Record numbers to attend Rock Junior 2013

This popularity is demonstrated clearly by the record number of youngsters who have registered for the 2013 event, scheduled to take part this weekend. Almost 250 young climbers from 22 countries will compete on the famous Arco Climbing Stadium walls. And in addition to most European nations it's worth noting that there are also climber from afar as USA and Australia

Registration closed on August 20 and this record number of entries has forced a change in plans and a reduction of the number of competitions so as to enable everyone to participate. The competitions will take place over two days: Bouldering and Speed on Saturday, while Lead takes place on Sunday.

The world's future champions will compete at the famous Climbing Stadium, the same wall which as of next Thursday will host the strongest climbers in the world in their battle to wint the 27th Rock Master.

The games begin this Saturday with the Boulder competition at 10.00 and will then continue with the Speed event, until 20.00. On Sunday the games begin early, at 8:00, with the Lead event (carried out in toprope) for the categories B and C.

The competition categories:
A - year of birth 2000/2001
B - year of birth 2002/2003
C - year of birth 2004/2005/2006

The awards ceremony takes place on Sunday at 16:00 and two prizes will be awarded: the Rock Junior Trophy and one dedicated to Tito Traversa (the 12-year old Italian star of climbing who died last July as a result of a climbing accident at Orpierre, France). The Traversa Trophy will go to the best Male and Female Lead climber.

Furthermore, from 10.00 to 13.00 on Sunday children will have fun taking part in Kid's Rock (a superb introduction to climbing), while at 15.00 it's time for Family Rock, the vertical challenge to unites parents and their children sharing the common love for climbing.

In short, the Italian youth climbing movement is more dynamic than ever before and proof of this can also be found in the recent superb results obtained during the World Youth Championships at Saanich in Canada where Alessandro Santoni won the Speed event while European Champion Stefano Carnati (ASD Ragni di Lecco) won the Lead event.

- Go to the official website: www.rockmasterfestival.com