Awesome Walls

UV Climbing Nights Light Up Awesome Walls Dublin & Cork

UV Climbing Nights

On Thursday, 30th October, Awesome Walls Dublin and Cork were glowing – literally. Our (soon-to-be annual) UV Climbing Nights burst into life with a riot of colour, fancy dress, and all-round good vibes. As always, our incredible indoor climbing community showed up in style.

From neon chalk to wild costumes, the atmosphere was electric. Climbers of all levels got involved, lighting up the walls with everything from glowing skeletons and space explorers to fluorescent bananas (yes, really). The creativity and energy on display proved once again that bouldering and roped climbing can be as fun and expressive as they are challenging.

But the real magic of the UV climbing nights came from the people. Whether you were projecting hard boulders, cheering on your friends, or just soaking up the atmosphere, the sense of connection was unmistakable. Events like this remind us how lucky we are to have such an enthusiastic, supportive, and brilliantly fun group of climbers at both centres.

Thanks to all of you!

A huge shout-out goes to our phenomenal Awesome Walls staff, whose hard work and planning made the night run seamlessly. From the route setters who prepped glowing problems, to the reception teams decked out in fancy dress, to everyone who stayed late to make it happen – thank you. Your effort is what turns a good event into a great one.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped light up the walls. We can’t wait to do it all again next year. If you missed out, don’t worry – UV Night will be back, brighter than ever. Start planning those outfits now and get ready to experience one of the most exciting climbing events in Ireland.

Check out these photos from the UV Climbing Nights

Eight weeks ago I was idly checking my social media when a friends post in our running group caught my eye.
‘I’m injured, does anyone want my Race Across Scotland place?’ As expected no one snatched up his offer as running 225 miles over Scotlands Southern Upland Way in under 100 hours appealed!
Funnily enough though a few people mentioned my name…
Whilst big epic running challenges are my thing, I felt with only six weeks notice and a lack of big training days, I wasn’t quite ready for such suffer fest.
I also had the slight complication that I had a 100 mile race two weeks before that one!

To cut a long story short I accepted the place, I only ran 40 miles of the 100 and arrived at Portpatrick on Friday the evening before the big race.

On Saturday 6am 163 of us set off heading East to push our bodies and minds to their limits.
As the miles clicked away we ate plenty and slept little but pushed on regardless.
Day 1, day 2, day 3 were a blur and eventually day 4 arrived.
Everyone was totally spent but with the finish line close (40+ miles) we needed to crack on and complete this epic journey.
Unfortunately many people had had to drop out along the course but 63 competitors pushed on.
After running for 85 hours and sleeping for less than 5 hours I eventually hit a pain barrier that tried to thwart my progress.
Blisters on four toes, the base of one foot and around both ankles brought me to a hobble/wobble!
I had a final nine miles to the finish and NOTHING was going to stop me. While I walked, hobbled, tripped and jogged, a few hardier runners passed me but we all had the same goal in mind.

I’m pleased to say that I crossed the finish line after 227 miles and 89 hours and raised an awesome £2100+ for Mind Charity (the JustGiving page is still open for donations https://bit.ly/DavesRAS24)

I had a good friend Dave Jones help me along the way with nutrition (pot noodles), kit (sweaty clothes) and encouragement (move it…). Without his tremendous support the outcome would not have been the same.

I’ve received so much positive support via emails, social media and personally that I can’t thank my supporters enough.

My years of climbing have taught me many things, but one of the most important things is ‘Stay Positive’.

Hope to see you at the climbing wall soon,

Dave Douglas