News
6th December 2006
Results from the British Team Trials (lead) held in Leeds over the weekend. A cracking result for Ashleigh as she finished in 5th place, even better considering it was her first time competing in the seniors category. Beth was no slouch either taking 2nd place in the juniors. Beth topped out in both of the qualifying rounds and narrowly missed out on a hatrick in the final. Full Results
1st December 2006
News from the European Youth cup from Kranj, Slovenia. Beth placed 13th and Ashleigh in her first european competition finished 23rd. Encouraging results as both Academy climbers get ready for the British Climbing Team Trials later this month.
23rd November 2006
The European Youth cup moves on to Kranj, Slovenia this coming weekend. It also means that Ashleigh can get to sample the delights of European competition for the first time, she'll be competing against some fine climbers, we reckon she's up to it. Beth will be there of course to show her the ropes and hopefully follow on from some fine form this summer. Good luck to them both, we'll let you know how they do as soon as the results come through.
17th October 2006
After her competition in Bulgaria the weekend before, finishing an impressive 6th, you'd have thought Beth would take a rest. No chance, she headed down for the Capital Climbing Festival over the weekend.
Hosted at 3 London walls, the competition consisted of 3 rounds. Round 1 was a boulder comp at Mile End, Round 2 was Lead climbing at the Westway and Round 3 at the Castle was another boulder comp. Not content with winning just one of these, Beth managed a clean sweep of all three, claiming top spot of the Masters Women category and a juicy prize for her efforts.
9th October 2006
Despite moving up an age group this year, Beth finished an impressive 6th at this weekends recent round of the European Youth Cup in Bulgaria. She flew out to the competition straight from spending a gruelling week working for us, so big congratulations to her. She's soon back so we'll dig around for some comments on how she felt it went, so keep an eye on the academy site..
5th October 2006
The Alpkit team wish Beth all the best for the European Youth Cup in Velika Tarnovo, Bulgaria this weekend. Beth has been working with us at Alpkit HQ during this week so we are sure she will relish the opportunity to get back to some climbing.
29th March 2006
We are pleased to report that both Ashleigh (+ gran) and Polly (+ mum) will be joining the team at MelloBlocco. Not long to go now.
27th February 2006
Yipee, the Chunk has just booked our flights for MelloBlocco, Beth Monks (and Alan) will be joining us. Chunk hasn't been able to register himself yet, seems the melloblocco website doesn't like Macs so he will be carrying the pads and lemonade around for us.
10th February 2006
NBL finals day! The fifth and final leg of the 05/06 Nottingham Boulder League takes place tonight at the Nottingham Climbing Centre. We will be giving a way a selection of Phuds, Filo's and Woomfs together with a few T's. We have also got the go ahead from Derek to power up our new sound system during the evening session.
28th November 2005
More Beth news, this time from Kranj in Slovenia where Beth has closed the season in style taking 6th place, her highest finish yet!.
8th November 2005
BICCS Round 1. The opening round of the winter series took place at the Ratho climbing centre in Edinburgh. All three Alpkit team members took part and posted very good early season results. Beth placed 2nd with Ashleigh hot on her heels in 3rd. Polly finished in 11th and will no doubt be pushing hard to move up the rankings as the series develops.
9th October 2005
News from Geneva where Beth achieved her target of reaching the final of an international comp, finishing 11th overall at European Youth Cup.
8th September 2005
Congratulations Beth for finishing in 17th place in China. Full report.
7th September 2005
This years NBL boulder league will consist of 5 legs. The league which is hosted by the Nottingham Climbing Centre is also home to our 3 Alpkit Academy athletes. As part of the sponsorship Alpkit will be hosting a mini site detailing climber scores, photos and reports. Alpkit will bring a selection of our equipment along to each comp for climbers to view and buy. Dates: 14 October, 11 November, 9 December, 13 January, 10 February.
26th Aug 2005
Beth is part of the British team competing in the UIAA Climbing World Youth Championships in Beijing, China this weekend. Come on Beth!
