Becca Frangos and Simon Yamamoto clinched spots on Canada’s youth world climbing championships team with a pair of scintillating performances at Youth Bouldering Nationals in Burlington, Ont.
The Canmore team’s bouldering background was evident as eight local climbers reached the semifinals, while four cracked the finals in a successful meet.
“For the most part, they did just great,” said coach Stacey Weldon, who has put the team through a series of workouts modelled after the national bouldering competition.
This is the first year Canada has held a national youth bouldering competition, which attracted 170 competitors. It will now join youth rope and speed nationals as a staple on the schedule. Bouldering has been added as a discipline at the 2015 World Youth Climbing Championships, which will be held in Arco, Italy. The top four climbers in each age group made the team. Points were awarded for reaching the top of each problem.
Competing in a “five on, five off’” Format, climbers were given five minutes to solve each problem. Points were awarded for bonus holds and completing each of the five puzzles, and each competitor couldn’t watch the others attempt the route.
Becca Frangos was dominant in the junior girls division to take first place overall. A combination of skill, power and determination, she’s been a force to reckon with all year.
“For Becca, she is so confident, she just seemed really focused all weekend,” Weldon said.
Not far behind was Sara Frangos, who finished fifth, missing the trip to the world champs by one spot. She improved her ranking in the finals, much to the delight of Weldon.
Yamamoto was third in the Youth A boys division to also earn a trip to Italy, continuing his string of strong climbing.
“The field is getting really deep and you can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Weldon said. “Simon has been climbing well all season.”
Alex Fricker finished sixth in the Youth A boys division, while Patrick Gibeau finished ninth against the junior boys to post a personal best. Other local finishers included Manon Mackasey (12th, Youth B girls), Hunter McLaughlin (12th, Youth B boys), Morgan Bateman (17th, Junior boys) and Greg Sinclair (18th, Junior boys).
Most of the team will compete on Sunday (March 1) in Banff, where they will try to earn points in the rope classification. Climbers not on the world championship team now have a shot to earn a trip through the rope and speed climbing competitions.
Weldon said generally the team performed well, but more importantly, they showed great camaraderie with their fellow climbers.
“They all had quite a bit of fun. Community is a huge part of this sport. They are there to compete, but also be there with their friends,” Weldon said.
