In reply to UKC News:
Bit dissapointed in the report, just reads like a cut and paste from a PR leaflet.
For what it's worth, I attended & thought that the event was outstanding.
Having never been to Ratho before, I was a wee bit perturbed that my GPS actually directed me to a quarry about a mile from Ratho which is a common occurence according to the weary explanation from the workman who directed me to EICA.
The competition consisted of 3 boulder problems and 3 routes per age group . The 8-10 and 11-13 routes were top ropes, the 14-16 were lead.
All routes were demo'd by a member of the current British team.
The level of support shown by the spectators was superb, regardless of who was climbing, which was great to see. The staff/volunteers at ratho were fantastic given the sheer volume of people in and around the main climbing area and I thought the male/female 14-16 lead routes on the comp wall were brilliantly set with, as far as I'm aware, only one female (apart from Natalie Berry), topping out. *shameless plug for Rhoslyn Frugntiet, British Champion 14-16 female*
, there were some incredible falls off the comp route which just reinforced the commitment that these youngsters show.
Only a couple of gripes, why was the waiting time between routes so long, some climbers had over an hours wait between climbing. I thought, given the ages of the competitors, that this led to an extremely long day.
Why wasn't this event more heavily publicised. Here on UKC, the BMC site and on Ratho's website the event merited barely a mention, bearing in mind this was the British Youth Climbing Championship. The youngsters taking part all put massive amounts of effort in to reach Ratho, surely a bit more exposure to the wider climbing community would have been beneficial, after all, these are the future competitive sport climbing stars.
The highlight of the day for me was watching a young lad with glasses (8-10?) attempting a purple route on an arete who seemingly got stuck around two thirds of the way up who steadfastly refused to give up and up and down climbed for what seemed to be an age but finally made the move and completed the route to the roars and applause of the spectators. the fighting spirit shown by this young lad was inspirational.
All in all, a fantastic day, at a superb venue.