TeamGB
Richard Lands Second Place at the World Climbing Championships
Meet Richard Slocock. Para climber, BAM Ambassador and ultimate garden climbing wall-builder. Before climbing, like many of us he hadn’t yet found ‘his sport’. However, things soon changed in 2004 when he moved to Derby and began his climbing career. Not only did climbing improve his fitness massively but he also met some fantastic people along the way. Since then we have loved having Richard on our team as a BAM Ambassador and seeing the different climbs that his BAM kit takes him. We’ve even seen a couple of home-made BAM t-shirts and caps! Unfortunately, Richard won’t have enough homemade items to go around, but you can shop our latest climbing kit on our website.
In 2013 Richard noticed a small patch in his left eye and was eventually registered SI (sight impaired). With the tenacity to push on and continue climbing, Richard now competes with Team GB on the para climbing team. Pushing his climbing capabilities, he has now gone strength to strength and more recently competed in the World Championships in Russia.
After 2 years of hardcore training, the World Championships took place in September 2021. Richard had put in some serious training backstage with the help of his coach Jamie Vardy. With a concoction of hellish endurance interval sessions mixed with late night gym sessions, Richard was raring to go and to take on the challenge.
With a few days before the World Championships kicked off it was time for Richard and the rest of Team GB climbing to fly to Russia. After a bit of sightseeing and a day of rest it was time to get back on the wall to put in the hours ahead of the initial qualifying stages that were fast approaching. In his category, Richard came top of his 2 qualifying climbs meaning he would be top of his category in the finals. A fantastic achievement which spurred him on to look forward to his upcoming final where he placed WORLD NUMBER 2.
Having smashed the World Championships Richard and Team GB headed back to the UK, tired from lack of sleep but ecstatic with their results. And for Richard it doesn’t stop there. He will now be working towards the next World Championships in 2 years’ time as well as the upcoming World Cups next year. So let’s hear it for Team GB! Congratulations to Richard and the rest of the team on their epic achievements.
You can watch highlights from Richard’s climb and connect with him on Instagram to keep up with his latest: @richard_slocock_gb_paraclimber
