The 13th annual Rock Junior event to be held in Arco, Italy this weekend is expected to bring in more than 240 young climbers from 22 different countries. This international climbing festival and competition is open to children from ages five to 13 and will include an Under 14 Cup, with the Kid’s Rock and Family Rock to start off the week-long Rock Master Festival.

After adding the junior event to the schedule back in 2001, the Rock Master has opened up its doors to the dynamic climbers of the future, and has experienced success with attracting children from all over the world. While most of the climbers are from European nations, there are several from the United States and Australia.

The event will be held at the Arco Climbing Stadium walls, and brings along the crowd from the Rock Master, which has been an annual event for the past 26 years.

Although registration has closed for the event, the amount of people attending is a record breaker for the event. The competitions are divided up into Bouldering and Speed, which will be held on Saturday, and Lead, which will be held on Sunday.

“The world’s future champions will compete at the famous Climbing Stadium, the same wall which as of next Thursday will host the strongest climbers in the world in their battle to win the 27th Rock Master,” the website stated.

The age categories of the competition are divided into three groups, those born in 2000/2001, 2002/2003, and 2004/2005/2006. The winning young climbers will be recognized at the award ceremony on Sunday, where the Rock Junior Trophy and another trophy will be awarded, with the second dedicated to Tito Traversa, a 12-year-old Italian climber who died in a climbing accident last July in Orpierre, France. This trophy will go the best Lead climbers, one male and one female.

Children who are new to the sport can get an introduction at Sunday’s Kid’s Rock, and a family event that unites children and parents in climbing will also be held.

“In short, the Italian youth climbing movement is more dynamic than ever before and proof of this can also be found in the recent superb results obtained during the World Youth Championships at Saanich in Canada where Alessandro Santoni won the Speed event while European Champion Stefano Carnati (ASD Ragni di Lecco) won the Lead event,” the website stated.

For more information on the annual event, to see who the winners are, and to learn more about the Rock Master that will be held next week, check out the website.

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