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VIC climbing/bouldering competitions 15-Apr-2008 At 3:14:53 PM cliffhanger

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I wouldn't put it down to Lazy gym owners, maybe tired gym owners!!

The problem with running professional competitions that have prizes (and I mean useful prizes, including cash at an OPEN level event), that run on time, that satisfy both WorkSafe and PLI insurance guidelines and that go off without a hitch with a split field of competitors, is COST.

Not only does a gym loose it's trade for up to a week (between route stripping, re-setting and then keeping the routes closed or covered until the event), they also have the cost of officials (marshals, judges, scorers, belayers, etc) any SCA fees, and of course the route setting costs - which are way above a normal months route setting budget for most gyms. Entrance fees do not re-coup much of that cost.

In essence, to run a State Titles, the climbing gym is usually out of pocket around $5000, and to host a nationals upwards of $10,000. This is a real figure including all associated costs and losses.

I don't think I'm speaking out of turn (for HardRock) when I say that from 1994 (when Cliffhanger hosted the first Nationals in Australia) until the early 2000's, Sue (at HardRock) and I funded Sport Climbing in Australia (via the ASCF) to the tune of over $100,000 to simply host competitions and keep competitions alive in Australia, particularly National level events in Melbourne. Unfortunately there comes a time where you just can't keep funding something for the sake of it. Unfortunately the people that go to climbing comps (the recipients of the "marketing effort" or "advertising" benefit you refer to) actually already go to the climbing gyms, so in fact there is no advertising benefit to a gym by hosting a competition.

There are also some differences between NSW and Victoria, including OH&S Regulations, the use of Volunteers, Staff Wages (which are substantially higher in Victoria for climbing instructors) and depending on who underwrites your Public Liability Insurance. For instance, our PLI underwriter will not permit the use of Volunteers for a lead climbing event. There are also a lot more 'competitive climbers' in NSW than Victoria, so comp attendance levels are always lower in VIC than NSW. We are not a member of SCA, but they may be able to verify how many NSW members there are to VIC members.

Unfortunately from Cliffhanger's perspective, we've spent our advertising budget on competitions, in advance several times over, and we simply cannot justify the expense or inconvenience to our regular patrons any more. The best we can offer is our InterSchool Comp in June.

Anyway, we're not lazy!

Tim