The competition season started with a bang last weekend with the first round of the BMC Lead Cup at Reading Climbing Centre and the Open Youth boulder competition at the brand new Oakwood Climbing Centre - read the full report below.

BMC Lead Cup

The lead competition took place at Reading Climbing Centre on Saturday and over 160 competitors piled into the centre to compete on two qualifying routes and a final route. The routesetters concocted some fiendishly technical and hard routes, and a lot of the categories were struggling in the qualifiers – but there were some fantastic performances in the final with some great support from the crowd. 

WATCH: The Lead Cup 2017 on BMC TV

Junior categories

Female Junior

1. Jo Neame
2. Holly Rayfield
3. Hannah Slaney

Male Junior

1. William Bosi
2. Peter Dawson
3. Jim Pope

Female A

1. Pippa Watkins
2. Gwyneth Uttely
3. Rebecca Stephens

Male A

1. Max Milne
2. Kieran Forrest
3. Joe Czubkowski

Female B

1. Emily Phillips
2. Hannah Williams
3. Katherine MacDougall

Male B

1. Hamish McArthur
2. Finley Wood
3. Daniel Smith

Female C

1. Tilly Vasic
2. Gwen Morganl
3. Matilda Collins

Male C

1. Finley Adams
2. Toby Roberts
3. Warren Felix

Senior categories

Female Senior

1. Jen Wood
2. Natasha Allcock
3. Abigail Morris

Male Senior

1. Stuart Littlefair
2. Max Ayrton
3. Peter Wycislik

Full results for the lead event can be found here.

Open Youth Boulder

The Open Youth Boulder competition took place on the Sunday at the brand new Oakwood Climbing Centre, Wokingham. With the finishing touches being put onto the cafe late on Friday night, it was great to see 180 keen competitiors flood into the centre the next day, even though most had the previous days lead comp lactic acid still in their arms!

Qualifiers was incredibly busy with the dedicated volunteers judging problem after problem after problem. There were some great efforts and a very strong field went through to finals. New for this year, finals were run in an IFSC World Cup semi-final format with climbers having to climb four problems in five minutes apiece, with only 5 minutes rest between them. It made for some great action and some impressive performances. 

WATCH: The 2017 Open Youth Boulder Comp on BMC TV

Female Junior

1. Hannah Slaney
2. Jo Neame
3. Alexia Basch

Male Junior

1. Aidan Roberts
2. Jim Pope
3. William Bosi

Female A

1. Gwyneth Uttely
2. Eugenie Lee
3. Kitty Morrison

Male A

1. Max Milne
2. Severin Domela
3. Nathan Whaley

Female B

1. Emily Phillips
2. Hannah Smith
3. Rosie Stobbs

Male B

1. Jake Collins
2. Finley Wood
3. James Bateman

Female C

1. Gwen Morgan
2. Matilda Collins
3. Tilly Vasic

Male C

1. Leo Skinner
2. Toby Roberts
3. Jack MacDougall

Full results for the boulder event can be found here.

Congratulations to the podium placed competitors, especially Max Milne and Emily Phillips who managed to take wins on both days in their categories. 

The BMC would like to thank the guys from our fantastic host venues – Reading Climbing Centre and Oakwood Climbing Centre – for helping us to put on two fantastic comps that all the competitors really enjoyed. Thanks must also go to the huge band of dedicated volunteers who help to judge, belay and film these events; without these guys the BMC couldn't run any of the competitions it organises.

The results from these events were used by the GB Climbing Team coaches to select which GB Development Squad members would be invited to attend the first four IFSC European Youth Cups of 2017. 

The British Junior Climbing Team is supported by the BMC and Berghaus. Many UK walls also support the British Climbing Team through free or subsidised entry.

The ropes for these events were provided by Mammut as the official supplier of ropes to BMC climbing competitions. The prizes were provided by DMM as the official supplier of climbing gear to BMC climbing competitions.

We want to say a big thanks to every BMC member who continues to support us through the Coronavirus crisis.

From weekly Facebook Lives and GB Climbing home training videos, to our access team working to re-open the crags and fight for your mountain access, we couldn’t do it without you.

Did you know that we've launched a U27 membership offer for just £1.50 / month? And with full membership from £2.50 / month, it's never been easier to join and support our work: 

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/join-the-bmc-for-1-month-U27-membership

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