An army of welsh warriors gathered this weekend to see who would be crowned the Welsh Climbing Champion of 2019. It sounds grim, but in reality it was an epic weekend of friendly competition, with lots of smiles and support from all involved. Read the report to find out the results.

On Saturday 9 February, 148 competitors arrive at the Beacon Climbing Centre in Caernarfon to battle it out on superb routes created by IFSC Junior route setter Yann Genoux and his team; Gavin Symmonds, Alex Mason and Emma Twyford.

Each category had two qualification routes to complete in order to make it through to the final. New for this year, Veterans had the chance to enter alongside the Seniors and the young guns of the Youth A, B, C, D and E categories.

Yann and his team had created an array of fierce test pieces using holds from the official hold supplier Beta Outdoor Sports. Slopers, volumes galore and technical rock overs.

Female Youth D proved a super strong category, with the first qualifier receiving seven tops! Not to be outdone, Male Youth D also showed their mettle with their first qualifier receiving six tops!

It was a tightly fought contest in Female Youth B, where Louise Flockhart came out strong to be the only competitor in her category to top both qualifying routes. In Male Youth B, Jack Macdougall and Alfie Duckworth kept the spectators on the edge of their seats with a tightly fought battle all the way to the final!

It was great to see so many competitors take part in the Welsh Climbing Championships! The depth of field coming through the younger categories is great to see and the future is bright for the next generation of British Competition Climbing!

Big thanks to:

Special thanks go to all the volunteers on the day, Ian Dunn for being Jury President and all the competitors themselves.

The route setting team for their hard work and dedication, especially Gavin, who assisted me when technology failed whilst trying to sort the demo videos! Yann who made sure I was fed and watered, Alex for the endless cups of tea, and Emma for her dedication and helping to be an extra judge.

DMM for the awesome prizes they provided. Emma Twyford and James McHaffie for presenting the prizes. Beta Outdoor Sports for the holds and volumes for the routes and, of course, Beacon Climbing Centre for hosting the competition and their super friendly staff.

See you all next year!

Results: The Welsh Climbing Championships 2019

Full Competition Results can be found here

Senior Category

1. Sammy Oakes 2. Kieran Forrest 3. Tommy Matthews	1. Emma Davidson 2. Jemma Mason-Powell 3. Flo Tilley

Youth A Category

1. Daniel Smith 2. Elias Bignold 3. Robert Cook	1. Ruby Wood 2. Anna De Souza 3. Paola Neal-Fagan

Youth B Category

1. Jack MacDougall 2. Alfie Duckworth 3. Finn Hayward	1. Gwen Morgan 2. Louise Flockhart 3. Maisie Guilhem

Youth C Category

1. Kai Main 2. Sam Hammond 3. Yukio Makita	1. Lily Kinnersley 2. Lucy Garlick 3. Katie Roberts

Youth D Category

1. Tom Steele 2. Oliver Knox-Renshaw 3. Oliver Goodwin	1. Fae MacDougall 2. Lily Hammond 3. Jasmine Arnold-Clark

Youth E Category

1. Max Steele 2. Oliver Skates 3. Zakareeya Hussain	1. Lucienne Turner 2. Corinne Powell 3. Nel Owen

Veterans Category

1. Steve Long 2. 3.

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