Sunday 25th May was bathed in glorious sunshine, although it was a bit windy the rain held off, for the senior categories (age 16 to 44 years) of the BMC British Lead Climbing Chamionships (BLCCs) sponsored by Planetfear - held this year at the Blackpool outdoor climbing towers.

The day started early with all competitors doing two qualifying climbs, these they had seen demonstrated by the route-setters and could then also watch other competitors on, to decide who would go through to each of the respective finals.

The first senior female qualifier was a long steep stamina-fest that sorted out those who had good endurance from those who need to work more on this aspect of their climbing. Four women topped out on this route.

The second senior female qualifier was the steep tufa route from the previous day that none of the women managed to top out on.

Senior male first qualifier was a technical nasty on the vertical leg of the tower with a heinous triceps press as the very last move that spat off many strong climbers.  Only three climbers managed to top out on this.

The second senior male qualifier was a long steep stamina fest with some very powerful moves thrown in that none of the competitors managed to top.

After the two qualifying routes five women and eight male competitors went through to the final.  This meant they had a period of isolation while the final routes were set.  Then a brief six minutes to look at the route from below before their on-sight attempt.

The Finals

The senior female route was another powerfully steep route.  Hannah Beresford was first out and set the standard before Audrey Seguy eventually managed to get just beyond her high point by the smallest of margins.

The senior male final was an immensely long route. In its lower part  it consisted of the tufa route used in previous categories with a few key holds removed for good measure.  It then continued to the very top of the steepest leg via a series of tenuous moves on small holds!  The top three men reached the same point.  However, Gareth parry won on count back to retain his title.

For full results see here.  

To see a report of Saturday's junior and veteran categories see here.

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