Centurion rock climbers selected to represent South Africa

Sport Climbing, often referred to simply as climbing, is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Photo: From left, Tiffany Bouwer, Ronan Purdy, Caitlin Bouwer, and Jordan Purdy from Rock Valley Climbing, the unique rock-climbing gym in Centurion. These four rock climbers were selected after the recent South African National Climbing Federation (SANCF) Selections Event to represent South Africa at the 2023 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Youth World Championships in Seoul, South Korea.

The sport basically consists of three disciplines, namely lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing and it is mainly practiced in nature against rocks or otherwise and more generally against an artificial and standardized climbing wall.

The Rock Valley Climbing Gym in Hennopspark, Centurion, offers climbers the opportunity to practice most of these disciplines on one site, while also focusing on personalized fitness classes.

The gym’s senior youth climbing athletes recently participated in two climbing competitions. They first competed with great success at the Gauteng Climbing provincial competition, after which they also represented the province at the South African National Climbing Federation (SANCF) Selections Event.

During the latter event, four of the club’s members were elected by SANCF to represent South Africa at the 2023 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Youth World Championships in Seoul, South Korea in August.

Tiffany Bouwer (u.15 females) was elected to represent South Africa in the Lead and Boulder disciplines, while Caitlin Bouwer (u.17 females)  will be part of the national team in the Boulder discipline.

Ronan and Jordan Purdy (u.19 males) were both also selected for the national team in the Boulder discipline.

This event in South Korea would be these four youth athletes’ first international climbing competition ever.

Both Tiffany Bouwer and Caitlin Bouwer will also be the first two female athletes from Centurion to compete in an international IFSC climbing event.

To be selected for the Protea climbing team is a huge honor and they are looking forward and training hard to be on top form for the event.

Unfortunately, national competitions in this sport are not yet financially supported by any national association, even though Sport Climbing will indeed be part of the Olympic Games in 2024. International climbing competitions are very costly and these four young athletes will work hard over the next few months to finance their participation in South Korea with innovative fundraising projects.

Visit the website of Rock Valley Climbing Gym,

in Hennopspark, Centurion at https://www.rockvalley.co.za/ for more info.