the regional rounds of the Youth Climbing Series came to an end with the final fourth round at Calshot, on Saturday the 4th of November. This was the second roped climbing round for the competitors, Categories D and E top roping and Categories C,B and A lead climbing.
Southampton Squad
Morning Session
In the morning, Male and Female Category A climbed along with Male D and C.
In Category D, Henry got two tops, coming 7th in the round and 8th in the series rank – an impressive result for his first year doing YCS. The category C boys were met with extremely challenging routes. Cameron climbed excellently on a slabby Route 3, climbing second highest overall on a very insecure technical slab.
For female A, there were two powerful routes on the comp wall on the ‘wave’, a very steep section of wall. From Southampton, a special mention goes to Catrin who came overall 6th in the series. Male A were also met with challenging routes. Route 1 only got two tops and no tops on the following three routes, with Route 2 being an extremely tricky slab. The competitors were able to show their abilities with Ethan particularly enjoying the powerful route on the ‘wave’, coming in 6th in the round 8th in the series.
The next slot was kicked off with Female C, a category with extreme pedigree. This was shown in the results, with the top three girls topping all four routes. To determine the overall series rank in such a closely tied category, the top two girls took part in a very exciting climb off on one of the Youth A routes. Alexa, Jasmine and Ava all climbed well on these challenging routes. A huge congratulations to all Category C as this is the first year competing in lead climbing, rather than top rope, which is much more challenging.
A Few Moments Later…
In the afternoon, Category E, Female D and B and Male B climbed. Female B climbed all the same routes as Female A, really getting tested in their abilities. In Female Category D, Kayleigh, Bella, Poppy and Aila all showed their best.
In the roped climbing rounds, there is a judge for each route with a route map counting how far the climber gets. They can score a plus if they are moving off the previous hold and fall going to the next hold.The round of strong girls was very close, with the top three separated only by a plus going to the top hold of the last route.
Poppy climbed superbly, showing a really good fight on the last route, coming in tied second place and securing her first YCS podium. Aila won the round and the overall region. This is a terrific achievement that we are incredibly proud of!
This means that Aila will be competing in the national final, for which we wish her the best of luck.
Reading Squad
We had a very strong round from the Reading Squad. With this final round being on ropes, we were right at home.
The height of Calshot played right into our strengths with some very impressive climbing throughout the competition.
Dan absolutely crushed in Category B. Coming second, he had already solidified his place in the finals with enough points from the last round, but this meant he goes in to the finals in a strong second place.
In Category B Girls, Jessy had her first podium of the series, coming third, and narrowly missing out on a spot in finals!
In Category A Girls Amelie came second and Alex came third followed by Katherine 4th, Amrita 5th and Anna 6th, with both Amelie and Kathrine Qualifying for grand finals in second and third respectively.
Another special mention to Shin in category E for coming joint first this round and second overall!
A huge thanks to the youth coordinators Tanya, Shredie and the BMC for running such a great event and to Calshot Activities Centre for hosting. It rained all day, yet the turn out at Calshot created a terrific atmosphere. A huge thanks to the route setters, belayers, staff and volunteers. All four rounds of YCS have run seamlessly and this is due to all the hard work of the BMC, centres and volunteers. It is an amazing opportunity to take part in competition, see and compete with the region’s best and climb on routes set just for each category.
We are looking forward to the grand final at Parthian Southampton!