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http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=4267

The 2011 IFSC European Youth Cup (EYC) Series starts for the GB Junior Lead team this weekend (20th May, 21st May & 22nd May) at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA), Ratho.

There are 213 Juniors from 23 countries registered.

The Provisional Program is as follows;

Friday 20th May 2011
2.00 - 4.00 p.m. Registration at EICA
6.00 – 8.00 p.m. Registration at EICA
4.30 -7.30 p.m. Qualification speed
8.00 p.m. Technical meeting in the venue

Saturday 21st May 2011
7.30 a.m. EICA opens
8.30 a.m. demonstration for qualification round 1
8.45 a.m. start routes – flash: all categories
2.15 p.m. demonstration for qualification round 2
2.30 p.m. start qualification round 2
7.00 p.m. end of qualification round 2; results for finals and starting order

Sunday 22nd May 2011
7.30 a.m. isolation zone opens (all categories)
8.30 a.m. isolation zone closes (all categories)
9.00 a.m. finals youth B female and male
10.20 a.m. finals youth A female and male
11.40 a.m. finals junior female and male
1.00 p.m. isolation zone speed opens
1.30 p.m. isolation zone speed closes
1.45 p.m. speed final round
3.45 p.m. awarding ceremony lead & speed (earlier if possible)

This timetable is only provisional and subject to change at any time by the organisers.

Best of luck to the British Junior Team:

Female Youth A Lead; Caitlin (Kitty) Wallace, Sarah Pashley.
Female Youth B Lead; Tara Hayes, Nikki Addison, Molly Thompson-Smith, Rachel Carr.
Male Youth A Lead; Tom Bonnert, Sam Brannigan, Jonny White, Steven Addison.
Male Youth B Lead; Billy Ridal, Connor Byrne, Buster Martin, Dylan Mackenzie.
Male Juniors Lead; Edward Hamer, Luke Tilley, Jonathan Stocking, Ashleigh Wolsey-Heard
 

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http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=4280

Last weekend the 1st round of the IFSC European Youth Cup in Lead and the 2nd round in speed was hosted by the BMC & Edinburgh International Climbing Arena.
213 young competitors from 24 different countries competed all weekend in lead and speed disciplines in Youth B, Youth A and Junior categories including 18 climbers for the Junior British Team. For full results click on the link below.

www.ifsc-climbing.org/result

3 British climbers made the final, with Kitty Wallace (Youth A) finishing in 5th, Tara Hayes (Youth B) in her first ever international competition finishing in 6th and Ed Hamer (Junior) keeping up his run of form from last year in 10th, so congratulations to all them and the rest of team GB for putting in stellar performances.

This is a great start to the season and we hope it will continue to rise towards some podium positions in the future.

A full report will be published in the near future.

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A full report will be published in the near future.

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=4280

Last weekend the 1st round of the IFSC European Youth Cup in Lead and the 2nd round in speed was hosted by the BMC & Edinburgh International Climbing Arena.

213 young competitors from 24 different countries competed all weekend in lead and speed disciplines in Youth B, Youth A and Junior categories including 18 climbers for the Junior British Team. For full results click here.


3 British climbers made the final, with Kitty Wallace (youth A) finishing in 5th, Tara Hayes (Youth B) in her first ever international competition finishing in 6th and Ed Hamer (Junior) keeping up his run of form from last year in 10th, so congratulations to all them and the rest of team GB for putting in stellar performances.

This is a great start to the season and we hope it will continue to rise towards some podium positions in the future.

The report below is from Tara Hayes, aged 14, who competed in her first EYC in Edinburgh and came 6th after qualifying for the final in 8th.

The European Youth Cup last weekend was a great experience for me, especially since it was my first ever one. It was good because I didn't feel under as much pressure as I normally am since nobody really expected much from me. However, the day before the competition everyone in the team found out their draw/running order - and I was 1st to climb! After this I was really nervous but just tried to focus. (Buster was also first so Adam took us down earlier to help get us warmed up.)

In the end the comp went quite well and I managed to qualify for the final in 8th position! This was more than I'd hoped for so I thought I'd just give it my best shot in the finals. As it was I managed to gain 2 places in the final so I ended up 6th.
I thought the team did well and it was a fantastic experience so I can't wait to go to Bulgaria!

A few years ago I never thought it possible that I would get to compete at the EYC, let alone get to the finals! The first competition I did was the BRYCS (now BYCS) when I was 8 years old. I managed to qualify in first, then I came 7th (I think) in the finals. From here I found a coach (Iain McKenzie) and continued competing. I was always in the top 10 in BRYCS/BYCS, however I never did that well except in 2008 when I came joint 1st (with 3 other people!).

When I was old enough, I competed in the Youth Open - which is also used as the British Team Trials. I just got 1st place which is probably one of the most important competitions because it meant I had a place in the GB team! I was so pleased to gain a place in the team, that it just made me train harder.

Being in newly created Youth C category in the team was quite difficult because we were still too young to compete internationally, however I still went to watch the World Championships because it was in Ratho. This was also a great experience and it was good to be cheering on the competitors. This also inspired me because I noticed how much I wanted to compete for Great Britain.

At the start of 2011 those of us who were in Youth C became Youth B's. In other words we could compete in internationals! I had a good start to the year by winning the BBC's which gave me the confidence I needed.

Later on in the year was the qualification for the EYC's and World Championships. Though I was climbing well I was so nervous about this for weeks before it! On the day I did just enough and managed to scrape through with 3 routes out of 5. Also to qualify were Molly, Kitty, Ed and Luke so all of us will be going to the internationals.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the year and supporting our team. Also I'm hoping to improve my position of 6th!

Follow Tara's and rest of team GB 's progress at the various competitions this season on the BMC website and the IFSC results service.

The competition was run by the BMC and EICA, thanks go to Mammut for providing the ropes, Tiso for providing the prizes and thanks to the route setting team of Paul DeWilde, Gary Vincent, Neil Busby, Neil McGeachy and Robbie Phillips for setting some excellent routes.
 
By Rob Adie