GB Paraclimbing Team Announced for 2024

The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is pleased to announce the athletes who have been named as part of the GB Paraclimbing Team for the 2024 season. The 23-strong team consists of athletes competing across 9 classifications.

Returning to the team is James Rudge, the AU2 athlete who had a successful season in 2023, placing 5th in the AU2 Lead Men’s competition at the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in Bern. Joining James is the recent nominee for Disability Sport Yorkshire Sports Person of the Year, Lucy Keyworth, an RP1 athlete.

Keyworth, the 24-year-old who placed 11th at the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in Bern 2023 in the women’s Lead RP1 category, got into climbing whilst backpacking around Australia, on returning home she kept climbing, and in lockdown built a climbing wall in her back garden.

Zoe Spriggins, the BMC’s Para team manager, said: “We are now less than six months away from the Innsbruck World Cup, which will see us field our biggest team of the season. This event will be an opportunity for our emerging talent to experience a competition environment on an international stage, and also for us to gauge how other nations are performing.

“Since 2006, international para competition has really grown on the world stage. We eagerly await the outcome of inclusion in the LA 2028 Paralympics, and we hope to hear a decision by the end of May. For us, we remain dedicated to developing and strengthening the opportunities afforded to our athletes.”

Jon Garside, GB Climbing’s acting Head of Performance, said: “We’re delighted to be working with a squad that is filled with both emerging and highly seasoned talent. Our para team are fantastic ambassadors for sport climbing, and we look forward to our team taking to the world stage in 2024.”

The GB Climbing paraclimbing team has been competing internationally since 2012, supporting the athletes to win 25 World Championship medals to date.

The team will be supported by a volunteer coaching team, including, Jay Jackson, Jamie Vardy, Suzan Dudnik, Anna Brown, and Richard Slocock.

The BMC encourages our community to follow the team's progress and show their support through various channels, including social media updates and coverage of the season.

The GB Paraclimbing team for 2024:

AGGARWAL, Anita

ARMITAGE, Matthew

DOWNES, Alex

DUFTON, Jesse

EVANS, Martha

JAMIESON, Luke

KEYWORTH, Lucy

LOFTS, Ciaran

LOSEY, Lux

MCCARTHY, Peter

MORGAN, Laurence