HAMISH McARTHUR is scaling the heights as the youngest member of the Great Britain junior climbing squad.

The 11-year-old Joseph Rowntree School pupil was drafted into the team for the 2014 season after shining at the recent Youth Open at the Foundry Climbing Centre in Sheffield.

The York youngster, who trains at and is sponsored by the Red Goat Climbing Centre in Layerthorpe, was the only boy selected in the Youth ‘C’ category for 11 to 13-year-olds.

Hamish’s father Angus said: “We are very proud of him. They have said he shows a lot of promise.

“He will now train regularly with the British team and enter a European competition in Austria next June. The plan is for him to develop in this category before moving up into Youth ‘B’ at the age of 13, when he will be able to enter both the European and World Championships.

“Climbing is a rapidly growing participation sport and it has been announced that it will be included in the Youth Olympic Games, so the 2018 games in Buenos Aries would be a target.”

McArthur has progressed rapidly from climbing trees in the playground at Park Grove Primary School.

His father said: “He has climbed for as long as he could walk.

“He always wanted to climb on or over the playground equipment rather than using it and was often found up a tree in the school playing fields at Park Grove.

“He started climbing at Energise at the age of five and has climbed regularly ever since.

“By finishing in the top 12 at the national indoor finals at the age of nine, he was selected to train with a GB training academy for talented climbers.

“This gave him access to some of the country’s best coaches, which really helped him to develop further.

“The following year he finished fourth in the national finals in Edinburgh.

“Over the past six months he has worked more closely with Joe Swales, a young coach at Red Goat.

“This has really benefitted his technique and, as a result, he has won recent climbing competitions in Leeds, Harrogate and Sheffield.

“The win in Sheffield was a GB team selection event, so the standard was very high. Hamish was the only boy in his Youth ‘C’ age category to be selected for Team GB. He is consequently the youngest on the team.”

Anyone interested in sponsoring McArthur can email his father at angus@snow-home.co.uk