British Bouldering Championships 2007. Photo: Messenger/BMC
This year the BBC's will be slightly different due to the IFSC Bouldering World Cup being held during the Cliffhanger Outdoor Festival on the 3-4 July, the BBC's has been moved forward to the weekend before Cliffhanger. It will still be in the same marquee in Millhouses Park, Abbeydale, Sheffield, S7 2QQ, and will be totally free to watch!
There are four competitor categories – junior male and junior female (born 1994-1998), and senior male and senior female (born 1993 or earlier).
The reigning national champions are:
Senior Male: Ned Feehally
Senior Female: Leah Crane
Junior Male: Jonathan Stocking
Junior Female: Shauna Coxsey
The competition consists of a qualification round of 10 problems, and a final round of 5 problems. There is no isolation for the qualifying round, each competitor is allowed 3 attempts on each problem and receives 10, 7 or 4 points dependent upon whether the problem is completed on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd attempt. Additionally a bonus or tie break point is available for ‘holding’ a specified hold.
The final will have 6 climbers from each category and, each climber is given 5+ minutes (as long as a climber has started climbing before 5 mins is up, they will not be asked to come down off the problem) to attempt a problem and is allowed as many attempts as required within that time period. They then will proceed directly onto the next problem.
The scoring for the finals is significantly different from the qualifiers. There are no points as such. The winner is the one who does the most problems in the least number of attempts. If there is a tie after looking at number of problems then the number of bonus/tie break holds are looked and also the number of attempts to get those bonus holds.
The championships will also form part of the selection process for the 2010 Senior British Bouldering Team. Competitors will be selected on their performance at the BBC's as well as past and potential performance.
There is no qualification process to gain entry into the British Bouldering Championships, and the competition is open to anyone. The problems range from V2 to V8 in the junior categories, and V3 to V10 in the seniors. The juniors will compete on the Saturday, with the Seniors climbing on the Sunday. We look forward to welcoming new and established competitors.
Download the BMC British Bouldering Championships entry form
Download the BMC British Bouldering Championships rules and regulations
If you don’t want to compete, but want to come along to spectate and cheer on the climbers, the event will be a free to watch event held in the big marquee that will host the Boulder World Cup event a week later at Cligffhanger in Millhouses Park. Visit the Cliffhanger website for information on the location of Millhouses Park and all the activities and entertainment at the UK’s largest outdoor outdoor-pursuits festival over the weekend.
The BBC's problems will be set with Entre-Prises climbing holds. Entre-Prises are now the official supplier of bolt-on holds to the BMC.
