UKC

In December the British Bouldering Team was selected at the Climbing Works in Sheffield.......The 2007 Team will have its first meeting in Fontainebleau on the 5th, 6th and 7th of January.

Full report at..... http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: You sure that's the full team?

In reply to Richard Bradley:

http://www.britishbouldering.com/team.htm

In reply to Richard Bradley:

i agree. i know for a fact that dave barrens should be included as well as a couple of others whose names i've forgotten

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: The website must be well out of date, Tom Jennions has been out of climbing due to injury for well over a year now and i'm fairly sure some of the others listed are no longer part of the team.

In reply to Boy: I'm pretty sure that is not the 2007 team.

In reply to Richard Bradley: You are indeed correct, the new Team list is at http://britishclimbingteam.com/bouldering_team/bouldering_team_information/...

britishbouldering.com is maintained by someone else and it has not been updated with the new Team list.

http://www.britishclimbingteam.com is maintained by myself and Mark (no relation) Alderson and gets regular updates, in fact I am just doing some stuff on it now including the new Junior Team list (still waiting for the list of the new Senior Leading Team).

In reply to graeme alderson: that says 26th april 2006...?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
Are they replacing that little fella who had that smash?

In reply to graeme alderson:

britishbouldering.com is still listed on the bmc site as being the official bouldering team site - you may want to get that changed

In reply to abarro81: I just overwrote an existing webpage, which was created last year

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

NEWS: British Bouldering Team in Top Gear


Excellent. Will they be formation base jumping into the Verdon Gorge ?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Out of interest for someone unfamiliar with it all ...

How are British teams selected? Are there enough competitions both regionally and nationally or is it more of an ear to the ground/who you know sort of thing? How do young climbers outside of the main climbing areas (I'm thinking Sheffield?) get into the structure and development of competition climbing?

In reply to graeme alderson:

???????????????

Dave Barrans

Jordan Buys
Naomi Buys
Nick Clement
Leah Crane
Mark Croxall
Andrew Earl

Ned Frehally
Tom Gore
Chris Graham


Ben Meeks

Roddy Mackenzie
Katie Mills
Zoe Ogden
Gareth Parry
Ryan Pasquill

Audrey Seguy (subject to successful passport application )
Rachel Seymour
Martin Smith
Tom Sugden

Stewart Watson

Ben West
Katy Whittaker

In reply to Removed User:

See http://britishclimbingteam.com/news/latest_news/british_climbing_team_trial... for an explanation of how the Teams are selected.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Yep, thats the list. Am having some problems with editing stuff on the Team site but thought it best to at least get the list of names up there as you had raised the subject with your OP

In reply to Removed User: There was a trial held in December which was used to pick the team. Folk from outside Sheffield were apparently allowed to enter!

In reply to graeme alderson:

Thanks Graeme. Updating now.

Mick

In reply to Richard Bradley:

I take your point, people were allowed to travel to Sheffield to take part ... my remark wasn't intended to be critical or facetious ... to the casual observer the process seems to be drawing from a very limited pool of aspiring competition climbers and a little parochial ...

In reply to Removed User: There IS a very limited pool of competition climbers. Why do you think it parochial?

(Runs off to find dictionary)

In reply to Richard Bradley:

hypothetically speaking ....

If you have few serious regional competitions and no great tradition of competition climbing then you may find that you get a rather narrow field of selectors/participants/route setters as a consequence.

In reply to Removed User: chicken and egg though?

In reply to Removed User:

A lot of the comps set in the UK are set by people who know or are part of the current British climbing team so can point any very talented individuals in the right way. Young good climbers probably will enter the BRYCS and get noticed there.

It's an open competition for people who could travel round the world to compete for Britain, there isn't really any serious money in it and it takes time and effort to do. Taking the effort to go to Sheffield and enter the trial I suppose shows you're willing to put a little effort in, and that you can compete. An absence of some other climbers that perform well outside, just indicates that they don't want to climb in comps, not that they aren't allowed to.

Although there are no regional BMC comps (apart from BRYCS for youngsters) a lot of walls have comps, Mcr, Leeds, Sunderland, Craggy Island, SIBL, Climbing works, edge, et al.

I also wouldn't say that Britain, especially considering the "indoor climbing isn't real climbing" mentality some climbers have, doesn't have a history of comp climbing. European champion, world champion, podiums and round wins on the bouldering.

In reply to Richard Bradley:

Maybe but that's not to say one shouldn't debate these things. Is the current state of British competition climbing so narrow in it's focus and catchment because it has to be or are there ways that it could (or is) being developed?

In reply to squeek:

I understand and agree with what you say. I think your point about mentality towards competition climbing is particularly incisive.

Ironic that many climbers despite being very competitive and slightly grade obsessed also can be very dismissive of indoor climbing as a competitive sport.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Audrey is a Yank - Have things got so bad for British Womens Comp Bouldering that they need to bring in a ringer, Lol.