What a weekend! Over two massive days Cliffhanger hosted the Victorian State Lead Titles and with the tallest walls in Australia and over 150 competitors – the largest competition we have ever hosted – the only thing that was guaranteed was pumped forearms!
Daniel Fisher (ACT) took out the Open A Male division with a solid performance on all three routes and clinched it from an in-form Campbell Harrison (fresh from his NSW State Titles win) by a single hold in the final, with James Kassay finishing in third. In the Open A Female division Oceana Mackenzie was the clear winner and we are excited to see what the year brings for her as she travels internationally to represent Australia. Lucy Stirling (QLD) and Charlotte Garden (TAS) took out second and third respectively. It was fantastic to see so many interstate athletes making the trip down to challenge the Victorians and hopefully some of our athletes can return the favour in the coming weeks! The youth competition was also a packed event with some of the most determined little athletes we’ve ever seen along with the seasoned Youth A and Junior competitors, some of whom also made their mark in the Open A category.
For full results of all categories, click here.
Para-climbing featured for the second time in a Victorian state competition, with Eddie Sparks and Russell Harrison competing. Eddie would love to have more competitors in this division so please encourage any who may be interested to get involved. In support of this initiative, Adaptive Climbing Victoria will be running meet up groups this year for anyone interested and all abilities are welcome.
Visit the Adaptive Climbing Facebook group to keep up-to-date.
Thanks must go to all the SCV and SCA officials; in particular Jury President Steph Gooden, Head Judges Gaetan Riou & Phil Goebel, and Head Setter Sam Junker, along with their dedicated teams of route-setters and volunteers.
Thanks also go to the event sponsors Cliffhanger for sponsoring the massive $1000 Open A winning cash prize – not to mention hosting the event over two days! – and Bogong Equipment for the second and third place prizes. TNUT were also a major sponsor and provided sets of delicious new holds for the finals! We also had minor sponsors providing heaps of swag that everyone was in the running for through random prize draws including: Carmans, Patagonia, Rock Hardware, Trees Adventure, Grampians Edge Caravan Park, Climbing Anchors and OMA Shopfitting who provided the wood for our brand new podium.
A final thank you to all the competitors and spectators for making it a great event with a fantastic atmosphere and some impressive climbing on display. We wish all the climbers the best of luck with what will be a fantastic year of competition in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and we look forward to following all the action.
– James Gooden, Sport Climbing Victoria Board Member
