Boulders and BC Climbers Gear Up for World Championships and U.S. TV Series American Ninja Warrior

Central Saanich, BC – It is going to be a busy September for a number of Boulders Climbing Gym climbers, as they get ready to compete at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Climbing and Paraclimbing Championships in Gijon, Spain September 8-14, 2014 and at the IFSC World Youth Climbing Championships in Noumea, New Caledonia (France) on September  20-24, 2014.

Heading to Spain for the World Championships are Boulders climbers Robert Stewart-Patterson and Elan Jonas-McRae who will be competing in the speed and lead climbing disciplines respectively. Stewart-Patterson is the reigning BC Provincial Champion (Open Category) and the Canadian men’s record holder in speed climbing and recently participated in the IFSC Speed World Cup in Arco, Italy.   Jonas-McRae is also the reigning BC Provincial Champion in lead (Open and Junior Male) and a bronze medal winner at the 2014 Nationals.

Both Stewart-Patterson and Jonas-McRae will be joined in Gijon by fellow Boulders climber Libor Hroza. Hroza, from the Czech Republic, has been training at the Boulders and just competed at the IFSC Speed World Cup in Arco, Italy last weekend where he twice set a new world speed climbing record of 5.76 and then 5.73 seconds, en route to winning a gold medal in the event.  Boulders coach Kimanda Jarzebiak will be the Team Canada official for the trip.

Also participating in Gijon will be North Vancouver’s Sean McColl, who won the overall title at the World’s in 2012.  McColl is a well known figure in the international climbing community and is coming off a first place finish in the lead duel competition and a third place finish in lead at the IFSC World Cup event in Arco.  He also had a double silver finish this past summer in the World Cup in Haiyang, China (in lead and bouldering) and a silver in the lead World Cup event in Imst, Austria.

On another interesting note, McColl will also be making his U.S. television debut on September 15th as a participant for Team Europe in the NBC sports competition reality program,  “American Ninja Warrior – USA vs. the World.”  McColl and his teammates from Europe, as well as a team from Japan, will compete against a five member USA team on a challenging course in Las Vegas, Nevada that only three competitors have ever completed.  The three-hour show will air at 8PM on NBC on the 15th, with a special encore presentation airingTuesday, September 16 (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) on Esquire Network.

At the World Paraclimbing Championships, Canada will have its first ever athlete and will be represented by former Victoria resident Dr. Kate Sawford.  Sawford, whose left leg was amputated after having cancer as a child, is now a researcher in veterinary science at the University of Sydney in Australia. She lived and trained in Victoria in the mid-2000s.

Attending the World Youth Championships in New Caledonia will be Boulders climbers Elena Moss and Tristen Gosselin.  Moss was named to the Canadian National Youth Team following Nationals in Montreal in May where she placed first in the Youth B Female category.   Moss is also the reigning BC Provincial Champion in that category.