What's New At Cliffhanger
Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Sheffield County Council's Cabinet member for Climate Change and Local Environment, has described Cliffhanger as an important "shop window for the superb range of outdoor activities" in the Sheffield and Peak District region. Here follows a summary of the most unmissable outdoor activities that will be showcased at Cliffhanger this year:
The BMC British Bouldering Championships, Britain's main bouldering comp, takes place at Cliffhanger. British Bouldering Team Coach, Gaz Parry, has tipped Ned Feehally, Dave Barrons and Leah Crane as the ones to watch for titles. "I'll train a bit myself, but I'll mainly be entering the BBCS for fun this year," said Gaz.
Find out when you can watch the rock stars in action here.
Walk around and spot your house on the largest ever map of England and Wales, a 1,584 square feet piece of art cartography complete with full topographical detail in perfect scale, which will be brought to Cliffhanger by event sponsors Ordnance Survey and partners Mapland. It was recently at the Outdoors Show where it was one of the highlights. See a picture of it and read more about the project here.
Oli Johnson, Britain's orienteering Long Champion and the Yorkshire South Orienteers are bringing the UK's first ever Ultrasprint orienteering event to Cliffhanger again. A high intensity, high speed form of orienteering, the race includes map reading, multi-terrain racing and river crossings. The UK's elite orienteers will battle it out to become Ultrasprint champion 2009. Visitors can experience orienteering for themselves on Saturday and watch the experts on Sunday. Find out more here.
A TV production company will be attending Cliffhanger this year. The TV footage will centre around the British Bouldering Championships. Be in the crowd!
Taking two-wheels into another dimension, there will be coaching sessions and demos in trials mountain biking from former world champion Ben Slinger and former European Champion Danny Butler. Watch Ben Slinger in action here.
There will be 11 climbing walls at Cliffhanger, including a special Alpkids one for children. Alpkids on the Blocs is a fun climbing competition for children under 8 years old and their parents. Alpkit climbers will show the children and their parents how they can work together to climb safely together on the 8ft high blocs as they attempt to complete 10 boulder problems. Read more here.
There will be an open dynoing (like high jump for climbing) competition at Cliffhanger with £1000 prize money up for grabs. The world record holder, Skyler Weekes, flies over from Colorado each year to beat his own record: currently 2.65m. If you think you can jump higher than Skyler, turn up and take part in the friendly open competition, which will take place on each morning at Cliffhanger.
Read an interview with Skyler and find out more about the comp here.
There will be a film, art, photography and lecture marquee, where you can meet the likes of Doug Scott and Alistair Lee. There will be photography walks and talks from some professional photographers, too. Read more and enter a competition to win a Canon camera here.
Trailquest - the art of orienteering on mountain bikes - makes its debut at Cliffhanger. Organised by Dark and White events the two-hour discipline will leave Millhouses Park on the Saturday and travel through the nearby Peak District. A roadworthy bike, cycle helmet, watch, the event map (supplied), a first aid kit, 2 x £1 for phone and substantial clothing, including quality waterproofs, are compulsory kit for this events. Dark and White are also organising a mini-mountain marathon, a fell race and an adventure race for the Cliffhanger weekend. More about Dark and White events.
Enter a free prize draw for a pair of Hospitality Tickets to Britain's biggest professional bicycle race, Tour of Britain, courtesy of sponsors The Ordnance Survey, if you bike to the event and park in the free bike park.
Find out where and when the Tour of Britan goes here.
Cliffhanger is one of the UK's largest outdoor-pursuits festivals, based in one of Sheffield's biggest green spaces. It is organised by Sheffield City Council's Parks & Countryside Department with support from Heason Events.
The activities are aimed at people of all ages. There will also be scuba diving, angling, kite flying, assault courses, caving, a massive bargain area, music, plenty of children's rides and other activities, food stalls, a market and much, much more.
