Following six events in as many countries, the UIAA Ice Climbing Continental Tour concludes with a first visit to Sunderland on Saturday 10 February.
The port city, located on the mouth of the River Wear, will welcome 96 athletes from 18 countries. Action will take place at the Sunderland Wall venue with both a senior competition and youth classifications for U20, U18 and 16 climbers.
Athletes from the following national federations have currently registered:
Azerbaijan (1), Czech Republic (3), Finland (6), France (5), Germany (2), Great Britain (34), Hungary (1), Ireland (1), Japan (3), Liechtenstein (7), the Netherlands (2), Poland (9), Romania (1), Slovenia (3), Slovakia (4), Switzerland (2), Spain (6), United States (6)
Live streaming of the finals will be available from the UIAA Youtube channel (scheduled for 18:15 local time). Please subscribe for updates and alerts.
In terms of the overall Continental Tour (compromised of six events in Europe and one in North America), the weekend will only prove decisive in determining the overall male winner. Javier Cano Blazquez of Spain leads on 313 points. In pursuit and still with a chance of taking the series are Will Morris (277), Great Britain, last weekend’s gold medallist Jorge Veiga Rodriguez (261, main photo) and Switzerland’s Jonathan Brown (251). All will compete on Saturday.
Having sealed the women’s title last weekend, Marianne van der Steen of the Netherlands will not compete and is instead preparing for the season’s pinnacle event, the UIAA Ice Climbing World Championships and World Cup in Edmonton, Canada from 16-18 February. Top three places are still up for grabs in terms of the series rankings. Aiming to make the final podium are Haruko Takeuchi (photo, 277 pts), Aneta Louzecka (274), Olga Kosek (254), Eimir McSwiggan (186) and Caitlin Connor (177).
The event is organised by the British Mountaineering Council and the Scottish Dry-Tooling Club. Further details can be found here.
Live results will be available here.
Photos from the competition will be available on the UIAA Flickr channel.
Photo credits: Lauantai JanneAula/FINICE
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