UKC

Would be interesting to see some of the other times for the speed too. 

There's no speed results in the BMC round-up, but I'll try and find them out.

In the Speed finals, Will Bosi beat fellow Scot Max Milne into second place, earning his second British title of the weekend and setting a new British Speed record at 7.47 seconds

How can you have a record on what I presume are non-standard routes/lengths? Or are the routes always the same?

The route is a standard IFSC speed route. (Official) records can only be set on homologated, IFSC-approved walls. 

List here: https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/about-ifsc/item/259-ifsc-official-s...

More info: http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/about-ifsc/sport-department/speed-pr...

What is the age difference between Senior and Veteran in these competitions?

senior 18+ (barring for a couple of younger exceptions) and vets 45+ (but in practice more like 50+)

Edit: Most of the seniors seem to be a grouped near the 18 end of the 18-45 spectrum. In reality it was more like a kids comp with only a hand full of compeditors over 25. Which is sort of interesting that for the most part the 25-35 group don't seem to be competitive in the sport in the uk. 

Thanks. Makes it even duller than I'd thought!

I have a feeling there's 2 reasons for this... People in this age bracket that are climbing at a high-ish standard, or just really into climbing, seem more interested in climbing outside (that's maybe just the crowd that I know though).

I think an even bigger factor though is to do with the generation gap. I'm 28 and grew up comp climbing as a youth for about 8 years old until my early teens. There's been a astronomical jump in standards between someone my age and someone 10 years younger than me at 18. The senior category is now getting the first generation of climbers who have grown up with proper training/modern walls from a young age and it definitely shows!

It’s worth pointing out though that the handsome, talented and well-liked chap in 10th place is 42...

The main explanation for the sudden drop after age 20ish is the financial/career/social aspect. If and most likely when you no longer have your parents driving you around, funding competitions and training becomes more difficult. Most people will need to start working or head to university and it suddenly gets a lot harder to compete and be competitive as an adult. Of course, at this time in life other stuff gets in the way, too - work, socialising, relationships, career, moving away from home etc. Thankfully there appears to be growing support for young climbers today as the sport becomes more mainstream.

Martin - we both know what it's like when Dad's Taxi retires, don't we?

4/5 facts correct 

Participation in the veterans category seems pretty thin, particularly the women. With only two entrants that's basically some free third place swag for someone.

Yeah, not a lot of intrest from the vets. Both male and female vet winners were very deserving winners. Shame there wasn't much of a field to highlight just how well they were climbing.

Which fact are you disputing

Can't call him handsome with those teeth!

and that’s the game 

Well I like him, he is very talented (finalist at FBO a couple of years back as well as flashing Font 7c+, in Font, yonks ago). I expect him to be around 42. So that leaves 2 options