Tag Archives: climbing

Interviews with Steve Peat & Mina-Leslie Wujastyk

John Horscroft and Steve Peat

Sheffield Live!’s series of cycling and climbing shows, Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels, today featured a bumper interview with mountain biking legend Steve Peat. Recorded earlier this month by interviewer John Horscroft and Jamie Veitch, the 27 minute interview includes in-depth and candid commentary from Steve.

Steve and John discuss:

– the history and roots of mountain biking
– competing at a high level
– Steve’s plans for the future
– training
– road biking
– the Sheffield scene
– Steve’s three top tips for aspiring riders
– and much more!

And Steve picked three tracks of music which we played between segments of the interview.

Mina in the studio

Today’s show also featured climber Mina-Leslie Wujastyk, excelling in the climbing discipline of bouldering. Mina has recently returned from a trip to South Africa during which she climbed 8 boulder problems graded 8A and one of 8A+ – a brilliant achievement from this Sheffield-based climber. Mina is also a member of the British Bouldering team, competing in the bouldering world cup events and this year came 2nd in the British Bouldering Championships.

Simon Lee of UKBouldering.com was a live studio guest today and explained the intricacies of bouldering and Jon Barton of Vertebrate Graphics featured within a pre-recorded interview too.

This was a bumper 90 minute edition of the show, so our podcasts (available for 2 months) are in 2 parts:

You can listen to the podcast [available for 60 days from today] of the first 60 minutes of the show here.

Approximate timings for the 1st hour of the show:

Intro / Simon Lee 0-12 mins; Mina interview 12-22 mins; Simon Lee 22-25 mins; Jon Barton interview 25-33 mins; Simon Lee wrap up 33-37 mins; Steve Peat interview – part one – 37-52 mins; interview with show sponsor, Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative 52-60 mins.

And you can listen to the podcast [available for 60 days from today] of part 2 of the show here (30 minutes total) – which includes Steve Peat’s chosen tracks of music and parts 2 and 3 of our interview with Steve.

Earlier episodes of this series have featured interviews with climber Lucy Creamer, alpinist, big wall climber and author Andy Kirkpatrick, a diverse range of cyclists, and representatives from Awesome Walls, UKClimbing.com, Ride Sheffield, CycleBoost Sheffield, Pedal Ready & more.

The series was sponsored by Awesome Walls Sheffield and the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative.

Lucy Creamer, one of UK’s most accomplished climbers, interviewed on Sheffield Live

Lucy Creamer

Lucy Creamer

Sheffield-based Lucy Creamer is one of the UK’s most accomplished climbers.

In rock climbing terms she’s climbed routes on the local gritstone and the sea-cliffs of Pembroke at a tremendously difficult level; as well as sport climbing, climbing adventurous routes, ice climbing and bouldering at the top of the sport. And Lucy has been the British Climbing Champion eight times.

Lucy was interviewed live on air today by Jamie Veitch for Sheffield Live!’s climbing and mountain biking show, Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels.

The hour long show featured 4 pieces of music chosen by Lucy, and she discussed in depth her passion for climbing, training, climbing as a sport and adventure climbing, motivation, recovery from injury, yoga, and making a living as a professional climber – as well as taking us through the 4 pieces of music.

The show also featured short pre-recorded interviews with Alan James of UKClimbing and Dave Douglas of Awesome Walls Sheffield.

You can listen to the hour-long show in full by streaming or downloading the podcast, here.

And you can enter the fabulous competition to win a family climbing pass at new Awesome Wall here.

Climber Andy Kirkpatrick interviewed

Accomplished climber, author and public speaker Andy Kirkpatrick featured in new show Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels this morning.

Sheffield-based Andy has made some astonishing ascents on Alpine faces, in Patagonia, and on the soaring granite rock faces of Yosemite in the USA.

Not only that, he’s twice won the Boardman Tasker Award for mountain literature for his books Psychovertical and Cold Wars.

But it’s Andy’s journey from remedial student to successful climber, writer and author that often fascinates his audience the most. Brought up from the age of 6 on a council estate in one of Britain’s flattest cities, Hull, Andy suffered from severe dyslexia which was undiagnosed until he was 19.

Andy spoke openly in the interview about his climbing, danger, suffering, reconciling personal life with ambitions and obsessions, and the process of writing. And he chose a few tracks of music that have accompanied him on his travels. During the course of the hour-long show Andy revealed many fascinating and thoughtful insights into his own motivations.

Download and listen to the podcast of the show here.

More about the Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels series here including details of how to enter two exciting competitions.

Listen to new show, win a bike and a climbing outing

Sheffield is a hub for climbers, cyclists and mountain bikers, with fantastic opportunities to enjoy these sports in the nearby Peak district and great facilities in the city. And we are home to some of Britain’s – and the world’s – leading climbers and cyclists.

A new series of four programmes on Sheffield Live, Steel Fingers Steel Wheels, are broadcasting every Saturday at 10am in September.

Featuring interviews with inspirational figures from cycling and climbing, as well as ‘how-to’ features demonstrating how you can get involved in these exciting and healthy activities (at low cost), the shows also include two fabulous competitions:

How do you win?  See below!

