Ep 7: Zoe Spriggins - Organizing Climbing World Cups

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Thanks for tuning into the podcast! Zoe is a program manager for GB Climbing and is an expert in organizing and running climbing competitions! Her FIRST world cup event was Edinburgh 2022 and it was definitely…eventful. She also has experience organizing paraclimbing competitions and Bern world champs. There’s much more going on behind the scenes of climbing competitions than you’d expect, so tune in to learn more about what it takes!
Guest links: Email: zoe@thebmc.co.uk
Reference links: Contact Holds trying to retexture old holds (contactholds.com/refurbished)
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Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Introduction
4:37 - How to get into climbing event organization
7:48 - How GB team + athletes make a living
12:33 - The Edinburgh world cup disaster
18:25 - Hopes of hosting another world cup
21:10 - What a world cup event venue looks like
26:10 - Indoor vs outdoor venues
29:45 - Do national federations get guidance from IFSC for planning world cups
31:51 - Organizing Bern world champs
35:46 - How an ice hockey arena becomes a climbing center
39:03 - Reigning in Adam Ondra
41:15 - Bern did paraclimbing right
42:23 - Organizing for paraclimbing
47:28 - Paralympics!
51:15 - Para accommodations to keep in mind
55:11 - Anti-doping in climbing
58:46 - Anti-doping testing
1:01:14 - Drug use in climbing
1:05:00 - Menopause and climbing?!
1:10:06 - DISCORD: Why host world cups?
1:14:02 - DISCORD: Environmental sustainability
1:18:56 - DISCORD: Favorite/least favorite competitions?
1:22:05 - DISCORD: Technical wall requirements?
1:27:24 - How much does it cost to host a world cup?
1:29:18 - Where to find Zoe + outro