Sports

Winnipeg climbers set world record, raise money for KidSport

One local fundraiser for sports for kids not only raised some money, but set a new world record.

Climb for Kids, a 24-hour climb-a-thon for KidsSport Winnipeg, beat the world record for the fastest time climbing the height of Mount Everest on an indoor rock wall. That’s 29,000 feet to climb and they did it in three hours and 27 minutes, beating the existing world record by about an hour.

But the main event is – is, ’cause it’s happening at the time of this writing – a fundraiser where teams raise money for the organization by attempting to rock climb for a full 24 hours. At any given moment between when the event began on Saturday and when it’s scheduled to end on Sunday, at least one climber from each time must be on the wall.
The best climbers were pulled aside during the event to challenge the previously held Guinness World Record. They beat it, handily, celebrated a bit, then continued the climb-a-thon.

The team let event organizer Matthew Cheung take the last climb to solidify their record.

“I have really mixed feelings because it was really flattering and I felt really honoured that they would let me do that, but at the same time they had done all of the work. I just swooped in at the very end,” he said.

Guian Gampac. Photo credit: Amber McGuckin.
Guian Gampac. Photo credit: Amber McGuckin.

 

Another member of the record-breaking team was Guian Gampac. The 17-year-old just came back from youth provincials for rock climbing and has nationals from Feb. 13- 15 in Burlington, Ontario.

He started rock climbing three years ago at Veridical Adventures.

“I started coming here after school every day,” he said. “I come even if I’m not climbing just to help the climbing community.”

Even after racing the clock for three hours for the world record, Gampac was like a active on the walls shortly after.

“I treated this as training for nationals,” he said. “[This] is not my big goal; my goal is to do well in nationals.”

The event is special for Gampac because he had to fundraise the money for his recent trip to provincials and his upcoming nationals trip.

“I don’t really have the support from my parents, so we had a fundraiser here that lasted five days. The goal was $1,000 and they raised $1,730,” he said. “I just wanted to come and pay back the climbing community. They’ve influenced my life so much that I don’t know what I would be doing if I’m not climbing.”

It’s kids like Gampac that Cheung hoped would be helped by the fundraiser.

“I started thinking about what was important to me and growing up in high school one of the things that made high school so much fun was the ability to participate in sports,” he said.

Since sports are such an important part of Cheung’s life, he wanted the fundraiser to help kids participate in sports so the fundraiser is for KidSport Winnipeg, a national not-for-profit providing financial assistance to youth who need it. According to the organization, one out of three kids can’t participate in sports due to costs.

“I thought that I was fortunate enough to play in sports and I think it’s really important in the development of children, so I put together this event,” he said. “Sports are about more than just health. It builds confidence, the ability to train and have a goal.”

The funds haven’t been tallied yet, but the goal was to get to $5,000.