Reaching new heights at Inter-school Climbing Challenge
Highlighting the growing interest in climbing as a sport, more than 60 pupils from twelve schools across six neighbouring counties took part in Bredon School’s first Inter-school Climbing Challenge.
This was the first climbing competition of its kind in the region and involved participants from 15 to 18 years of age taking part in different climbing challenges including bouldering, speed and top rope climbing competitions. The event took place on 5th October at the Redpoint Climbing Centre in Worcester which boasts a spectacular 1500 square metres of climbing and bouldering walls.
Organiser of the event, Andrew Lister, climbing instructor at Bredon School, comments: “We were delighted with the huge interest shown for this competition from schools and participants stretching across six counties from Shropshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire to Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
“With our own climbing wall at Bredon, climbing is a very popular sport here for girls and boys. We decided to launch the competition as there is no event of this kind in the region and we wanted our pupils to benchmark their own climbing skills and ability against others. It is great to put the spotlight on climbing as a school sport; it is rapidly growing in popularity and is making its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2020.”
Participating schools were: Bredon School, The King’s School Worcester, John Masefield High School, Malvern College, Leasowes High School, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bromsgrove School, Dixie Grammar School, Twycross House, Kineton High School, The Evolution Centre and Weobley High School.
Schools entered teams of up to six students and the best four scores made up the team’s total score. A range of prizes, included vouchers for climbing sessions at Redpoint, DMM climbing bags, Mammut water bottles and gift vouchers for Dick’s Climbing in Bristol, were awarded for both individual and team successes.
Organised by Bredon School, the competition was sponsored by Redpoint Climbing Centre, DMM and Mammut.
