British Lead Climbing Championships

24-25 May

The climbing championships, this year held in May, are one of the biggest dates in The British Mountaineering Council’s (BMC) calendar and the country’s top climbers are expected to attend. Over the weekend of 24 and 25 May the best of British and international competitors will head for the climbing towers at George Bancroft Park to compete.

This is the second time the towers have played host to the competition with last year’s event being hailed as a great success. Last year was the first time the competition had been held outdoors and the event went so well that the BMC has decided to return this year with an even bigger turn out.

This year Blackpool Council intends to use the event to promote the sport as a form of exercise and is encouraging residents to come along to the competition as spectators –a move fully supported by the BMC. To help make the event as successful as possible the BMC has enlisted the help of last year’s female champion Lucy Creamer who is urging people to come and enjoy the sport. 

Lucy says: “The BMC is delighted to be holding the British Lead Climbing Championships on Blackpool’s awesome climbing towers. The venue means we can hold the competition as a single event rather than a series, so spectators will witness all the action and excitement in one go. Plus the more people that come along the better the atmosphere so the climbers will be on top form. 

“There will be a junior competition on the Saturday which will be great to show local children how exciting the sport can be. It’s a fantastic form of exercise and takes a great deal of discipline and determination to make it to the top. I would hope that seeing the competition will inspire people to have a go at the sport and maybe we will see some Blackpool competitors taking part in a few years.” 

To accompany the competition the  the rest of the park will be available to make the weekend into a real community event. Activities for families are planned to make both days as fun as possible.

The events starts daily from 9.00am .  Further information is available at: www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1878 and www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=2501