GB Junior Climbing Team 2012

The GB Junior Climbing Team for 2012 has been announced following an assessment day held at the Lakeland Climbing Centre in Kendal. John Ellison, the Team Parents' Representative reports.

The first weekend of March saw the rising talent of the British Junior Climbing Team meet at the recently refurbished and expanded Lakeland Climbing Centre in Kendal for their first event of the year: The Assessment Day.

All current team members, selected at Sunderland in December were asked to attend, along with 7 other young climbers who were hoping to push their claim for a place on the squad for 2012.

Saturday’s event was used to assess how far the climbers had progressed over the past few months, in order to select the GB Teams for this season’s European Youth Series rounds in Edinburgh, Moscow, Voiron, Linz and Imst, along with the World Youth Championships in Singapore.

Those not yet on the team were also being assessed to see if they had reached the standards required since being invited to attend the event.

5 routes where set for each age category with the grades ranging from 7b for the Youth C category and up to 8a for the Juniors. Each climber was given the whole day to attempt to flash as many of their climbs as they could. Team members were required to top 3 of the 5 routes to be eligible for selection, and the invited climbers had to top 2 to be considered for a place in the squad for 2012.

There were several outstanding performances across the board, with 3 climbers: Luke Tilley, Tara Hayes and William Bosi topping all 5 of their routes and quite a number of the others managing 3 or 4 of their allotted climbs.

Both Youth C and Youth B groups showed that there is real strength and depth in these categories for the team, with some very impressive climbing being done. This can only bode well for the future of the team.

Whats more, of the 7 climbers invited back to be assessed a full 6 of them managed to attain a place on the team.

On Sunday the wall hosted the Inaugural Meeting which gives the team management time to discuss training schedules, etc, with each of the team members ahead of the season’s competitions, and also to welcome the new members on board, meet their parents and to get all the relevant paperwork done.

Also, all the climbers were asked to attempt any of the routes they had struggled on the previous day, and also climb some of the harder problems set for the older categories.

Our top climber from last year, Ed Hamer, who has now moved up to the Senior Lead and Bouldering Teams, attended the weekend and on the Sunday along with Luke and Jonny Stocking carried out fitness assessments on all of the team members.

The weekend was a fabulous success with some fantastic climbing on show at a lovely venue where really hospitable staff offered great help and support to everyone involved.

Many thanks to everyone who helped to make the weekend such a success.

GB Junior Climbing Team for the 2012 season

Junior Boys
Luke Tilley
Jonny Stocking
Jonny Field
Tom Bonnert
Paul Williamson
Calum Forsyth

Youth A Boys
Jonny White
Buster Martin
Connor Byrne
Luke Dawson

Youth B Boys
William Bosi
Jim Pope
Peter Dawson
Angus Davidson
Billy Ridal
Alex Whaterhouse

Youth C Boys
Dominic Vincent
David Taylor
Jack Graham
Aiden Dunne
Rory Cargill

Junior Girls
Kitty Wallace
Charlotte Garden

Youth A Girls
Sarah Pashley
Rachel Carr
Eleanor Hopkins

Youth B Girls
Molly Thompson Smith
Tara Hayes
Flo Tilley
Gracie Martin

Youth C Girls
Hannah Slaney