[shark]

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=2076

What is it?
The BMC Leading Ladder is a fun lead climbing competition that starts in October and runs at 30 UK walls, with up to 40 rounds right through until the end of March. Each round of the BMC Leading Ladder runs for a 16 day period - thats 2 weeks including 3 weekends. That means that you can travel around the country and take part in leading competitions right throughout the winter - and all at your own pace.

Format
Three Leading Ladder rounds will be run at any one time giving plenty of opportunities to compete at different rounds right throughout the winter.

Categories
Each round will have 10 routes ranging from F5+ to F8a, with the following three ability categories - Improver, Recreational, and Elite.

• The Improver category is aimed at climbers whose on-sight limit is F6B/6B+.
• The Recreational category is aimed at climbers whose on-sight limit is F7A/7B.
• The Elite category is aimed at climbers whose on-sight limit is F7C/8A.

You choose which category you want to compete in and then your points will be entered into that category in the scoring system.

Each of the three categories will then be split into male and female, and under 16's and 16's and over. Ages will be those on 31st December 2010, and climbers must be at least 11 years old. If you would like to find out about other climbing competitions for young people, please click here.

N.B. British Climbing Team members must enter the Elite category.

Grades
Each competition shall consist of 10 routes graded F5+, F6A, F6A+, F6b, F6b+, F6c, F7a, F7b, F7c and F8a.

How will it work?
The BMC Leading Ladder competition routes are clearly marked and anyone using the wall may climb them. But if you want to take part in the BMC Leading Ladder competition, and have your score recorded, then you need to buy a scorecard for £1 from the host venue. Don't try any of the routes before buying a scorecard - that's cheating!

Scoring
The BMC Leading Ladder is a fun competition relying on the honesty and integrity of those taking part and those belaying to ensure fair play. Climbers start at the bottom of a route and see if they can climb to the top. Clipping the lower-off from a hold on the route signifies a successful ascent. If a climber is successful, their belayer marks their score their card. If not an X is marked on the card. Higher scores are awarded for fewer goes and, of course, a flash ascent receives the highest score.

Succeeding on a route on the first attempt (a flashed ascent, or flash for short) gains 20 points. Getting it second go gains 15 points, third go 11 points, 4th go 8 points, 5th go 6 points, 6th go 5 points, and any subsequent attempts, however many, gain one point. Competitors may attempt the routes as often as they like during the period when the competition is running at a particular venue. The maximum score possible, and therefore the perfect score, at any venue is going to be 200 points - that's 10 climbs multiplied by 20 points.

Can I practise the moves before trying the routes?
Nope. With the maximum score for the on-sight climbers can't practice or inspect the routes first. Nor are they allowed to weight the rope, use out of bounds holds or features, use the top edge or side edges of the wall, or grab the lower-off. All quick-draws are to be clipped while climbing - the first one may be pre-clipped for safety purposes.

Belayers
Competitors choose their own belayer(s) as usual at a climbing wall. Climbers and belayers need to be aware that they will be required to meet a wall's usual entry conditions. To find out what these are, especially if you are under 18, please contact the wall direct prior to your visit.

Results
At the end of each round walls return the cards for the round held at their venue to the BMC. Results will be published here on the website.

National Final
When all the rounds in the series have been completed, each competitor’s highest 3 scores will be added together to give their overall score for the series. The highest possible overall score is 600. Those with the highest overall scores in each category qualify for a national final. The national final will run similar to a leading ladder round - the final venue and date in 2011 will be confirmed in the new year.
Dates and venues for the 2010 / 2011 season:

