Chennai's first speed climbing competition is going to be a rush!

Channel your inner Spiderman and you might win 10K in under 10 seconds
Chennai's first speed climbing competition is going to be a rush!

Chennai is going to have its first ‘speed climbing’ race this weekend. And if you’ve seen video footage 
of what this sport looks like — you know it is going to be wild. Picture this: climbers scaling a 34 foot-wall in under eight seconds! “That’s how long it takes our team to do it,” says Shyamsundar Manoharan (28) who is opening his third outlet of Fit Rock Arena, this time on OMR — coinciding with the event. Double the height has been scaled in less, with international record holders over the years — talk about giving Spiderman a complex!

If the adrenaline rush isn’t reason enough to give the contest a go — this should help. The event has been organised in collaboration with Paraclimbing world champion Manikandan Kumar from Bengaluru who conquered both polio and poverty, before going on to win several international medals. The most recent was a gold just a week ago at the US National Championships held in Columbus Ohio, while the next one that he is eyeing is at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

<em>Ready, set, climb</em>
Ready, set, climb



With close to 50 entries in already, the youngest participant at age eight and the oldest at 35 — the owners of Fit Rock — which apart from Shyam, include Sathya Narayana Prasad (29), Nilesh R (31) and Aravind Selvam (24) are mighty excited. But there are few basics to keep in mind — before you sign up. Beyond chalking up your palms (to prevent a sweaty slip) and lacing up shoes that are one size too tight (for better grip) —the biggest safety precaution is an infrastructural investment that is the onus of the gym itself. 

“It’s called an Auto Belay Device,” says Shyam. “Usually the slack with the harness and rope can be handled manually, but because of the extreme speeds — this is taken over by the device during the ascent and descent — and of course in the case of a fall,” he explains. Priced at a Rs 2.5 lakh per device, Shyam is importing his second one from the United States, just in time for the competition. 

Although if you aren’t in shape for speed climbing just yet, look forward to slower, steadier paced climbing events under the bouldering category. For those who have impressive core strength to count on — a pull-up challenge — helmed by Bengaluru-based Gaurav J, founder of the initiative Iron Hand. The latter is open to teams of five, and last year, got a total of close to 
10,000 pull-ups!

The speed climbing contest is on June 30. Time: 9 am onwards. Prize: Rs 10,000.

sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine

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