Barrans and Coxsey New British Lead Champions

 The Edinburgh International Climbing Arena saw the 2011 British Lead Climbing Championships take place last weekend, the venue is now synonymous with this competition as it has proven time and again to be perhaps the best location the UK has to offer for national and international climbing competition. The quality of the climbing space is matched with the provision of facitlities not only for those taking part but also for the competition planners to organise a competition to such high standards year on year. 

Saturday saw a large field of Juniors take to the competition and a male-only veteran competition, no female veteran climbers took part so no comp was held for female vets.

The results from Saturday are as follows:

Female Juniors
1. Lucy Mitchell
2. Jessica MCCaskey

Male Juniors
1. Ed Hamer
2. Luke Tilley
3. Jonathan Field

Female Youth A
1. Charlotte Garden
2. Sarah Pashley
3. Jennifer Wood

Male Youth A
1. Jonny White
2. Tom Bonnert
3. Andrew Colligan

Female Youth B
1. Molly Thompson-Smith
2. Rachel Carr
3. Tara Hayes

Male Youth B
1. Connor Byrne
2. Dominic Burns
3. Brendan Gallagher

Female Youth C
1. Ellisa Bryant
2. Carmel Moran
3. Hannah Slaney

Male Youth C
1. Angus Davidson
2. William Bosi
3. James Pope

Male Veterans
1. Eddie Cooper
2. Mark Richardson
3. Nick Colton

Sunday's competition saw male and female climbers take on two qualifying routes, with the finals being held in the afternoon.

This year's BLCC's saw the addition of the British Speed Climbing Championships. Competitors go head to head climbing a vertical wall with two routes side by side and identical in layout. The competition had heats to decide who were the fastest climbers, then in the finals competitors went head to head to see who could slap the timing pad at the top first. 

The juniors competition took place earlier in the day and the results are as follows:

 Female Junior Speed
1. Rachel Carr
2. Carmel Moran
3. Mairi Teasdale

Male Junior Speed
1. Alexander Bosi
2. Dominic Burns
3. Buster Martin

Dave Barrans takes on qualifying route two during Sunday's senior competition. Routes utilised the Gore-Tex wall for qualifiers before moving on to the impressive over-hanging competition wall that the EICA has become known for. Barrans took first in the male lead competition after reaching one hold more than second placed Ed Hamer, none of the male competitors managed a top out on the final route but Barrans got higher than the others with a score of 28 which sealed his 1st place.

 Ed Hamer squeezes plastic in the qualifying rounds. Ed took first in the junior male category on Saturday's competition and managed an impressive second place in the senior comp on Sunday after a previous full day of climbing.

Robbie Philips during qualifiers and who came in 8th place overall. 

 The male and female line-up for the finals were:

Shauna Coxsey, Natalie Berry,  Karen Varga, Michaela Tracy, Lucy Mitchell, Charlotte Garden, Nick Moulden, James Garden, Luke Tilley,  Jonathan Stocking, Dave Barrans and Ed Hamer.

 Topo of the men's final route, with a few changes thrown in as well.

 The male finalists inspecting the final route during the allowed viewing time.

 Lucy Mitchell and Natalie Berry viweing the final steep, overhanging route in the senior women's final. Mitchell managed a top out in the first qualifying route and finished 5th overall.

Michaela Tracy and Karen Varga discuss the line during the senior female inspection time. Tracy came in 3rd position in the final after topping out the first qualifying route, claiming 27- points in the second qualifier and 41 points in the final.

Shauna Coxsey checks out the route not yet knowing that she would be the only senior female competitor to complete the route in the finals. 

 Rob Adie - Competitions Officer for the BMC - leads the competitors back in to the isolation zone after the route inspections took place. The finalists are not allowed to see how other competitors climb the final route as it would lead to unfair advantages for the later climbers.

Karen Varga during the finals claimed a score of 41- meaning she moved passed a hold but failed to touch the next. Michaela Tracy beat her to 3rd by the slimmest of margins having managed to gain 41 points, meaining she touched one hold further than Varga. 

 Charlotte Garden unties after her final round attempt.

Natalie Berry composing herself on the steep overhanging competition wall during the final. 

Gaining a score of 42 in the final, Berry was only the thinnest of margins away from completing the route.  

Shauna Coxsey breezes through the final route to be the only female to top out. Coxsey topped all three routes in the competition sealing her 1st place victory for the competition.

Shauna Coxsey unties after her succesful final round.

 After the senior finals, the British Speed Climbing Championships took place. Whether this is the first British Speed Climbing Championships or not is open to debate as the first speed comp was held in 1999 at The Foundry where the first "British Speed Climbing Champion" titles were won by Gaz Parry and Siobhan Coughlan.

The senior speed climbing results are as follows:

 Female Senior Speed
1. Natalie Berry
2. Shauna Coxsey
3. Michaela Tracy

Male Senior Speed
1. Jonathan Stocking
2. Callum Forsythe
3. Dave Barrans

 Full results from this year's British Lead and Speed Climbing Championships can be found on The BMC's website.

All Images - Dave MacFarlane 

Details of the GB Climbing teams can be found here>>> 

Lukasz Warzecha was shooting exclusively for The BMC at this year's BLCC's and his gallery of images can be found on the Psyched Facebook page. 

The British Bouldering Championships will be held at the Cliffhanger Festival in Sheffield during July 2012.