Guests on the series include:

  • ‘Big wall’ climber Andy Kirkpatrick. Irreverent and extremely funny, Andy has accomplished extraordinary feats on Alpine faces and the soaring granite walls of El Capitan in Yosemite. Not only that, he’s won the Boardman Tasker prize for mountain literature. But it’s his journey from remedial student to successful climber, writer and speaker that interests his audience most. Brought up on a council estate in one of Britain’s flattest cities, Hull, Andy suffered from severe dyslexia which went undiagnosed until he was 19. Andy was a guest on the show on Saturday 7th September.
  • Remarkable all-round professional climber Lucy Creamer. Lucy has excelled in all disciplines of climbing: bold adventurous ‘traditional’ climbs; gymnastic ‘sports’ climbing, short but intensely powerful ‘bouldering’; mountain routes and ice climbing. She also repeatedly won British climbing competitions and qualified for world-cup climbing finals. She’s a keen mountain biker too between time on the rock. Lucy will be on the show on the 21st September.
  • Down Hill Mountain biking world champion Steve Peat – Peaty – 2009 UCI DH World Champion; 3x World Cup Champ; 2x European Champ and 9x British Champ. Chapeltown-born Peaty also organises the Steel City Down Hill race and is known as one of the nicest guys in mountain biking – but he’s also got that Sheffield Steel that’s made him a winner! Steve will be on the show on the 28th of September.
  • We’ll also feature interviews with the strong climber Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, making impressive ascents of boulder problems across the world (and a competitor in the British Bouldering Team); professional cyclist Dean Downing of Rotherham, fresh from competing in the Tour of Britain for Madison Genesis with an impressive track record of results in his professional career (both also in the show on 28th September).
  • And we’ll have guests from organisations working with and representing climbing and cycling; advice on how to get involved
  • And two fabulous competitions:
  • Win a bike: Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative is giving away a Revolution bike to the value of £350 to one lucky winner of this competition. To enter, all you have to do is email comp@sheffieldlive.org with your name and address and the answer to the following question: how many cooperative members are there in the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative as of the 1st of September? Remember, that’s not shops, it’s members. Take a look at the Our advertisers page on the Sheffield Live website if you need a clue!
  • Win a family climbing taster day and a month’s free climbing pass from Awesome Walls when their new climbing wall opens in Sheffield at the end of the month.  To enter, all you have to do is email comp@sheffieldlive.org with your name and address and the answer to the following question: in which other locations in the UK does Awesome Walls operate climbing walls? Clue – take a look at their website.
  • For both competitions, you need to send your answer by 5pm on Friday 27th September and by entering you accept Sheffield Live’s standard competition entry terms and conditions. So get your entry in now!
  • Make sure you listen in – every Saturday in September, 10am on Sheffield Live! 93.2FM and livestream from this website
  • The Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels shows are sponsored by Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative and Awesome Walls Sheffield. Find out more about them and listen to their Sheffield Live radio ads here

Girlfriends’ Sarah joins Communities Live team

Sarah Taylor [photo: Jamie Veitch]

Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor, star of ITV2’s Girlfriends, joined Communities Live presenter Andy Cooper today to guest present a special edition of our flagship magazine programme.

Sheffield lass Sarah was in the hit TV series last year in which three single ladies met 100 eligible bachelors, then whittled down their potential suitors to try to find Mr. Right.

Sarah and co-presenter Andy Cooper discussed fashion and dating; and Sarah gave Andy some behind-the-scenes gossip from the TV series.

Today’s Communities Live programme also featured an interview with Dave Douglas, MD of new climbing wall Awesome Walls which is opening this autumn in Sheffield.

And Grand Designs’ Naomi Cleaver was interviewed on the show, offering her tips for how to make the most of the space in our homes.

Sarah will be back to co-present Communities Live again soon.

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Girlfri3nds
Girlfri3nds

British Bouldering Championships 2013 at Cliffhanger

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Shauna Coxsey at the British Bouldering Championships

Shauna Coxsey at the British Bouldering Championships

The 2013 British Bouldering Championships took place at this weekend’s Cliffhanger event in Sheffield.

Bouldering – a branch of rock climbing which involves attempting to ascend short, but physically and technically demanding ‘problems’ usually above crashmats – has dramatically increased in popularity over recent years.

Shauna Coxsey and Dave Barrans both successfully defended their titles at the British Bouldering Championships, and became national champions for the second year running.

The bouldering competition – one of the highlights of the Cliffhanger event – was held in a special big top marquee, which was packed with spectators shouting encouragement. The scorching heat made the conditions particularly testing for the competitors.

And the win for Shauna Coxsey came after recovering from a broken leg in 2012.

Co-organiser Matt Heason described women’s champion Shauna as “a world class athlete whose performance demonstrated why she’s ranked so highly.”

The men’s competition was closely fought: had 16 year old Dom Burns from Northern Ireland managed to complete his last climb, he would have won. Alas for Dom he didn’t, so in the final points rankings he came 5th. Dave Barrans climbed strongly to clinch the win.

2013 British Bouldering Championship Results

Women:

1. Shauna Coxsey; 2. Mina Leslie-Wujastyk; 3. Alex Puccio; 4. Leah Crane; 5. Gill Peet; 6. Jennifer Wood

Men:

1. Dave Barrans; 2. James Garden; 3. Ben West; 4. Jon Partridge; 5. Dominic Burns; 6. Stewart Watson

The Extreme Mountain Biking Show at Cliffhanger 2013

The Extreme Mountain Biking Show at Cliffhanger 2013

Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger – billed as the UK’s “biggest outdoor festival for outdoor folk”  – aims both to inspire and to involve attendees. The event also featured orienteering, cycle speedway, artificial climbing walls and caves, slacklining, mountain bike “timber trails”, stunt demonstrations and racing, and more.

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