Paul Ratcliffe will bring his extensive specialist experience to GB Climbing and the BMC as the new Chair of the Competition Climbing Performance Group (CCPG).

Olympic Medallist, Performance Director and Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe will join the expert group which heads up GB Climbing, after recently completing an Executive Development Programme through the Global Institute of Sport. He will take up the role immediately as the replacement for Rab Carrington who has been in the position since the group’s inception in March 2020.

The CCPG has the responsibility of looking after all things connected with Competition Climbing; from advising, to planning and setting future direction.

Paul, who was born and bred in Manchester, will bring a strong track record of success in an elite sporting environment – both as an athlete, having overcome a career-threatening injury in 1997, to become the first Canoe Slalom K1M athlete to win an Olympic Medal for team GB at the Sydney Games – and in a variety of leadership roles. 

He led the radical transformation of the Canoe Slalom Programme as Head Coach and developed the blueprint for the Lee Valley High Performance Centre, resulting in a flourishing talent pathway and one of the most successful periods in the sports history.  

In his role as Performance Director he led the vision and strategy for the British Canoeing Olympic, Paralympic and Talent Programmes, overseeing investment from UK Sport and Sport England. He led teams to win nine medals at Tokyo 2021 and developed the strategic plans for the Paris Cycle.

His performance philosophy is centred on supporting the development of technical coaches, creating world class daily training environments, and fostering an athlete centred culture where individuals are developed as people and elite performers.

Paul Davies, Chief Executive of the BMC which runs GB Climbing, said: “Paul has an outstanding track record of inspirational and strategic leadership through successive Olympic Cycles, developing high performance systems, delivering change, and producing winning Olympic and Paralympic teams.

“Performance driven and business focused he has implemented forward-thinking strategies that delivered a legacy of innovative programmes, created world leading high performance centres, and developed elite coaches.

“We are delighted to welcome Paul on board and want to extend our greatest thanks to Rab Carrington who has brought a wealth of information, knowledge and expertise to setting up and leading the group so far.”

Rab Carrington has been extensively involved with the work of the BMC for the past 15 years. He chaired the Competition Review Group as part of its organisational development and has previously been a Vice President (with responsibility for Competitions) and President and has also chaired Mountain Training England.

Paul Ratcliffe, new Chair of the Competition Climbing Performance Group (CCPG), said: “It is an honour to take over this role from Rab and a really exciting time for competition climbing which I have been inspired by over recent years. 

“With recent transformations to the talent pathway, going into Olympic qualifiers next year and a growing audience of fans and participants – I look forward to playing a role in evolving the sport and driving performance at the top level.

“I’ve had a lifelong passion for climbing mountains – whether that’s challenging myself to climb the Matterhorn, or the Cuillin Ridge – and I look forward to bringing this commitment and energy to lead CCPG to support the development of GB Climbing.”

Find out more about the work and progress of the CCPG.

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GB Climbing is supported by the BMC, Mountaineering Scotland and Secur-it. Many UK walls also support the GB Climbing team through free or subsidised entry.

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