Thompson-Smith and Pope retain British Lead competition crowns

• Monday 26th September 2016

Thompson-Smith and Pope retain BLCC crowns

Sept 26; 2016

The British Lead Climbing Championships and British Speed Climbing Championships took place during the weekend of 24 and 25 September 2016 at Awesome Walls Sheffield.

Both of last years senior champions, Molly Thompson-Smith and Jim Pope both successfully defended their respective titles.

CLIMBER asked Jim Pope what it was like to retain the title and he had this to say, “Last year was a nice surprise, it was the first time I’d won it so it was special to me. But I think that winning it for the second time and holding the title feels a lot more worthwhile. I’m proud of this one. The standard of the competition this year was, I think, harder overall. Dave Barrans was missing this year because he was at the Adidas Rockstars (a competition in Germany) and he’s normally a competitor who will make the finals. But this year we had a lot of new faces, a lot of younger climbers who do more bouldering and have started to take part in the lead competition. It’s good to see more faces doing the comps, especially throughout all the categories really. There was a really big turn out.”

This event also hosted the final round of the IFSC Paraclimbing Cup, where paraclimbers from all across the world competed along side the climbers in the BLCC & BSCC. It provided rich pickings for the GB climbers with Isabella Walsh, Hannah Baldwin and Mathew Phillips all winning their categories. For more details and complete results of the IFSC Paraclimbing Cup go to www.ifsc-climbing.org

Jim Pope on his way to retaing the BLCC title. Photo: David Simmonite

Molly Thompson-Smith hanging out in the final of the BLCC. Photo: David Simmonite

The results of the BLCC are below:

Male Seniors

1: Pope, Jim, 2: Bosi, William, 3: Stocking, Jonathan

Female Seniors

1: Molly Thompson-Smith, 2: Lucy Mitchell, 3: Jennifer Wood

Male Veteran

1: Eddie Cooper, 2: Nigel Leeming, 3: Simon Tilley

Female Veteran

1: Vicky Askew, 2: PhyllisRyan

Male A

1: Kieran Forrest, 2: Aiden Dunne, 3: Stan Harris

Male B

1: Hamish McArthur, 2: James Bateman, 3: Finley Wood

Male C

1: Daniel Smith, 2: Josh Ibbertson, 3: Joseph Xiberras

Female A

1: Hannah Slaney, 2: Rebecca Kinghorn, 3: Jo Neame

Female B

1: Emily Phillips, 2: Kitty Morrison, 3: Pippa Watkin

Female C

1: Robin Casey, 2: Katherine MacDougall, 3: Emma Futcher

Kieran Forrest, winner of the Male A category. Photo: David Simmonite

Jennifer Wood finished 3rd in the Senior Female category. Photo: David Simmonite

Wiliam Bosi came close in the Senior Male category but had to settle for 2nd place. Photo: David Simmonite