European Bouldering Championship 2006 cancelled

The European Bouldering Championship 2006 has been cancelled due to insufficient safety measures.

PlanetMountain

July 2006

It would have been difficult to foresee a surprise as great as this one: there will be not European Bouldering Championship title awarded at Yekaterinburg.

The competition, scheduled for last Saturday, didn't even get underway as the international Jury decided that the athlete's safety could not be guaranteed as the mattresses laid on by the Russian organisation were deemed to be unsuitable. Both athletes and team managers agreed with the decision not to go ahead with the competition.

What can be said? Mattresses should be considered as important as the actual competition structure (pthe panels, holds etc) and they are therefore an integral part of the wall.

No competition can take place if the protection is deemed insufficient or inadequate, and it is logical therefore that the Jury's decision was correct. No exception can be made for safety standards.

It is logical that many are asking themselves how something like this could have happened. Answers will come forth in due time, in the meantime though let's hope that the European Bouldering title can be carried out at a later date in a different competition venue. And that, above all, this organisational nightmare serves as a lesson for the future.

For the record, an improvised Open competition was carried out instead of the European Boudlering Championship. 22 athletes took part in the event (15 men and 7 women), all from Eastern Europe, which was won by the Russians Dmitry Sharafutdinov and Yulia Abramchuk.

The European Championship now continues, after the lead title awarded to David Lama and Charlotte Durif and the cancelled Bouldering competition, with the Speed qualification and the first stage of the International Disabled Athletes Climbing Competition.