The 2016 National Speed Climbing Championships This Weekend

The Boulders Climbing Gym in Central Saanich is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the Climbing Escalade Canada (CEC) National Youth and Open Speed Climbing Championships on Saturday April 9, 2016 at their world-class climbing facility in Central  Saanich.

The event will feature the top speed climbers from across Canada and the world, all vying to scurry up The Boulders 15-metre, internationally certified speed wall, in the shortest time possible.

At the event last year, Czech climber Libor Hroza, who trains at The Boulders,  set a new, unofficial world record by speeding up the wall in an astonishing  5.38 seconds on one of his runs, shattering the official world record time of 5.6 seconds. He hopes to do that again this year, but will face stiff competition from the likes of Canadian men’s record holder Robert Stewart-Patterson and 2015 Junior and Canadian Open champion Tristen Gosselin.

On the women’s side, 2015 Canadian Champion and Canadian Women’s record holder Alison Stewart-Patterson will be the favourite to repeat and will look to improve upon her record mark of 10.83 seconds set at The Boulders during the May 2015 Speed World Cup.  She could face tough competition from the likes of Evelyna Trottier and Christy Spurrell, who finished second and third respectively to Stewart-Patterson at a recent CEC event at The Boulders, as well as 2015 Youth B Champion Sonja Johanson, who moves up into the Youth A and Open divisions this season.

“The Speed Nationals are a yearly highlight for us,” said Kimanda Jarzebiak,  Director of Operations at The Boulders.  “It is always entertaining to watch world class athletes like Libor Hroza and his on-going quest for a new world record, but it is also very gratifying to see the younger athletes that train with him attain their own personal bests and compete for gold in their own age groups.”

Athletes competing Saturday will be looking to secure spots at the World Championships in Paris in September and the World Youth Championships in China in November.

The CEC Speed Nationals on Saturday begin with practice, qualifying and final rounds for the Youth C Girls age group from 3:15 to 4:00 pm.  Practice runs for all other age groups (Youth C Boys, Youth B, Youth A and Open) run from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, with qualifiers following immediately from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm.   Quarter finals (top 8) then begin at 6:15 pm, with finals beginning at 6:40 pm and awards to follow immediately after .

The public is welcome to attend and admission is free. For more info visit here.