Some of the best boulderers in the world gathered at the NEC last weekend on the 2-4th April to pull off some amazing climbing in front of an enthusiastic and over capacity crowd.

The result was the best set of results for the British Team ever! A podium place for Gareth Parry, 4th for Mark Croxall and 6th for Andy Earl, not forgetting Tom Sugden’s best ever position as he qualified for the final, finishing 12th. This was the first round of the 2004 UIAA-ICC Bouldering World Cup, and saw entrants from 14 countries competing for ranking points. It became the centre of attention at the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show, which attracted 50,000 visitors over the three days. Some of the performances on the specially built Entre Prises boulders were inspiring as the climbers sought to overcome the problems designed by Forerunner Laurent Boudier and his team. Male qualification on Friday saw Gareth Parry (GBR) & Killian Fischhuber (AUT) complete all six problems on their first attempts.

The pair were joined in the final by climbers from France, Slovakia & Holland. Female qualification on the Saturday morning saw Lucinda Hughes (GBR) miss out on a final placing by the narrowest of margins - one extra ‘bonus hold’ and she would have been in. Reigning World Champion Sandrine Levet (FRA) topped the ranking to qualify for the final along with climbers from Germany, Australia, Russia and Italy. The World Cup competitors shared centre stage with The North Face Junior Bouldering Challenge on Saturday and these young climbers wowed the audience with more fantastic climbing. Congratulations to Katie Whittaker and Tom Bolger on their victories. The finals on Sunday were a fitting finale to the weekend.

The women’s final went true to form with Sandrine Levet winning, although as ever Olga Bibik (RUS) pushed her all of the way. Jenny Lavarda (ITA) achieved her first podium place with a fine third, particularly impressive when you consider she is normally associated with Difficulty (lead) climbing. The male final saw Daniel Dulac (FRA) take victory with five successes out of six, only the evil crack evaded him. Killian Fischhuber (AUT) achieved his best ever result to finish second and Gareth Parry (GBR) climbed the last problem to complete the podium. Other notable results from the home Team were Mark Croxall in 4th, Andy Earl in 6th and Tom Sugden in 12th. Many, many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make the competition run smoothly. The Outdoors Show for next year is scheduled for 18-20 March.

View the results Female Qualifier Male Qualifier Female Final Male Final Female Overall Male Overall

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