Special guests risk it all at the wall

Some special guest climbers from the world of sport and local politics will be lining up to take to the wall and risk a soaking at Exeter Quay this weekend.

The Quay Climbing Centre’s Deep Water Solo competition, which sees a seven-metre wall built into the canal basin, takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend – and the thrilling event will kick off with some familiar faces.

The Friday afternoon will see players from Exeter City tackle the wall, and organisers have even managed to coax two city councillors, Cllr Rosie Denham and Cllr Emma Morse, to give the wall a try.

Participants climb without ropes to see how far they can get up the wall – once they lose their grip they plunge into the canal.

Paul Russell, one of the Directors of the Quay Climbing Centre, said: ‘This is a great event for the whole family, we expect to have over two thousand spectators coming to see it over the whole weekend. The competition starts at 4pm with our guests having a go between 2pm and 3.30pm.

‘We are opening up the wall to the public on Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday – just come on down, pay £10 to enter and see how high you can climb.’

This is the third year the event has taken place. Organisers are inviting more local businesses to get involved with sponsorship at next year’s event.

Paul added: ‘This is a fantastic chance for a local company to raise their profile, we have thousands of spectators, as well as brilliant media coverage. We’d love them to come down this year and have a chat and see what they can get involved in.’

The event will also bring the elite of the international climbing community to the city to participate in one of the fastest growing and most visually exciting areas of the sport. Some famous names taking part from the climbing world include Neil Gresham, Emma Twyford, Nathan Philips and Pippa Watkins, all who are looking towards the Olympics of 2020.

The wall is currently being constructed by Entre-Prises climbing walls, with routes set by the team behind Blokfest. Local sponsors of the event include Mini Westerly, Haven Banks, UCZ Paintball and Landy Girls coffee bar. National sponsors include La Sportiva Climbing, Beta Climbing Designs, DMM Climbing (Wales), 5.10 Climbing, ALPKIT, SCARPA Climbing and Boreal.

For more information visit www.quayclimbingcentre.co.uk