Page 40 - 2019 AMA Winter

SPORTCLIMBING
AMA SPORT CLIMBING IN 2019
A 3-MINUTE UPDATE...
By Paddy Snow – AMA Vice Chairman – Sport Climbing
2019 has been another successful year for Army Sport Climbing, with several new competitions, a further increase in participation, and the continued dominance of the Army Team at the Inter-Services
The planned centrepiece of the 2020 UK Armed Forces Climbing season will adopt the novel Speed-Boulder-Lead format in celebration of sport climbing’s Olympic debut in Tokyo. Final details of this event, led by the Royal Navy, will be announced in due course. The live Forecast of Events can be found on SharePoint, with a versioned copy available in the members’ area of the AMA website.
BOULDERING (JAN-MAR 19)
The year began with another well-run UK Armed Forces Bouldering League (thanks to Kenny Geoghegan, the Army Team Captain and organ- isational rock for the AFBL). As described in the last journal (Summer 19), this culminated in the Armed Forces’ inaugural IFSC-style bouldering competition (21-22 Feb 19), which was a great success. The bouldering season finished with the UK Armed Forces Team competing against the global bouldering glitterati at the Climbing Works International Festival in March 2019. As usual, we succeeded in avoiding embarrass- ment, although not in progressing to the semi-finals!
LEAD (APR-JUL 19)
The lead season started off with the last Army (South) lead competition (3
Apr 19) to be run by Andy Stewart, who has handed over the 2020 reins to Marc Hilton. As ever it was extremely well organised and Andy deserves a special thank you for all his efforts over the years. This was followed by a highly successful Army (North) competition (24 Apr 19) run in Edinburgh by Dan Lee-Mikus of 51X; this is the first such event I am aware of and one that we will look to repeat in future years.
ARMY FESTIVAL OF CLIMBING (10-17 MAY 19)
The highlight of the lead season was the Army Festival of Climbing, which, as with the 2015 event, saw almost 80 people get stuck in across the whole spectrum of rock climbing under the perfect blue skies of North Wales. Much valley rock climbing, mountain cragging, and scrambling was done. A significant number of novices caught the climbing bug. Some great ticks at E2, f7A, and at least 7 Font 7A+/V7 ticks. The main event, the Army Sport Climbing Championship, was a great success with some outrageous routes from the world-class setting team led by Andy Long. Thanks to Michelle Hordern for running the competition, and to Geordie Havenhand, Tim Read and Kenny Geoghegan for helping me with the overall event.
INTER-SERVICES
This year’s event was run by the RAF and held in the Foundry, Sheffield. Sadly for the RAF, this didn’t help them overcome the extremely strong Army Team, who walked away with all the team prizes for the 3rd year in a row (Men’s, Women’s, U25 Men’s). Another outstanding performance.
A LOOK FORWARD
By the time this journal lands on your doormat, the 2019/20 bouldering season will be in full swing, with the first 3 events in Oct 19, Nov 19, and Dec 19. Keep your eye on the live Forecast of Events (available on the AMA’s Army Sport Control Board SharePoint site and AMA website) for the latest information on events and dates. This is particularly important for the Army Lead Champs, which may be incorporated within an expanded Olympic-style Inter-Services event in Sep 20. On a personal note, I will be taking some extended leave to spend time with my family between March 2020 and summer 2021 look forward to seeing you all when I get back; I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of the Sport Climbing committee until then.
40 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER