Two members of Team Reality, a rock climbing team from Tyrone, Ga., were invited to and attended the USA Sport Climbing Series National Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich., July 6-8. The Rock Climbing national championship, the largest roped competition in the world, happens once per year and brings together the best climbers in the nation who range in age from 7-18. In order to attend this competition, Hannah Montondo and Alexander Amalfitano first had to qualify as some of the best in their region and division. Climbers who rank in the top 6 of their age group divisionally receive an invitiation to the prestigious national championship.

This year’s national championship showed some very strong performances from the West Coast during both difficulty (climbing a specified course without falling and obtaining points for the highest hold reached) and Speed (just like it sounds, racing up the wall) portions of the event.

Hannah and Alex have been climbing for only two years and this was their first time attending a National Championship Event. When their season began in September, each climber had over 170 climbers in their respective age group category. At Nationals, Montondo competed in both difficulty and speed climbing and concluded her season ranked 26th in the nation in difficulty and 25th in the nation in speed.

Amalfitano competed in speed climbing and concluded his season ranked 28th in the Nation. Both climbers had outstanding performances and held their own again st some very seasoned climbers to obtain their national ranking.

The climbers will now take a short break before returning to the gym to train for the 2007-2008 climbing season which begins in September.

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