Full list of dates and venues

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=3828

2 to 17 October


Blackpool Climbing Towers

High Sports K2, Crawley

The Foundry, Sheffield

16 to 31 October

Climb UK, Rochdale

Dart Rock, Buckfastleigh

Glasgow Climbing Centre

30 October to 14 November

High Sports West 1, London

Rope Race, Marple

The Peak at Sportspark, Norwich

13 to 28 November

Boulders, Cardiff

The Pinnacle, Northampton

Westview Leisure Centre

27 November to 12 December

Awesome Walls, Stockport

Dynamic Rock, Swansea

The Edge, Sheffield

11 to 26 December

Awesome Walls, Liverpool

Newcastle Climbing Centre

The Reach, London

1 to 16 January

Northwest Face, Warrington

Redpoint Climbing Centre, Birmingham

15 to 30 January

Edinburgh International Climbing Arena

The Castle, London

The Leeds Wall

The Tower Climbing Centre, Leicester

29 January to 13 February

Awesome Walls, Stockport

Big Rock Climbing Centre, Milton Keynes

Harrogate Climbing Centre

12 to 27 February

Climb UK, Rochdale

Glasgow Climbing Centre 

Reading Climbing Centre

Rope Race, Marple 

26 February to 13 March

Awesome Walls, Liverpool

Dynamic Rock, Swansea

The Westway, London

12 to 27 March

Boudlers, Cardiff

Creation Climbing Centre, Birmingham

Manchester Climbing Centre

[shark]

Here are the results from the first five rounds of the BMC Leading Ladder. Download the results table for the top 10 climbers in each category.  These are broken down by age and gender, along with the number of rounds each climber has already done.  Where a climber has done more than three rounds, points shown are for their top three scoring rounds.

[shark]

BMC Leading Ladder Results: all rounds broken down by age and gender, along with the number of rounds each climber has already done.  Where a climber has done more than three rounds, points shown are for their top three scoring rounds.

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Download.aspx?id=752

National Final

The National Final is on Saturday 30 April at Boulders in Cardiff. If you are in the top 10 of your category then you have qualified for the final.  Email invites for the final went out on Friday 8 April from Rob Adie (BMC Competitions Officer).  If you have qualified but not received an email then please contact rob@thebmc.co.uk

[shark]

Final results

Elite FU16
1 Tara Hayes 2 Molly Thompson-Smith 3 Sarah Pashley 4 Rachel Carr 5 Lily Rosengard
Elite MU16
1 Sam Branningan 2 Buster Martin 3 Jonny White 4 Billy Ridal 5 Connor Byrne 6 Orrin Coley
Elite Male
1 Luke Tilley 2 Ashleigh Wolsey-Heard 3 Thomas Bonnert 4 Will Smith
Elite Female
1 Karen Varga 2 Jennifer Wood
Recreational FU16
1 Natasha Allcock 2 Gracie Martin 3 Naomi Tilley 4 Becky Whaley 5 Ellissa Bryant
Recreational MU16
1 Brendan Gallagher 2 Robin Cloke 3 Alex Waterhouse 4 James Pope 5 Luke Murphy 6 Jack Graham 7 David Broad 8 Chris Shepherd 9 Georgie Harris
Recreational Male
1 Phill Mitchell 2 Mike Bean 3 Adam Cooper 4 Ben Davies 6 Ian Bennett 7 Richard Moses 8 David Barraclough
Recreational Female
1 Rhoslyn Frugtniet 2 Sarah Batson 3 Emily Fell 4 Jacky Tyrie 5 Liz Collyer
Improver FU16
1 Alice Killington 2 Emily Allen 3 Florence Tilley 4 Chole Ross 5 Emily Slade
Improver MU16
1 Cai Bishop-Guest 2 Derry O'Toole 3 Michael Robinson 4 James Grealey 5 Sam Roberts 6 Alex Hall 7 Joe Holmes 8 Fynn Bishop-Guest
Improver Male
1 Matthew Hunt 2 James McIween 3 Mark Pashley 4 Simon Tilley 5 Darren Le Marquand 6 Steve Reape 7 Jason Jones  7
Improver Female
1 Bethan Frugtniet 2 Brianne Evans 3 Caroline Mougenot 4 Kimberley Grant 5 Susie Osborne 6 Gil Wood

[Tommy]

Cheers for that info Shark.