HORRABRIDGE schoolboy Alex Waterhouse, who is a member of the Great Britain junior climbing team has been getting some impressive results both home and abroad.

The European Cup season kicked off in May in the International Indoor Climbing Arena, in Edinburgh where Alex competed in his first European event - finishing an impressive 11th.

In July the 15 year-old won his first national event at the Youth Open. This performance saw him selected for the European Championships being held in Gemozac in France this November.

A week later he was in European Cup action again, this time in Austria at Imst — qualifing for the final, finishing 10th overall from a field of nearly 50 of the best young climbers in Europe — an impressive feat in his first year of international competition.

Alex is now ranked 18th in Europe despite only having competed in two of the four rounds so far.

He said: 'Imst showed I'm not far behind the best in Europe, so I've now got 12 weeks to train hard and try and push for a podium at the European Championships.'

Alex trains at The Barn Climbing Centre at Milton Abbot and the High Sports wall at The Life Centre.

To help fund his climbing Alex makes and sells a range of chalkbags through his website http://www.TinyClimb.com">www.TinyClimb.com

To follow his progress go to his blog site at alexwaterhouse.blogspot.com