Each year the Leeds Wall hosts the Inter-School Climbing Competition for schools from the Yorkshire region.  The Leeds Wall has supported young climbers by running this annual event for the last 9 years.  The competition helps to promote climbing and has seen many of its climbers go on to compete at national level.  For schools that support young sports people the competition is an excellent long term goal for them to aim towards as they progress beyond weekly climbing sessions.  It is also a chance to reward young people for the progress they have made in their climbing over the past year.  It is a great way to meet other young climbers and take part in a fun competition.

The 2011 competition was a great success with 80 competitors turning out to take part.  There were excellent individual performances with pupils from several schools winning medals.  The 2011 Champions were Queen Elizabeth Grammar School from Wakefield  who proved to be a strong team.  They were closely followed by York High School and Notre Dame

The day starts with registration at 9am followed by team briefings.  There is a group warm up to get everyone into the spirit of the day and then the competitions starts at 10am.  Competitors have several hours to work their way around the routes and boulder problems.   Everyone can do as many climbs as they would like to try.  The best 4 scores from each competitor are then taken forward.  Climbers compete in age categories as well as the team event.  The cafe is open all day providing much needed refreshments for the competitors.  The competition comes to a close at 2pm when the scores are counted.  The fun doesn’t stop there though, there is then a speed climbing competition where a member of each team is chosen to take part.  Each School received a goody bag so everyone has a chance of taking a price away.  To complete the day the results of the categories and team event are announced with winners photographs on the podium.  The winning team are awarded the Inter-School Climbing Competition shield and all podium winners receive medals.  Everyone receives a certificate for participating. 

Please note that the competition is top rope only, competitors need to have experience of belaying but it is not necessary to be able to lead climb.  The competition is open to all abilities with ages up to 17 years old.

If you or your school would like to get involved you can contact Daryl on daryl@theleedswall.co.uk or 0113 2341554.