A climber who trains out of Boulders climbing gym at Stelly’s school, set a new Canadian record in speed climbing at the the World Climbing and Paraclimbing Championship in Paris.
Robert Stewart-Patterson, 16, who lives in Kamloops but trains at the state-of-the-art facility in Central Saanich, climbed to the record of 9.20 seconds Sunday, Sept. 16 at Bercy Stadium.
“I’ve known him for seven years and he’s just a really talented climber,” said Stewart-Patterson’s speed climbing coach, Kimanda Jarzebiak.
“For him to be performing how he is at 16 shows he has tremendous potential.”
Stewart-Patterson placed 34th overall in speed climbing — as well as 57th in lead climbing at the event.
“This is his first year of eligibility with adult competitions so for him to be placing in the middle of the pack in both events is amazing,” said Jarzebiak.
“It was quite different competing in the adult category because I’m used to stacking up against my competitors, but it was a great experience to compete in such a large group,” added Stewart-Patterson.
Stewart-Patterson has been training out of Boulders for the last couple of years, but has made tentative plans to move to the Saanich Peninsula in February to train full time at Boulders and attend Stelly’s Secondary.
“The (Boulders) facility is much more advanced than the one I train at in Kamloops so it would be great to train there full time, but I still haven’t decided for sure yet,” said the Grade 12 student.
“We have the only 15 meter homologated (standardized) climbing wall in Canada so this is the place to train for speed climbers,” added Jarzebiak.
Next August, Boulders will play host to the World Youth Championships for climbing.