Earlier this month Lucy Creamer was invited to a speed climbing competition in China organised by the Chinese Mountaineering Association. Lucy has onsighted E7, redpointed 8b, onsighted 8a, bouldered Font 7c+, established hard mixed climbs up to M9, is no slouch in the mountains and has now proved that she can climb really really fast.

Competitors raced up a 60 metre route and Lucy qualified for the final in sixth place with a time of 11mins 30secs, the fastest qualifier did the route in 7 minutes. But in the final Lucy put her foot down on the accelerator, after warming up by doing pull ups on a tree. The final route was the same as the qualifier route and Lucy sprinted, "I just climbed and climbed until I jumped for the top. I felt like I'd run a race, I was totally pumped and panting for breath."

To Lucy's surprise she came second, just 12 seconds behind the winner, with a time of 5 minutes and 51 seconds.

She won some flowers, a glass trophy and $2,000, the most she has ever won in a competition and she has won lots of them. She was the British Masters Champion in 1998, won the British Bouldering Championships in 2001, and has been the British Leading Champion no fewer than 7 times.

You can read a full account at her website www.lucycreamer.com

In other Lucy news, she now has a new job. From the end of October Lucy will be the new BMC Competition Climbing Officer.

Lucy is sponsored by Scarpa, Grivel and Marmot.