Fort William Primary Climbing Competition

The finals of the Fort William Primary Schools Climbing Competition were held recently at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven on 22 May.

The event was funded through the Big Lottery’s 2014 Communities Programme and was run by Active Tots in partnership with Highland Council’s Active Schools Programme and Lochaber College. 

As part of the project, 200 children from the age of 9 upwards attended taster sessions at the bouldering wall at Lochaber Leisure Centre.  These were run by student volunteers from the 2nd year of the Adventure Tourism degree course from Lochaber College, who first attended a two-day training course.

As well as a number of fun activities and climbing related games, the students selected the best boy and best girl from each Primary School in the area, and these 18 children were invited to battle it out at a grand final.

On the day of the final competition at the Ice Factor, each young person attempted 12 different climbing problems, getting points for each one that they managed to complete, with a maximum of 10 points available for each problem.

The run away winner in the boy’s event was Guy Macdonald from Upper Achintore Primary, while the girl’s event was a lot closer with just 10 points separating the top 3 places.  The title was taken by Megan Steward MacDonald, also from Upper Achintore.  The competition was followed in the afternoon by a roped climbing session, which gave the competitors a chance to get to the top of the main 30m climbing wall.

Highland Council’s Active Schools Co-ordinator Bridget Thomas, who organised the project, said: “I was really impressed by the overall standard.  Some of the youngsters moved really well across the wall and have the potential to become excellent climbers.  Huge thanks are due to all the students who did an excellent job of coaching at the taster sessions and at the competition itself, to their Lecturer, Matt Groves for his help and supervision and to the Ice Factor for setting up the competition and donating prizes.”

The final results were:

Girls:
1st  Megan Stewart MacDonald – 80 points
2nd  Courtney McPherson – 74 points
3rd  Anne-Marije Baak – 70 points

Boys
1st Guy Macdonald – 114 points
2nd Garry King – 81 points
3rd Jorden Venn-MacNeil – 77 points