Athletes and officials have started arriving in Cape Town for the IFSC African Climbing Championships from 17 to 20 December at City Rock in Paardeneiland.
The competition is organised by Western Cape Climbing with the support of the City of Cape Town.
The best climbers in Africa will be competing for the continent’s two places – one for a male and one for a female climber – at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The executive mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato, welcomed participants and officials by saying that the City of Cape Town is proud to welcome the national and African participants to the Mother City for what is going to be an exciting event.
Our city is a renowned adventure destination with beautiful mountains and thrilling attractions that complement our world-class infrastructure. We are pleased to partner with the SANCF to put together an event that will take some of the athletes to the Olympics and once again put our city on the international stage.
The competition is held in the Olympic Combined format with all three climbing disciplines on the same day – first speed, then boulder, and finally lead. 
The result will be the product of the ranking scores for all three disciplines.
Speed Competition:
The speed climbing competition is simply a race up a 15m wall. The grip design and placement is standard on walls around the world to ensure uniformity and comparable times on any standard wall.
The current record holder is Reza Alipourshenazandifar with a time of 5.48 sec.
Boulder Competition:
Bouldering is the most physically taxing in terms of strength and co-ordination. The boulder competition is held over four boulders. Each climber has five minutes (four minutes in the final) to attempt each boulder with a five-minute rest between each. There is a marked “zone hold” approximately halfway on the problem. The final score is judged by the number of problems topped and the number of zones reached. Ties are resolved by counting the number of attempts to the top and the zone with the fewest attempts winning.
Lead Competition:
The last discipline of the day will be the lead climbing (roped climbing). Climbers are given a single attempt to get as far along the route as they are able. Each successive hand grip scores a higher number with the climber reaching the highest point winning.
No spectators will be allowed, but you can follow the action live on the Climbafrica2020.co.za website.
Any queries can be directed directly to: chairman@climbafrica2020.co.za
For more information about climbing in the Western Cape, visit www.westerncapeclimbing.co.za
