Eleven-year-old Gisborne rock climber preparing for AIMS Games

ROCK MEISTER: Ivy Costello, 11, takes a break on a rock face. She plans to compete in the rock-climbing events at the AIMS Games in September. Pictures supplied

If Gisborne ever got a climbing wall, you could bet Ivy Costello would be near the front of the queue to give it a go.

Eleven-year-old Ivy recently competed in the Bay of Plenty Rock Climbing Championships in Mount Maunganui,

She started rock climbing five years ago, and would stop for a climb whenever family holidays took her through a town with a climbing gym.

Having seen how much she enjoyed climbing indoors, and with no suitable rock in the district, her parents signed her up with the Rotorua Rock Climbing Club.

She has joined the club for outdoor climbing trips to some beautiful locations around the Central North Island, says her father and climbing buddy, Andy Costello.

“It’s been great seeing Ivy challenge herself on the rock and spending time with her doing an outdoor activity that we both enjoy,” he said.

Because Ivy doesn’t live in the Bay of Plenty she could not be given a formal placing in the championships, so she is treating the event as good training towards her goal of competing at this year’s AIMS Games in September.

With no climbing facilities in Gisborne, the Bay of Plenty champs gave Ivy experience in competitive climbing in the three disciplines she’ll contest at the AIMS Games: top-rope, bouldering, and speed climbing.

Ivy wants to thank the Rotorua Rock Climbing Club’s Talita Clapperton, who helped her enter the competition; Rocktopia’s Adam Dyck, who allowed her to compete; and the East Coast Climbing Club, a local group who organise climbing trips out of town and work with Trust Tairāwhiti to advocate for a climbing wall to be built in Gisborne.