RICHMOND SCHOOL YEAR 11 STUDENT QUALIFIES FOR YOUTH CLIMBING SERIES NATIONAL FINAL
We recently heard that Sophie Tarran, Year 11 student at Richmond School, had achieved 3rd place in the four-round North East and Lakes division of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) Youth Climbing Series. This meant that she qualified for the National Final, held in Leeds recently, competing with the best climbers in the country.
We caught up with Sophie to find out a bit more about her climbing, firstly before the Leeds final, then afterwards.
Before the final:
RS: Congratulations on reaching the final of the Youth Climbing Series. I hear you’ve only recently started competing – less than a year ago – that’s amazing progress in such a short time! Let’s go back a bit – how did you get into climbing to start with?
ST: It was dad first. He started taking me climbing at bouldering centres in Newton Aycliffe and Durham when I was about eight. I then started doing a bit with the Scouts – dad was the Scout leader. I always went to Scouts with my elder sister – she’s in Year 13. I then started climbing with Duke of Edinburgh at school in Year 10. At this time I started taking it a bit more seriously, dragging dad to the wall whenever I could. I really got into it – I was quite dedicated – I still am!
RS: You have to be to get to the level you’ve achieved! Before you tell us about the competition, just tell us a bit more about dad – your family are obviously very supportive, but it sounds like dad is the climber – apart from you, of course!
ST: He used to be in the Navy and he’s a Mountain Leader. He got into coaching after he left the Navy, then started a company called Morocco Guides. The company ran trekking tours into the mountains of Morocco but also Slovenia, Spain and other places. Covid put an end to the business though, unfortunately. Just before that I managed to go trekking in Switzerland with them, but not really climbing.
RS: Dad’s background is obviously outdoors – I see from some of the photos that you’ve also done some ‘trad’ climbing outdoors – how did that go?
ST: We went to Cornwall earlier this year and climbed at a place called Bosigran. It was me and dad and a friend of his – Dave Pearce. He’s climbed Everest and done some amazing things! The photos are of us on Commando Ridge – a famous route there. It was my first time climbing outside. The climbing wasn’t that hard, but getting used to the equipment and the outside environment was quite challenging – it was quite cold! Really good fun though.
RS: It certainly looks like it! Ok – back to climbing indoors – when did you realise you were quite good at it and how did you start competing?
ST: We’d started to get to know the people at ROF59 – the climbing centre at Newton Aycliffe – they talked to me and said that I should do something with my climbing. They suggested I enter a competition called Rock Solid that took place in the summer at a wall in Gateshead. After that I signed up to the BMC Youth Climbing Series.
RS: Tell us a bit about the series.
ST: There were four rounds – Gateshead, Kendal, Durham and Sunderland. I was a bit nervous going into the first one, but that feeling disappeared straight away. The atmosphere is really nice – everyone’s really supportive and helpful. All the competitors discuss the boulder problems and the routes and share ideas and strategies. It’s not like a running competition where all the athletes just concentrate on themselves.
Each round is over two days. The bouldering phase is on the Saturday where you have to do eight boulder problems, with five attempts at each. You’ve got two hours. Each problem has a starting position – usually quite awkward – then there are scoring zones depending on how high you get – 5, 10 and 25 points if you get to the top. The scoring also takes into account which attempt you’re on – it’s quite complicated!
On the Sunday it’s the lead climbing phase where you have to do four routes. You’ve got one attempt at each and only four minutes per attempt. These are much higher than the boulder problems so you have a rope and a belayer and you have to clip the rope into carabiners as you climb so you don’t fall too far. There are scoring zones – 10, 25, 30 and 50 points if you get to the top.
RS: And after four regional rounds with that format, you came 3rd in the North East and Lakes region, qualifying you for the National Final in two weekends time. What have you been doing in preparation for that? Are you ‘in training’?
ST: Yes, sort of. I go climbing about twice a week. I go to Ibex Bouldering in Darlington, usually with my friend Isla Simpson. I also do some strength work at home – I’ve got a pull up bar and a fingerboard to work on my finger strength. I’m quite motivated and try to push myself to improve, but I also get some coaching advice from my dad.
RS: It sounds as though you’re pretty focused on the Leeds competition – I hope it goes well!
Just one final question – you’re obviously very self-motivated, but are there any climbers you look up to – role models, maybe? Toby Roberts, for example – Olympic Gold against the best in the world! Or Hazel Findlay?
ST: That was pretty amazing to watch, definitely. And Hazel Findlay is certainly someone to look up to. Alex Honnold as well. He’s a bit mad, but cool, too. His film ‘Free Solo’ where he climbed El Capitan without ropes was just brilliant. Quite a few people I’ve talked to say I shouldn’t be inspired by someone doing something so crazy and dangerous, but he’s definitely an amazing character.
RS: Thanks for giving us such an insight into your climbing and your recent success in the National Series. I look forward to catching up with you afterward to find out how it went!
Three weeks later – after the final:
RS: How did it go! What was it like? It was snowy on Saturday morning!
ST: Getting there was quite stressful, but we made it in the end. We decided to stay in Leeds overnight rather than travelling back, though.
The event was amazing. It was really busy with loads of people there – all the competitiors and judges. Each competitor was only allowed to bring one supporter, but the place was packed. The standard of the climbs was really high as well – Olympic standard. The standard of the climbers was higher too – there were people there who will be aiming for the next Olympics – the best climbers in the country.
RS: And was the atmosphere different – more competitive and less friendly?
ST: No, not at all. Everyone was still really supportive. There were a few tricks near the end of the competition where some climbers spent a bit too long brushing holds, stopping others from having as long as they wanted on some of the problems, but otherwise it was really friendly.
There were a lot more people there than at the regional rounds – 24 climbers in each category rather than about seven. It meant you had to be a bit more aware of time and get your scorecard in a bit quicker. I didn’t get to the top of any of the boulders – hardly anyone did – but I did manage to get into the scoring zones. The starting positions were really awkward – on one problem you had to start by lying down on a big sloping feature. The problem in the photo with the big blue holds was hard, too – I managed to score 5 points, though.
It was about the experience more than anything else – it was my first time at this level – I made sure I enjoyed it! There were some climbers who were taking it really seriously and didn’t seem to be enjoying it so much. Some of the parents were taking it a bit too seriously as well, I thought!
We talked to a lot of people there and most of them were part of a climbing club and were training seriously and working with coaches. Many of them had been climbing and competing for years, too. I’m just starting! We have arranged some coaching now, though – someone I already know from ROF59 at Newton Aycliffe – Donna. She’s really experienced – she does a lot of outdoor climbing and runs courses at the wall, as well as knowing a lot of the route-setters. I’m also going to enter the Rock Solid series this year, which runs from the spring into early summer – then the BMC Series again.
RS: You obviously came back from the competition with big plans to get even better! It’ll be really interesting to see how being coached affects your climbing.
Ok – what about the lead competition on Sunday – was it an early start?
ST: Yes – we were at the venue at 7:30am. The four lead routes were the pink, black, blue and purple routes in the photo. Hardly anyone got to the top of them – they were really hard. Nobody got to the top of the black route and only one climber topped the blue. I got three or four clips up on all of them – I did OK!
RS: You definitely did! Looking back, what are the main things you learned from the experience?
ST: It was a real achievement to get there in the first place, but I do want to get better. I need to push myself and work on my weaknesses and I need to get as much experience as a I can – the coaching should really help here. Mainly, though, I need to keep enjoying it!
RS: Thank you for taking the time to answer all these questions, Sophie – it certainly sounds as though you’ve got a really bright future in climbing. Make sure you keep us up to date with future developments!