[cheque]

It is/was Lonsdale China that was the sponsor, separate company from Lonsdale UK.

Who, I assume, sponsor the Chinese bouldering team.

Nope they don't sponsor the Chinese Team, they sponsored GB to get cred in China.

That was just a joke about Chinese Lonsdale sponsoring the UK team and British Lonsdale sponsoring the Chinese team. Obviously not a funny one though.... Cheers for the reply.

Gutted that we won't get to see the team wearing some kind of wolf/ pain au raisin design.  

[tomtom]

It amused me to see that whilst all of the other 'packages' sold out - those containing RockFax guides as 'rewards' were rather under-subscribed :D

[abarro81]

I'm intrigued by this thing, so I have a question for those who donated: What made you want to donate?
(Secondarily: would you have contributed if this had been trying to get funding which had never been on the cards? Do you think you would have contributed if they'd been in the same situation but for a trip instead of the comp?) I just ask because I thought they were on crack when I saw it on facebook - asking climbers, who I think of as tight bastards, to fund you going on a climbing trip?? - but clearly was completely wrong, given how much money they've made. And I don't feel guilty raising the question now they've hit their target.

[shark]

I have a question for those who donated: What made you want to donate?

Personally I didn't think too much about it as it seemed the right thing to do. They are representing the country, are performing well and were backed into a corner at the last minute and had the gumption to organise and make a direct appeal to the climbing community.

[monkey boy]

People are obviously not as tight as you thought!!

[Lund]

I'm intrigued by this thing, so I have a question for those who donated: What made you want to donate?
(Secondarily: would you have contributed if this had been trying to get funding which had never been on the cards? Do you think you would have contributed if they'd been in the same situation but for a trip instead of the comp?) I just ask because I thought they were on crack when I saw it on facebook - asking climbers, who I think of as tight bastards, to fund you going on a climbing trip?? - but clearly was completely wrong, given how much money they've made. And I don't feel guilty raising the question now they've hit their target.

It's for great britain innit, not for them to go on holiday.

If they'd said, yeah, I wanna go on some holiday so I can do my project, it's really nails, I'd have said, get a fucking job.

If they'd said, look I know it looks like a holiday, but it's not, I'll be in the hotel room eating chicken nuggets then chundering with nerves, and hopefully I'll stick it to some swiss/austrian/germans, but I might not do, but by God I'll give it some beans, then I'm all about where the fuck is my credit card!!!?!?!?!!

[abarro81]

This is what I find interesting Lund - fundamentally, what is it you consider different about competing than trying a project? The training investment, financial investment, mental investment and nerves don't, to me, seem to be fundamentally different, which is why I was so surprised it's done so well, and why I'm quite happy to say I've got no intention of contributing without feeling guilty about it. To my mind, the fact that they choose to climb in comps on plastic and someone else chooses to climb outside on rock is just a personal choice. If Randall and P Widdy lose their sponsors I aint about to give them money for a trip..

I appear to be more stingy and/or less nationalistically minded than most, or others are like you and see the competition aspect as making it different.

[kelvin]

It's a hang over from 2012 if you ask me - wear the GB vest and people start to wave the flag. I'm a bit surprised that they raised the money so quickly, as like you, I thought climbers were a right stingey lot in general. I also feel that there must be a fair few who miss the team aspect that's in other sports, so when the chance came to get behind Team GB, they took it.

Really pleased for them all mind, I'm sure it will give them a big boost to know so many people are not only cheering them on but also willing to back them financially.

[Doylo]

I'd donate towards a trip that involved Barrows free climbing Trango Tower or something equally gnarly. As long as it was filmed...

[abarro81]

 
The first time I ever went ice climbing I knocked half a tooth out by hitting myself in the face with my ice axe. With natural talent like that, what could go wrong in the mountains...

[Moo]

To be fair they've done it in an intelligent way by offering a variety of things in return its not like they are just taking the money and running off round the world. The signed guidebooks are a particularly good idea IMHO.

[Chriswo770]

I gotta say thinking on Dave's question, there are a number of reason I donated and in no particular order, here's my current stream of thought.

It does make me feel proud watching our guys do well, Shanua has been excellent and to watch her win a world cup would be awesome.
Mina's seems to be going from strength to strength and again I hope she does well, as I do for all the team.

I also like the idea that I'm support what someone loves (as a climber I can empathize with the plight) and what sometimes becomes all too
consuming, (and I'm just shit : ) but I imagine when you can climb at this higher level and commit the time & motivation this feeling must be amplified, so to try and help someone reach their potential is cool. Tie this with the fact I get motivation watch people crush, not just on the world cup scene but from any vids of trips & local hard stuff they produce is all good baby.

& as a final note, in the end if the tax man hasn't got it, or our democratic system hasn't found a way to drain it out of me, I get personal gratification putting it to a good cause (at least it is in my eyes)

Just some thoughts on the question & of course I'm only speaking for myself only & no animals were hurt whilst writing this.

[monkey boy]

This is what I find interesting Lund - fundamentally, what is it you consider different about competing than trying a project? The training investment, financial investment, mental investment and nerves don't, to me, seem to be fundamentally different, which is why I was so surprised it's done so well, and why I'm quite happy to say I've got no intention of contributing without feeling guilty about it. To my mind, the fact that they choose to climb in comps on plastic and someone else chooses to climb outside on rock is just a personal choice. If Randall and P Widdy lose their sponsors I aint about to give them money for a trip..

I appear to be more stingy and/or less nationalistically minded than most, or others are like you and see the competition aspect as making it different.

I understand what you are saying but I think comps are slightly different. When I go away on a trip I have trained hard etc for what I want to achieve but when I am away it is still a bit of a holiday and I reckon this is true for most people. Yes I get nervous on red points and annoyed if I fall off but it isn't the same as a competition. I have done WC's and I choked, I was awful. It felt so much harder than bouldering outside to me, both mentally and physically.

