Westway Climbing Newsletter – Issue 2

Thanks for tuning in to our second newsletter of 2021, covering the 4^th quarter of the year. It’s been great to so many returning faces after the upliftment of the majority of social distancing practices and seeing the indoor climbing industry bloom again.

Content:

• Competitive Scene
• Wild Climbers
• Retail Expansion
• Corporates and Functions
• Social Climbing in London
• Thoughts from the Head of Climbing

Competitive Scene

We had the fortune of hosting the 2021 BLCC event this year which also included the Para Climbing Championships. The event was a great success, with a tremendous amount of work having been put in behind the scenes by the event organisers: Team BMC and their competitions lead, Zoe Spriggins; Setting Leads Yann Genoux and Gavin Symonds; as well as our in house team of setters.

We began the Monday the week of the event with an overnight Mega-Strip of tower 2 so that the BMC setting team could get in early on Tuesday to begin the mammoth task of setting for the competition. While some of the Para Climbing routes needed to be modified / removed, the majority of the competition lines will remain up until the end of the year, and somewhat into January. Grades vary between 5+ and 8B, with the majority of the comp wall routes being 8a and above. We appreciate your patience through all the disruptions, and should you have attended, we hope you enjoyed watching some fantastic climbing!

The event was great fun, and Junior and Senior Finals can be caught up on from the BMC YouTube channel, where it was live streamed with commentary.

A big congratulations to the podium placers:

Scoreboard available from Team BMC Website

Our Junior Squad further participated in the Junior British Bouldering Championships a few weeks later on 4^th and 5^th December with the following placements:

Female Junior – Emma Futcher 1st place (New Junior British Bouldering Champion)

Female Youth A – Maya Patel 3rd place

Female Youth A – Willow Petrobelli 8th place

Female Youth B – Sienna Fejfer 5th place                                                      

Female Youth C – Kaitlynn Fletcher 7th place

Male Youth B – Yukio Makita 2nd place

Male Youth C – Kai Ward 9th place

Pictures of the Event were taken by Christian Faggianato on the Sunday during the Adult Event. To view these pictures please head to www.chrisfaggionato.com – all image rights are held by Chris Faggionato.

Wild Climbers and NICAS

Our Tiny Tots / Pre-NICAS classes have gone through a big change as of December 4^th, where the program will now be run as a part of the NICAS curriculum, but focused on important skills and activities relevant to our littlest climbers. This prepares our age 5-6 classes to move into the NICAS classes in a more streamlined transition, while keeping the quality of the lessons in mind. Skills and activities are broken down into 6 different categories, each represented by an animal, and as the Wild Climber progresses the closer they get to achieve the animal stickers for their class diary that they can then show off to mom and dad!

NICAS, which is our nationally accredited junior climbing programme, is running strong. Since our co-ordinator for the programme, Brandon, joined our team the response time has improved for certificates along with better organization of new joiners and trials. Our upkeep on attendance lists, level transitions and other behind-the-scenes operations has also been streamlined since Brandon has joined us, resulting in better communication and course progression.

Retail Expansion

We recently begun an overhaul in our retail offerings with the aim of better equipping you to get involved in the sport we all love so much. Our philosophy is that the biggest and best climbing gym in London should have an appropriately stocked and knowledgeable retail space. In the last year we have partnered with multiple new brands and suppliers to make as much indoor climbing equipment available as possible. New partners include Edelrid, Boreal, 3^rd Rock Clothing, Unparallel, Ocun, and Gekco Chalk. We hope to soon boast about having the one of the largest varieties of shoes available at a gym-located shop in the city so that informed buying decisions can be made when selecting your next pair of shoes. Our staff are always happy to talk to you about our products and we encourage you to ask questions.

Look out for upcoming New Year deals and promotions on selected stock.

Corporates and Functions

As the space has been allowed to open up to greater ranges of facilitation we’ve been able to make corporate events and functions available again. Climbing is an excellent team building activity, and helps develop a sense of personal boundary development – see below for details on corporate sessions.

“Please can you pass my thanks on to your team of instructors who worked with us last Wednesday.  We had a great afternoon; the instructors were fantastic, supporting new and nervous climbers as well as teaching us so much.

Thanks again, Caroline (Specialist Nursing Service Manager)”

The facility is also open for hire should you be interested in competitive events, operational space, or as a location for filming.

Social Climbing In London

Our Club Night has been seeing decent foot traffic and with the new WhatsApp group (QR code available at the climbing desk) climbers are able to add themselves to the chat to build relationships and communicate to anyone who has been in the session. We hope these sessions provide a way for climbers to make new belay partners and improve the overall community of the gym. Club Night is included with your membership, or costs the standard entry fee. We will be adding more social sessions for the new-year as well so keep an eye out for those.

Thoughts from the Head of Climbing

It’s been a stressful but productive few months. I’m very proud of my team in what they have achieved this quarter, especially with the pressures that come with facilitating a competition whilst maintaining a high operational and casual access standard. Stepping up to the plate and engaging with two all-nighters to get the work done.

Our NICAS program is expanding to cover our pre-NICAS classes in the form of the Wild Climbers program, and as a provider of NICAS up to level 5 it’s great that we have been able to on-board this new aspect of the award scheme.

We’ve seen an increased usage of our facility for events, corporate bookings, and facility hire for activities such as filming, news stories, and community outreach including our inclusivity programmes like MetroBlind Sports. Watch this space for all the exciting plans we have in stall for next year!

Image Credit: Westway Sports and Fitness – Pictured: Mike Instone (Top); Manuel Rodriguez (Left); Mark Nicholson (Center); Johnathan Moyes (Right)