BMC to hold first ever British Speed Climbing Championships

The first ever British Speed Climbing Champions will be crowned on Sunday 16th October 2011 at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA), Ratho. The event promises to be an exciting spectacle with climbers going head-to-head to race to the top of two parallel routes of identical length, profile, design and difficulty.

The inaugural British Speed Climbing Championships (BSCC's) will be held in conjunction with Britain's premier lead climbing competition which takes place at EICA over the weekend of 15-16th October 2011.
The British Lead Climbing Championships (BLCC's) junior and vets categories will take place on Saturday, with the seniors on the Sunday. Come and watch Britain's best climbers battle it out hanging upside down on the steepest climbing wall in Britain, all vying for the chance to become British Lead Climbing Champion.
The BSCC's will run on Sunday 16th October, where the fastest climbers will be on the speed wall fighting to become Britain's first Speed Climbing Champion. Juniors will compete in the morning (at the same time as the Senior BLCC's) and seniors in the afternoon once the senior BLCC finals have concluded.
Rob Adie, BMC Competitions Officer, said: "The BMC ran the first official international speed climbing competition at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena in September 2010 as part of the IFSC World Youth Championships. As we host the BLCC's at EICA every year, it made sense to introduce the BSCC's as well. Speed climbing has been hugely popular on the international circuit for a while now, and it will be great to see speed climbing on a national level. I can't wait to see who wins."
Online entry is now available at www.thebmc.co.uk/competitions. Competitors can enter either event or both as desired.
The BLCC's and BSCC's routes will be set with Entre-Prises climbing holds. Entre-Prises are the official supplier of bolt-on holds to the BMC.

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/competitions

Addendum - Since this news piece was originally published the BMC have released a correction to the original statement, they say in fact 'there was a British senior speed comp in 1999 held at The Foundry where the first "British Speed Climbing Champion" titles were won by Gaz Parry and Siobhan Coughlan.' 

And that the 'event will still include the first junior BSCC and it will be on the speed wall at the EICA with a set route and internationally recognised rules.'