BUDDING young Olympic climbers from 28 different schools throughout the UK took part in Bredon School’s national climbing competition.

Organised by Bredon School, this national competition was run in partnership with the Independent Schools Association and Redpoint Climbing Centre. The inaugural event took place last year with 63 pupils and has more than doubled in size this year to 136 pupil participants from 28 different schools,signifying the fast growing popularity of the sport.

Pupils aged from 15 to 18 years old took part in a range of different climbing challenges including bouldering, top rope and lead climbing.

Headmaster of Bredon School, Mr Nick Oldham, commented: “It is so rewarding to see such

excitement surrounding this event; at Bredon School, climbing is one of the many nontraditional sports we offer and I cannot wait to see how this event develops for next year.”

The excitement around climbing as a sport has been growing steadily in recent years with the announcement that it will be included for the first time in history as an Olympic sport in the Tokyo Games in 2020.

Director of Sports at Bredon School, Miss Sarah Lea, added: “We have been completely

overwhelmed with the vast number of schools from all over the UK wanting to be a part of this

event. It was exciting to have a number of GB team climbers in attendance, and we are already

discussing plans on how we can accommodate even more participants next year.”