USA Climbing has announced venue locations of three National Championship events for the upcoming 2017 competition season. Two big changes for the upcoming year will be the change in venue for Sport & Speed Open National Championships and the Adaptive National Championship.
Open Sport National Championship
Open Sport Nationals has successfully been held at Central Rock in Watertown, Massachusetts for the last two years, but will move to Movement Climbing + Fitness in Denver, CO for this season’s championship event. Movement – Boulder has hosted the event four times but this will be Movement – Denver’s first large national comp.
“I’m happy to see this event return to Colorado after a highly successful two-year stint in Watertown – and I cannot wait to see the city of Denver show up to support one of the biggest events on the 2017 climbing competition calendar,” said Kynan Waggoner, CEO of USA Climbing. “The management team at Movement is no stranger to hosting large events in partnership with USA Climbing – and I’m quite confident that they’ll do an incredible job in helping USA Climbing host the country’s best sport and speed climbers at their Denver facility in March of 2017.”
The event, which is for adults (16 and up) will be held on March 10th & 11th, 2017 and feature a $10,000 purse.
Collegiate National Championship
Returning to San Diego for the third year in a row, the Collegiate National Championship will be hosted by Mesa Rim Climbing.
“There aren’t many facilities in the country that can do such a great job of hosting our Collegiate Nationals,” said Waggoner. He went on to say, “With the use of Mesa Rim’s three facilities [in San Diego] during the event weekend, we are adequately set up to continue the elevation of the Collegiate Nationals into one of the premier climbing competitions in the United States. Last year’s successful event at the Mesa Rim facilities was a clear indication that our Collegiate program is growing by leaps and bounds.”
Collegiate Nationals is for undergraduate or graduate students that are currently enrolled at a college or university. Over the two day event, to be held on April 28 and 29, 2017, athletes compete in three disciplines, speed, sport and bouldering.
Adaptive National Championship
Typically held the weekend after youth Sport Nationals, the Adaptive National Championship will be hosted by Brooklyn Boulders at their Somerville, Massachusetts location.
“Adaptive Nationals is significant to the sport of competition climbing as everyone deserves the right to be an athlete,” said Kareemah Batts, Brooklyn Boulders Adaptive Program Manager, and one of the first adaptive participants in USA Climbing events. “I’m most of all looking forward to having my climbing family meet some of the most diverse, creative, and open-minded climbing communities in the Northeast and through this, increasing adaptive climbing access.”
Adaptive categories include:
- Neurological / Physical Disability
- Visual Impairment
- Upper Extremity Amputee
- Lower Extremity Amputee
- Seated
- Youth
Competitions for all adaptive climbing categories use a redpoint format, and are performed on top rope. The event will take place on June 23rd, 2017.
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