Big Wall Speed Climbing, new record by Levatić brothers in Paklenica

Big Wall Speed Climbing? El Capitan, Yosemite, right? Yes, but not only. Also in Paklenica, the superbly beautiful National Park in Croatia famous among climbers for its compact Verdon-like limestone. Ever since the early 60's this canyon has attracted climbers and at the start of the new millennium its smooth walls started to host a sports climbing competition that captured the imagination of local and international climbers, attracting the likes of Stefan Glowacz, Leo Houlding, Tomas Mrazek, Dani Andrada, Marko Lukič, Andrej Grmovšek, Silvo Karo...

The list is long but the rules of the annual competition are simple: climb the aptly named Big Wall Speed Climbing route as fast as possible, as a two-man team and, for safety reasons, clip all the anchors and never simul-climb. The 160m outing offers everything from technical crimps to powerful jugs and unsurprisingly times up these 5 pitches (the 6th is avoided for technical reasons) have dropped rapidly over the last decade.

This year's event was won on Saturday by the Levatić brothers, Jurica and Perica who, after winning in 2012 and 2013 pulverised their previous time of 20:49 and have now stopped the clock at a staggering 15:16. The Levatić brothers beat Igor Čorko and Emil Mucko by a mere 39 seconds, while third placed Ivan Pevec and Siniša Škalec concluded their run in 22:07. The women's event was won by the unbeatable Sunčica Hrašćanec and Inga Patarčić in 16:02 up the 110m 6a+ Karamara Sweet Temptations.

BIG WALL SPEED CLIMBING HALL OF FAME
2014
Jurica Levatić – Perica Levatić (CRO) 15:16
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Inga Patarčić (CRO) 16:02

2013
Jurica Levatić – Perica Levatić (CRO) 27:02
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Inga Patarčić (CRO) 15:07
Men: Big Wall Speed Climbing (6c+, 160m), Women: Karamara Sweet Temptations (6a+, 110m)

2012
Jurica Levatić – Perica Levatić (CRO) 20:49
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Inga Patarčić (CRO) 18:08
Men: BWSC, Women: BWSC – variation (6b, 100m)

2011
Marko Marasović – Emil Mucko (CRO) 23:36
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Inga Patarčić (CRO) 14:43
Men: BWSC, Women: Karamara Sweet Temptations

2010
Klemen Bečan – Jure Bečan (SLO) 26:06
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Inga Patarčić (CRO) 14:53
Men: BWSC, Women: Karamara Sweet Temptations

2009
Igor Čorko – Ljubomir Sakač (CRO) 21:23
Maja Apat – Nastja Davidova (SLO) 19:56
Men: BWSC, Women: Karamara Sweet Temptations

2008
Igor Čorko – Ljubomir Sakač (CRO) 25:05
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Biljana Težak (CRO) 16:04
Men: BWSC, Women: Karamara Sweet Temptation

2007
Igor Čorko – Ljubomir Sakač (CRO) 28:36
Sunčica Hraščanec – Biljana Težak (CRO) 18:36
Men: BWSC, Women: Karamara Sweet Temptations

2006
Igor Čorko – Emil Mucko (CRO) 15:32
Sunčica Hraščanec - Maja Roboz (CRO) 21:08
Men & Women Karamara Sweet Temptations

2005
Andrej Grmovšek – Marko Lukič (SLO) 22:58
Sunčica Hrašćanec – Maja Roboz (CRO) 7:15
Men: BWSC, Women: Hugga wugga (6a, 60m)

2004
Marko Lukič – Andrej Grmovšek (SLO) 23:17
Sunčica Hrašćanec – M. Roboz CRO 08:58
Men: BWSC, Women: Hugga wugga

2003
Erik Švab – Marko Lukič (ITA/SLO) 25:24
Sunčica Hraščanec – Maja Roboz (CRO) 10:12
Men: BWSC, Women: Hugga wugga

2002
Silvo Karo – Marko Lukič (SLO) 25:30
Sunčica Hraščanec – Irena Vrsalović (CRO) 14:21
Men: Diagonalka / Senza Pieta (6a+, 200m), Women: Hugga wugga

2001
Silvo Karo – Marko Lukič (SLO) 29:41
Men: Diagonalka / Senza Pieta

2000
Silvo Karo – Marko Lukič (SLO)
Men: Diagonalka / Senza Pieta