Climbing: Local climbers eyeing youth champs summit

Taupo climber Sian Moffitt, 16, is one of three local climbers heading to the World Youth Rock Climbing Championships in Noumea next month. Photo / Cameron McKenzie

It takes concentration, technique and mental and physical strength.

Luckily for local climbers Sian Moffitt, Aiyana Grigsby and Matai Lockwood, they've got all that.

The local climbers will be calling on every ounce of their preparation and training when they head to Noumea, New Caledonia in mid-September for the Youth World Rock Climbing Championships. They are part of the 13-strong New Zealand youth climbing team.

For Moffitt, a Year 12 student at Tauhara College in Taupo, it will not be her first overseas competition. She also competed in the World Youth Rock Climbing Championships in Singapore in 2012 and last year in Noumea at the Oceania Sport Climbing Championships.

Moffitt will be climbing in the under-18 grade and will be lead climbing, where climbers clip the rope into hanging carabiners, known as quickdraws, as they ascend.

To train, Moffitt has been working out at the gym, doing Pilates and training at the climbing wall. She doesn't have a coach, but her mother Gail Moffitt belays her and acts as her main motivator.

"She puts a lot of work and time to help me progress in my sport which is really, really cool," said Sian. "I'm thankful for that. And she helps me know what I need to be doing and keeps me focused on my goals."

The four-day World Youth Rock Climbing Championships will have two days of qualifying climbs, followed by semifinals and finals.

Moffitt's aim is to beat her placing at the last World Youth Rock Climbing Championships in Singapore in 2012, where she came 35th out of 48 climbers; and make it as far as the semifinals, if possible.

Grigsby, 17, and Lockwood, 16, are both from John Paul College.

They have been spending a lot of time at The Wall in preparation.

Grigsby said she hoped to make the semifinals in the under-21 category, which means she would have to finish in the top 26 in qualifying.

She said the goal was to climb as high as possible. She added that you only get one shot to qualify for the semifinals, so it would be high pressure in Noumea.