Kian Gadsby
In recent years, the popularity of climbing in the UK has been on a meteoric rise.
According to data from Statista, participation levels have increased by at least 1.5x compared to 2016, meaning there are now almost 400,000 people who describe themselves as regular climbers across the country.
This rise was boosted when Toby Roberts earned the UK’s first ever Olympic Sport Climbing medal by winning Gold in the Men’s Boulder and Lead event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This thrust the sport into the national spotlight, inspiring many to give it a try.
Such a dramatic increase in the number of people who are both interested and participating in the sport has seen climbing become increasingly prominent at the University of Nottingham.
The Green and Gold are blessed with a successful climbing club, including a Women’s squad who finished 4thin the BUCS rankings last year, and they are hoping to continue to grow and thrive throughout this upcoming year.
As part of Impact’s Students’ Sporting Stories series, Kian Gadsby spoke with Beth McIntyre, who is one of this year’s Training Secretaries on the Climbing Club’s Committee, to find out more about the club and get to grips with the world of competitive climbing.
Demystifying the Wall: Beth’s Story and Explaining the Sport
To conduct this interview, I met Beth at the entrance to the David Ross Sports Village. It was a fitting venue, as the imperious 12-metre-tall climbing wall that overlooks the lobby generated a perfect backdrop for this conversation, while the lessons taking place on the wall and the thud of chalked hands against plastic holds echoed an air of excitement around the building.
Having climbed all her life, Beth was completely at home in this setting. However, she quickly expressed that she considers herself as someone who has joined the recent rise of the sport.
She started the interview by explaining that she fell in love with the sport over the past couple of years because of the opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy being in nature. This is a privilege that few sports offer, enticing Beth to follow in the footsteps of her family and seriously pursue climbing.
“I started when I was about 4, doing little bits with my family but I didn’t do much properly until 2022. That’s when I started actually choosing to climb myself. I live in North Wales, so it won’t be a surprise that I love getting outdoors with my climbing.”
When trying to grasp the competitive aspect of the sport, the first thing to understand is that there are multiple formats of both competition and climbing itself.
Whilst to someone who is unfamiliar with climbing this may seem daunting, Beth was kind enough to elaborate and explain the differences between the types.
“The beginners’ ones are Bouldering, which involves no ropes, lots of mats, and is a short distance from the ground, and Top Rope, where the rope is already there and you follow it up.”
“You then have Sport, also known as Lead, which is where you clip the rope to bolts as you go up, and Trad, which sees you put pieces of metal into the rock which you clip the rope in. I enjoy Trad the most, as you can climb anywhere!”
Although Beth described them as the ‘beginner’ climbs, suggesting any climbing is easy would be a stark underestimation. A couple of attempts on the bouldering wall, and a lot of falling, were all it took for it to become obvious how challenging, yet fun and rewarding, this sport really is.
What Should You Look Out For?
With climbing’s popularity considerably rising, the Climbing Club are desperate to capitalise.
Beth, alongside her fellow training secretaries Amy Hubbard and Sienna Edwards, will be responsible for teaching new climbers all these climbing techniques over the course of the year. Bouldering and Top Rope will be taught in Learn to Climb in the first Semester, with Learn to Lead and Learn to Trad sessions both happening at later points throughout the year.
Further, they aim to produce a climbing journal and calendar which will showcase their achievements throughout the year.
For those hoping to join the team, these initiatives will only add to the host of opportunities for new climbers to compete, learn and demonstrate their abilities.
When asked about these, Beth expressed that she believes these initiatives will significantly help to grow the team.
“We have a freshers competition in Nottingham Climbing Centre (NCC) in the first term which is open to all and is a good scouting event for the team.”
“The training sessions are really important for those of us who aren’t GB level. While we love our team, getting people into climbing as a hobby is the main aim of the club, so it’s just as important to focus on development of all members of the club.”
Beth paused and grinned, possibly reminiscing on the joy of her first year at university, before mentioning how much of an impact she felt the training provided by the club had had on her climbing experience.
“I won the most improved award last year and that is no small thanks to unofficial training from last year’s training secretaries and the learn to trad course.”
When asked about highlights for people to look out for over the year, Beth was very quick to point out how significant the Varsity rivalry against neighbours Trent is for their team.
Last year, the University of Nottingham returned to winning ways across the Varsity scores, as they achieved a 10-3 victory over their inner-city neighbours. Such success is contagious and spurs all sports teams wearing the Green and Gold shirts to glory, and Beth confirmed that this sentiment and desperation to beat their old foes also serves as a motivation for improvement within the climbing society.
“We do varsity against Trent at NCC, which last year our women dominated all podium places with Hwei Minn winning the title, Katherine Mathews, who is a GB team member, securing second place and Amy Hubbold finishing in third.
“Unfortunately, our men’s team was slightly less successful, but we’re hoping we can put that right this time!”
“Just go for it!” – A Message for All New or Novice Climbers
To wrap up the interview, I asked Beth, “What would you say to people considering joining the climbing society this year?”
A grin grew across her face and her eyes lit up as her excitement and passion for climbing radiated around the room. Her enthusiasm never wavered, as she encouraged people to come along and give climbing a chance.
“Just go for it! Come to one of our tasters or sign up for our Learn to Climb sessions and we’ll show you how to get started. Everyone’s really friendly, so there’s no way it can go wrong – even the most experienced climbers were once beginners, and they make the best free coaches in my experience!”
The best evidence of how much Beth enjoys climbing came right at the end of the interview. I had only just wrapped up the conversation, thanked Beth, and started to gather my equipment when she turned around, rope in hand, and eagerly pondered her next ascent up the wall.
Have you been inspired to give it a try? Whether you are an experienced climber or a complete beginner, the Climbing Club are eagerly ready and waiting to welcome you.
They have ‘Try It’ sessions during Freshers week when you can have a go and see for yourself what this sport is all about, and they climb at David Ross on Monday nights, Depot on Wednesday afternoon and in the NCC on Friday night for anyone looking to go along.
Check out the Climbing Club’s Instagram page, @uon_climbingclub, to find out more information! Alternatively, make sure to visit them at the Societies and Sports Fair on 22nd and 23rd September, where they will be more than willing to offer further information on their sessions and plans for the upcoming year.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 3 courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
For more content including uni news, reviews, entertainment, lifestyle, features and so much more, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like our Facebook page for more articles and information on how to get involved.
For further sports content and ways to get involved, follow @ImpactSport on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Impact Sport Facebook page!
