“Which category is my child in?” is one of the most commonly asked questions of competition organisers by parents.
It’s usually fairly straight forward but not always clear as there are different age structures organisers use to suit their competition. The main ones are explained here but always best to confirm with the competition organiser in the event of a query … if you follow this information without double-checking with the rules/organiser you may end up in the wrong category on the day.
The ‘Official’ version
The IFSC (the International Federation of Sports Climbing) age categories are used in most major national competitions in the UK including the BMC Youth Climbing Series, the British Lead Climbing Championships, the British Bouldering Championships. It’s also the basis of the format followed by some of the larger competition series such as the Midlands Youth Climbing Series and Blokfest.
The system is based on applying a category band to a birth year. Here are the categories and the appropriate birth years for 2019:
| Competition Year | Upper A | Lower A | Upper B | Lower B | Upper C | Lower C | Upper D | Lower D | Upper E | Lower E |
| 2021 | born in 2004 | born in 2005 | born in 2006 | born in 2007 | born in 2008 | born in 2009 | born in 2010 | born in 2011 | born in 2012 | born in 2013 |
| 2022 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Each year the IFSC will move the categories on, so in 2023 category E will be 2014 & 2015, etc.
Other versions
Many local or fun competitions and even some of the national competitions such as Battle of Britain, combine a wider range of age groups. Older children may be in a category with adults and some competitions will accept children as young as 14 in a competition only aimed at adults.
Usually male and female are in different categories but sometimes they are combined in the Under 12’s. Here’s an example system used by many local competitions:
- 12 and under
- 13 to 16 Male / Female
- Over 16s Male / Female
- Veterans (over 40) Male / Female
The ages applied are usually ‘the age of the competitor on the day of the competition’.
Series
Sometimes a series may span the birthday of a child, meaning they start the series as an Under 12, but finish as a 12 year old. In general, competition organisers go with the ‘age you were on the date on the first round of the competition’ but always check with the organiser before the first round, just in case.
Open categories
There are other competitions which impose no age categories. That doesn’t mean that kids can’t enter, it simply means that, when the scores are counted up, they’ll be directly compared with everyone else in the comp.
For really young children this generally puts them at the bottom of the list (but not always; I know some extremely strong and capable 9 year old climbers who frequently beat half the field).
So, that’s it. Age categories are not yet (and probably never will be) standardised but at least you now have a bit more information to help you decipher which is applicable.
If you have seen other schemes that you think would be useful for others to know, let us know and we’ll add the details to this article.
