A new mobile climbing wall has been travelling the streets of Southend, just in time for this year’s Olympics.

Southend’s own rock climbing gym, Indirock – located inside the Victoria shopping centre – secured a grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to buy the new, mobile, wall.

Kicking off this weekend in Paris, the 2024 Olympics is set to create a buzz around climbing, and Indirock wanted to "enable as many people as possible" to experience climbing for free.

The mobile climbing wall is pink and yellow, standing at nearly four metres tall, and works on a rotating system, similar to a treadmill.

There is only a handful of these mobile climbing walls in the UK, making Indirock’s one of only a few in the country.

The wall had huge success at Southend’s Manifest Festival earlier this month, as well as Southend Around the World events.

It will feature at multiple summer events and festivals this year – including Lazy Days Festival in Southend this weekend (26 – 28 July).

For the first time in history, this year’s Olympics will see bouldering and lead climbing become its own event.

Bouldering is the rawest form of rock climbing, demanding strength, agility, and problem-solving – packed with different routes and intense challenges, testing climbers’ abilities.

Competitors scale walls of up to 4.5 metres in height, without ropes, relying on their own skills and the safety of padded mats below.

The scoring systems rewards the climbers’ mastery over the routes and their strategic approaches, as well as their ability to reach the top.

In this year’s Olympics, the UK is represented by four athletes - a huge increase from only one GB climber in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - including Molly Thompson-Smith, Erin McNeice, Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur.

So far, more than 100 people have enjoyed using Indirock’s mobile climbing wall for free, with many more set to do so over the coming months.

For more information, visit indirock.co.uk