- Update, Beth moves up to 12th place and qualifies for the semis
- Update, Beth qualifies in 16th place
20th July 2005
Top Alpkit climber Ashleigh Naysmith continued her impressive run through the heats to win at the BRYCS final at the Westway climbing centre in London. The rest of the Nottingham Climbing Team also performed well with Declan Stock and Paul Latham topping the boys 13-15 age group. Unfortunately despite qualifying Polly was unable to attend the finals.
27th June 2005
The national final of the BRYCS climbing competition will take place at the Westway climbing centre (London) on the 16th of July. Both Ashleigh and Polly have qualified.
21st May 2005
Congratulations to Beth for her 14th place at the European Youth Cup at IMST (AUT). Beths report
30th April 2005
Round three of the Peaks BRYCS moved to the Edge climbing centre. The weather wasn't so good so we saw a higher than usual number of competitors and the venue was buzzing with activity. Ashleigh once again topped out with apparent ease on all the leads placed before her. Polly also made good work of the leading, topping out on all but one route on the steeper wall. Through in the bouldering room the level had been raised a notch from the previous week. One problem that evaded all attempts required a reach out left to a nasty sloping hold that needed matching before pulling through to the next. Polly by her own admission was tired but still put in a great performance to finish in second behind Ashleigh. Amongst the other results, Paul Latham came through from a second place last week to take the win in the boys 13-15 group. Declan Stock finished a close second but took first place overall through the three rounds. Dominating all the regional rounds Ashleigh and Polly finished first and second respectively. Unfortunately Polly will not be able to make the finals, but all bodes well for Ashleigh and an exciting final on July 16th at The Westway in London.
23rd April 2005
The second round of the Brycs (Peaks region) moved north to Sheffield and the Foundry Climbing centre. After last weeks strong performances by both Ashleigh and Polly they were looking to maintain their good form. They didn't disappoint, cruising both the boulder and leading rounds without problems. Completing all problems on sight, only the final lead route could separate them.
Polly started strongly, making quick progress up to 3/4 height. A slight moments hesitation resulted in an error and a fall. Coming down she seemed slightly disappointed, certainly feeling she could have made the top.
Ashleigh followed and in similar style cruised through the route without any major problems, going one step further and topping out. So once again the two girls topped their group and looked invincible.
With such a close result it looks set to be another great competition as the series moves on to the Edge next week.
In all it was a good showing from the Nottingham team, with third place in the girls (13-15) for Laura Shipman. In the boys (13-25) Declan Stock took top spot from Paul Latham, only separated on the final lead by the smallest of margins. Close on their heels was Scott Rischer in third. Amongst the younger age groups Ed Mowbray showed his great talent, cruising through to take top spot in the boys (10-12's).
Afterwards, the beautiful day wasn't wasted, with a convoy heading out to Burbage North to enjoy a pleasant evening out on the grit.
16th April 2005
The first round of the Brycs took place at the Nottingham Climbing Centre today. Home stomping ground for Polly and Ashleigh both were hoping to do well. British team members were not allowed to enter this comp, so Beth had to sit this one out on the side lines. Successfully completing all the problems and routes before lunch the girls were tied for first place as they tucked into the samosa's provided. With two boulder problems and one lead to complete in the afternoon it was going to be close to see who would come out ahead. The first boulder problem saw a clean first attempt by both girls, however the next problem defeated them both on the first attempt. This had already been the problem that separated some of the boys earlier in the day. Ashleigh gritted her teeth and with arms out stretched she managed to rock over and make the critical hold. A deft leap for the top and she was clean. Try as she might Polly couldn't match Ashleigh's balance on the rock over, frustrated she tried a jump to the next hold but just couldn't hold it. The final lead saw another strong performance from Ashleigh to ensure she had won this round. Polly put the last problem behind her with a perfect ascent and showed Ashleigh she'll be hot on her heals as the comp moves up to Sheffield for the next round.