Also even when I am training the hardest I have ever trained Mina is still doing loads more than me. At the moment she does 2-3 sessions a day 5 days a week with 2 days off and on those days she runs and stretches. She is ridiculously strict on what she eats etc. She is good outdoors and puts a lot into outdoor climbing but the energy, effort and hard work she puts in for comps completely eclipses what she has to for outside.

I think the point you have raised is valid though and I am glad/I hope this doesn't turn into a slagging match and it can be discussed sensibly. Crag X discussion group at the weekend 

[monkey boy]

Also on another note I know how hard Tom and Pete train, if sponsors cut their trip budget a month before a big trip that they had been working hard for and they decided to crowd fund I would donate actually. That is only because I know how hard they work though and once again I don't reckon many people train as hard as those boys!

[psychomansam]

This is what I find interesting Lund - fundamentally, what is it you consider different about competing than trying a project? The training investment, financial investment, mental investment and nerves don't, to me, seem to be fundamentally different, which is why I was so surprised it's done so well, and why I'm quite happy to say I've got no intention of contributing without feeling guilty about it. To my mind, the fact that they choose to climb in comps on plastic and someone else chooses to climb outside on rock is just a personal choice. If Randall and P Widdy lose their sponsors I aint about to give them money for a trip..

I appear to be more stingy and/or less nationalistically minded than most, or others are like you and see the competition aspect as making it different.

The national identity doesn't hurt and the comparison between funding here and funding for Olympic sports, football etc makes bouldering team GB look pretty cheap.
That said, I don't think the difference is between indoors and out. If the GB team competed outside, they'd still get support (caveat=ethics). I don't even think it's really about nationalism. I think it's about having a team we can identify and relate to competing in our sport. Someone we can support and be proud of, even when they fall (after all, how many millions of people support football clubs at the other end of the country!).
At the end of the day Alex, you're in it for yourself. Self-centred and driven. Climbing is often like that. But it doesn't really tug the heart-strings, or make people want to fund you. The point below about tom and Pete is a good one - they're actually a strong team, if a small one, and they're nutters with a sense of humour (Pete at least  ) that people can relate to. And they entertain us.
The only reason anyone would fund you is to make you put your clothes on in the foundry. But I suppose you could do something about that with time and the right approach

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I do find it slightly bizarre that we can find several million over the last few years to fund the Skeleton Bob team which has been awesome and may well inspire people to get involved in various sports, however in terms of direct British public participation is probably around...ooo, I'm guessing just based on UK facilities, zero? But they can't come up with a few grand to support UK bouldering with it's recent track record in world class level comps and with tens of thousands of regular participants across all ages. 

[slackline]

I'm guessing just based on UK facilities, zero?

You mean you only go to Llandudno for Parisella's? 





Its only an invitation to donate, if competition climbing doesn't interest you and you don't want to donate no one has said you are obliged to. I've zero national pride and no interest in spectator sports (except snooker  ).

[petejh]

I do find it slightly bizarre that we can find several million over the last few years to fund the Skeleton Bob team which has been awesome and may well inspire people to get involved in various sports, however in terms of direct British public participation is probably around...ooo, I'm guessing just based on UK facilities, zero? But they can't come up with a few grand to support UK bouldering with it's recent track record in world class level comps and with tens of thousands of regular participants across all ages. 

To be fair the dichotomy between GB Olympic funding versus GB climbing funding might be partly to do with the public perception of 'climbing' being the image peddled by monied wankers on everest, and not that of dedicated athletes training hard in the gym in order to perform well in a competition with clearly defined rules aimed at identifying the best on the day - i.e. the commonly understood idea of sport.

[petejh]

and that's a very unfortunate photo...

[Wood FT]

and that's a very unfortunate photo...

 Yowza!

[Muesli]

I'm intrigued by this thing, so I have a question for those who donated: What made you want to donate?

for what its worth
As a £10 punter what made me want to donate was watching the various youtube videos of the comps over the last few years. I found these entertaining and inspirational and were a major part of me getting back into climbing after  a twenty year lay off .  The flag waving thing was not so much of an issue.

[mindfull]

Amazing response. I hope that they exceed it with alot of money, so they can have at least a beer or two after a good competition. And indeed, a bit strange for the government to not invest more, or via the BMC or via some other means.

In Belgium, we only have one competitor in lead, Anak, but I have the impression her funding goes smooth. We have our climbing federation, but also something called BLOSO which funds the training and competition of top athletes. Strangely, our bob team and our top ice skater also had to do crowdfunding to go to Sochi, so it seems the situation here is the reverse from GB. Climbing is better funded than winter sports ...

[Paul B]

Amazing response. I hope that they exceed it with alot of money, so they can have at least a beer or two after a good competition. And indeed, a bit strange for the government to not invest more, or via the BMC or via some other means.

Really? Given the other (Olympic) sports which have had their funding cut I'm not surprised at all.

[SA Chris]

Lottery funding of sports in genral is an interesting one. I saw David Florence (white water canoeist who our company sponsor) talk recently, and he said so much of funding for some sports is solely dependant on the performance of the top athletes. He's the top performer in the WW team, and currently ranked 1 in the world, but a lot of the funding for the entire sport will depend on his Olympic performance.

[Eddies]

Im the member of a small bouldering facility in Macclesfield, we have 33 members. We all decided that donating to help the GB bouldering team was a good idea so we gave them £750.
We are a BMC registered club as well as being CASC registered (Community Amateur Sports Club). We take full advantage of these benefits so its only right that when another club is in need we do our best to help... So we did.