Tracsis' young athlete Hamish McArthur is selected for the GB Senior Climbing Team!

Hamish is a 16-year-old junior athlete, specialising in climbing and sponsored by Tracsis plc. He updates us on his successful 2018 climbing season.

As a result of his performance and finishing position in an international open competition called ‘The CWIF’, Hamish was selected for the GB senior climbing team! This was a huge honour and quite unexpected, at only 16 years of age he is one of the youngest male athletes to be chosen the represent his country in the GB team.

This year, Hamish managed to win every national youth competition he entered, including the Junior Bouldering Championships (JBBC’s) to become British Champion! Along the way, he entered many other domestic competitions to help him prepare for the challenging tests that that he would need to face under pressure.

During June and July, Hamish competed internationally at the European Youth Cups in Switzerland and Germany, and made the finals in both, placing 6th and 8th respectively. He was really pleased with the way he climbed at these events as they were his first competitions at the higher Youth A age level, and having just completed his GCSE’s at school which he had to fit around his training!

In August, Hamish travelled to Moscow for the World Youth Climbing Championships. As expected, the competition was fierce with very strong teams in attendance, particularly those from Japan, the USA and France. He was satisfied to make the semi finals in lead and boulder, and was extremely close in both to making the finals. It was a great experience to be competing in Moscow and Hamish strongly believes that he can improve on his placing in the 2019 World Championships (which will be held in Arco, Italy).

Hamish was selected to climb in the European Bouldering Championships in Brussels at the end of August. However, despite a tremendous effort, the extraordinary August heat prevented him from being amongst the rewards this time – some tough lessons were learnt.

As Hamish turned 16 this year, he was given permission to climb at the British Lead Climbing Championships in Edinburgh as a senior, rather than a junior. This meant that he was climbing against the best adult competition climbers in the UK. He was very pleased to be in the top 8 who made the cut to get into the final, and then even happier with his performance and composure in the final. Hamish ended up being placed second to Will Bosi, who is our best British male climber and a real prospect to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. However, to be second in Great Britain felt good!

Climbing in Edinburgh and Slovenia in his first senior events has highlighted the marginal differences between himself, the World Champions and true greats of the sport. This has motivated Hamish to increase his training and take his performance to the next level. What mainly separates him from consistent senior World Cup finalists is competition experience; something that he can gain through simply entering competitions and learning from the very best in the sport. Hamish aims to get stronger and technically better, as well as wiser.

Hamish will be working hard with his coach over the winter to make the most of next season as he will be at the upper end of his age category in Youth A. He will be goal setting over the winter but top of the goal list will be to bring home a medal at an international competition.

Tracsis’ continued support of this talented young athlete has enabled him to travel to some amazing places and motivated him to train harder than ever. Hamish is extremely grateful for it and we hope to continue our special partnership.

Good Luck for the future Hamish!