The GB Paraclimbing Team entered five athletes for the IFSC European Paraclimbing Championships held in Chamonix earlier this month, following the successful debut of the team at the world championships in Paris in September 2012. Team manager Graeme Hill reports.

We had a much stronger team for 2013 as a result of the success of the BMC Paraclimbing Series held earlier this year. The event was spread over three days (10-12 July) with medicals on Wednesday, qualifiers on Thursday and finals on Friday. Climbers were split into five disability categories: Female Visual Impairment (VI); Female Physical Disability (PD); Male VI; Male PD 1; and Male PD2.

Because the IFSC paraclimbing events are relatively new a number of categories aren’t yet well represented. As a result Sianagh Gallagher (left arm amputee) moved into PD1 and unfortunately John Churcher’s category (VI B1) was shy of just one other competitor resulting in cancellation. 31 climbers competed; 18 made it through to the finals including GB’s Fran Brown and Reanne Racktoo. Mont Blanc provided a majestic backdrop for the finals, which were held outdoors in glorious weather in Chamonix’s Place du Mont Blanc.

Reanne Racktoo was first up, sight guided by GB assistant team manager Andy Coltart. Visually impaired climbers require absolute quiet and due to the magic of the event MC over 1,000 spectators became silent! Reanne climbed superbly, easily outstripping her performance at the world championships in Paris last year.  And while all this was going on her sight guide ear piece popped out. Despite this, Reanne carved out a brilliant second place.

Next GB climber out was current world champion Fran Brown. Fran has just come back from an operation on her wrist during which she also had her left hand little finger removed. After only three weeks’ training Fran still looked incredibly strong, and went on to finish second, just pipped by Belgium climber Elodie Orbean. Following the climb I had a quick chat with Fran, who said:

“I found the route a little harder than Paris because of a lot more undercuts. Even though I have just lost a finger and have only been training for three weeks I’m still pleased with my performance and will train hard over the next seven weeks ready for the next event in Arco.”

Sianagh Gallagher and Tom Perry both put on really strong performances in the qualifiers but didn’t make it through to the finals; they still sit in a very respectable position of 4th and 5th respectively in Europe.

This is the first IFSC event I have attended, and having watched the performances of all our climbers and viewed the standard that climbers from other countries perform at, I envisage some brilliant challenges emerging over the next few years. Paraclimbing is moving into very exciting times.

Overall the event was excellent. The paraclimbing competition was held in conjunction with lead and speed climbing events for able-bodied climbers, providing a fantastic atmosphere throughout.

Good event planning meant that considerable thought had been given to the requirements of the paraclimbers. Pre-placed ramps for chair users, request for quiet for VI climbers, and belaying systems to prevent ungainly swings on top ropes all made for a much more dignified competition experience.

For full results visit the IFSC website

The next international event is the IFSC Paraclimbing Cup at Arco (Italy) on 6 September, and later in the month (21-22 September), London's Westway Climbing Centre will host Paraclimbing London 2013 - keep an eye on the website for details of this event.

We are always looking for new people to take up paraclimbing. If you are interested, please get in touch with the BMC on 0161 445 6111 or office@thebmc.co.uk

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