Last weekend the 2014 British Lead and Speed Championships took place at Awesome Walls Climbing Centre in Sheffield. 

This is the second consecutive year that the championships have been held at this venue - Britain's only climbing wall to be awarded National Performance Centre status by the British Mountaineering Council.

The Junior competitors proved hard to beat in the Senior categories, with GB Junior Team Captain and this year's European Youth Cup winner Molly Thompson-Smith taking the Senior Female title and Edinburgh's William Bosi winning the Senior Male category. Having just returned from the World Youth Championships in Nouméa, New Caledonia, both young climbers were on top form over the weekend, also coming second in their respective Youth categories. William saw off tough competition from top senior competitors Dave Barrans and Ed Hamer.

17 year-old Molly commented: "I'm so happy to have kept my title of senior female champion for another year...this was a really important competition for me and I was pretty nervous so I'm so pleased to have won! I really enjoyed climbing the routes and thought the route setters put on a great show this year."

Taking his first ever Senior title in his first year as a Senior, 16 year-old William told us: "It feels amazing to win as I have been really looking forward to competing as a Senior for many years now and was really buzzed to compete for the first time. The competition went very smoothly as I climbed really well on all of the routes only dropping the final. It was great to compete against the well known senior climbers and I knew I needed to climb my very best."

In the Speed event, GB Speed Team member Orrin Coley and Lead Team member Sarah Pashley took Gold, with Ian Bownes and Emily Phillips winning the Junior categories.

BLCC Senior Results

Senior Female

1st - Molly Thompson-Smith
2nd - Lucy Mitchell
3rd - Tara Hayes

Senior Male

1st - William Bosi
2nd - Dave Barrans
3rd - Ed Hamer

British Speed Climbing Championships results

Junior Female

1st - Emily Phillips
2nd - Flo Tilley
3rd - Pippa Watkin

Senior Female

1st - Sarah Pashley
2nd - Anna Wells
3rd - Julia Littlefair

Junior Male

1st - Ian Bownes
2nd - William Bosi
3rd - Angus Davidson

Senior Male

1st - Orrin Coley
2nd - Alex Bosi
3rd - Dominic Proctor
 

Full Junior and Veterans results can be found here.