Edinburgh is set to host the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s (IFSC) European Championships 2019 for lead and speed after being awarded the Championships by the international governing body.
The Scottish capital was successful in securing the event, which is held biennially, following a joint bid by EventScotland, City of Edinburgh Council, the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), Mountaineering Scotland and in conjunction Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA):Ratho, Europe’s largest indoor climbing arena.
Lindsay Renwick, Head of Customer Operations (West) at Edinburgh Leisure said: “We’re delighted that Europe’s largest climbing arena is once again able to show off our world class climbing facilities at EICA:Ratho, following the success of the IFSC World Cup and Paraclimbing World Cup in September 2017.”
The European Championships will take place from 5 – 6th October 2019 and will be a chance to see some of the best climbers in Europe compete ahead of the sport’s debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
It also follows the successful delivery of the IFSC World Cup when EICA:Ratho took centre stage for the fifth World cup in Lead and Speed of 2017. The sold-out event attracted more than 1,200 spectators, athletes and coaches.
Twenty-five million people climb regularly worldwide and there has been a rapid rise in popularity of climbing worldwide, a sport that draws diverse climbers from rural and mountain as well as urban areas.
