A step Change in Climbing Graphics

We like to celebrate the small wins - last night we shared a whiskey because our new office furniture arrived and look GREAT, but for us, being invited to broadcast for Eurosport for the first time was a pretty big win! The broadcast was across all their platforms as was a great success for our clients. But what was the event I hear you ask……

The European Lead and Speed Championships were held in Ratho, Edinburgh. An impressive venue, built in an old quarry and perfect for hosting large international competitions. As the event neared we received the start list for the event and were very excited to see big names such as Adam Ondra, Lucka Racovec and Jim Pope where going to be attending. With Olympic qualification looming and some surprise results from the World Championships, it was set to be an exciting competition, but how do you convey that excitement to the thousands of people watching in their homes.

We LOVE climbing (between the climbers in the team we have over half a century of climbing experience) but watching Lead climbing has always seemed a little dull as you can never quite remember who finished where. This was something we wanted to tackle; making the climbing more understandable and exciting.

Sim, our resident geek (actually I think that’s all of us but he wins) took ideas from the team and started creating a series of graphics which would tell the audience more about the climbers but most importantly would tell them where the climbers had got to on the route and where the current climber needed to reach to achieve a podium position. They looked great and most importantly they worked. One of the organisers was watching with his 6 year old son who pointed out “Look daddy he’s catching up” without the new graphics there is no way this 6 year old would have known whether the climber was doing well or not - goal achieved!

You can watch the full replay on Eurosport or on the BMC YouTube channel.