This past Saturday, January 16, Urban Rocks Gym hosted its first ABS Youth Regionals Championship for the southeast region and the first of its kind in Chattanooga. The ABS is the American Bouldering Series and is the nation’s leading competitive circuit for bouldering. Competitors ages 5 – 18 travelled as far as South Carolina to compete against some of the region’s best climbers. Teams that competed included: Adrenaline, Urban Core, TBA Ballers, Stronghold Athletic Club, Team Reality, Atlanta Rocks, Evolution Climbing, Trailhead Climbing and West High school.
After 87 local ABS events, the regional championship is the competition that determines which climbers get invited to the National Championship. The top one or two climbers from each category received invitations to nationals, which will be held next month in Alexandria, VA. With 67 competitors and twice as many spectators, the event was a great success. USA Climbing sent Chris Danielson and Mark Mercer as head route setter and head judge for the event.
Urban Rocks would like to give a big thanks to both Chris and Mark for all of their help as well as our sponsors who included: USA Climbing, the American Bouldering Series, The North Face, Rock Creek, Native Eyewear, Mountain Hardwear, Mountain Khakis, La Sportiva, E-Grips, Climb On, Vibram, Clif Bar, Metolius, Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber Magazine. In addition, Urban Rocks wants to send out a thank you to all of our volunteers who stuck it out with us for the full day event and helped make the entire day run smoothly.
For competition results check out USAClimbing.org.
For photos of the event search Urban Rocks Gym on Facebook.
