York's Hamish McArthur to climb for Team GB at Paris

Those were the words of York businessman Angus McArthur, speaking about his son, Hamish, who is one of four Britons chosen to represent Team GB in the rock climbing at the Olympics this year.

Angus, who owns York Ghost Merchants on Shambles with business partner David Bloodworth, says that having been involved in the sport since the age of five, Hamish, now 22, first represented his country as part of Great Britain junior climbing squad when he was only 11.

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He currently climbs full-time and is sponsored by Arcteryx.

Speaking to The Press, his dad Angus said: “Whenever we needed to find Hamish, we’d look up and not down – that was just something he did innately, he just liked climbing on things.

“Growing up, we took him to Energize at the first possible opportunity. He went for a session of four weeks just to do a taster and at the end of it, the guy running the session said you’ve got to keep bringing him back – he’s doing things the nine and 10-year-olds can’t do.

“He just loved it – it was always driven by him and we just tried to facilitate it.

“Through Energise, we learnt of a national competition, and they said he’s old enough to enter. So, we did - it was a bit of an eyeopener as it brought us into the competition circuit. It was a regional thing to start with and in his first year, he qualified for the finals.”

Angus McArthur in his Shambles shop (Image: Charlotte Graham)

After competing and winning a youth title, Hamish joined Team GB juniors – giving him access to overseas competitions and specialist workshops. During his juniors, he secured the double gold title at the junior Boulder World Championships in 2019 and the bronze on his senior debut in Moscow 2021.

Following on from his success at the World Championships, Hamish developed a new mindset and started to look at things ‘slightly differently’; having spent much of his young life training, he started to question his life beyond sport and questioned his future in competitive climbing.

According to his dad, this helped Hamish put his career into perspective: “Through a different thought process, he’s found a different kind of love for it. If you only do one thing, if you don’t do well then you’ve got a long way to fall.

“He won’t half-heartedly going to Paris - he’s going wanting to win because he can’t do anything at 50 or 70 per cent but if it doesn’t quite go to plan then he’ll be okay as he’s found a freedom in enjoying other things like painting, reading, and cookery.”

On his son’s success, Angus said: “At the age of 22, we’re just as proud of him for his mindset as we are for his sporting achievements. He’s a good climber and a good person.

“Everyone assumed Hamish would go to the Olympics five years ago but a year ago, I’d have said no. He got quite a serious injury last November when he ruptured the tendon in one of his fingers – which for a climber is quite serious.

“Some climbers never come back from an injury like that so we thought it wouldn’t help him in achieving the Olympic dream, but it was really good for him taking a step back. He went to the USA to stay with his girlfriend instead of attending the winter training and that’s when he turned a corner.

“He didn’t do any other competitions other than the OQS in Shanghai and Budapest so when he went, he was slightly unknown, the commentators commented on that, but he looked like he did when he was a kid when he climbed for fun.

“There’s 20 of the best climbers ever assembled at this year's Olympics and Hamish is one of them. It seems like a validation of a lot of hard work – for him, it’s just part of his process but we want to just go and support him.”

Hamish has elected to stay away from the Olympic Village, sharing an apartment with his girlfriend Quinn (who is part of Team USA) in order to maintain his routine ahead of the competition.

He is joined in Paris by mum Jill, sister Isobel, cousin Johnny, friends, and 15 family members from across the country - who will be sharing an apartment as they watch Hamish compete.