By Joanna Stopford History and English Second Year
Once a year, climbers from around the country flock to the mighty Steel City of Sheffield to hurl themselves up a wall as many times as possible. What is this ritual of masochism? An initiation? A religious practice? Almost. It is the annual bouldering BUCS competition.
There is an array of competitors; some with a thousand-yard stare religiously lunging and stretching for an hour and a half. Some who do a few shakes, climb up an easy one and declare themselves ready (me). Despite more than a few injuries on the team, we trundled into our cars and powered up the M5 nervously anticipating the array of techy slab*, dynos**, and gnarly slopers***. (glossary for normal people: *vertical routes focused on balance and technical skill, **ones where you have to leap up the wall and catch a hold, ***holds with little to no edge, making them strenuous and reliant on forearm strength)
The location of the competition, The Climbing Works is seen as a kind of Mecca for climbing due to its proud status as the first bouldering-only gym in the UK, and the fact that the head route setter, Percy Bishton is also the head route setter for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It is within a thirty-minute drive from the Peak District, known for grit and limestone boulders and edges adorned with routes aptly named 'Don't Slip Now', 'Master's edge' and 'On a Wing and a Prayer' climbed by many celebrities of the 90s climbing world.
After a panic trying to log into the BUCS website at the same time as about a hundred others, the internet just about held up and we were raring to go. The setup of bouldering competitions is slightly counter-intuitive, as the emphasis is on being able to do the climbs in as few goes as possible, something that is not hugely emphasized when climbing day-to-day. Nevertheless, the Bristol team was packed with seasoned pros fueled by Greggs and Lidl and were ready to be unleashed onto the routes.
For three and a half hours we balanced, hurled, and pulled ourselves up as many routes as physically possible until the time was up and we settled our aching joints to watch the finals. Whilst the rest of the competition is fairly individual with a lack of spectators (apart from the people queueing to give that problem a go), the final is a showcase of some of the best climbers in the country intently watched by some 450 competitors. The competitors are kept in isolation to prevent any cheating by being able to 'read' the route and plan the moves, so they are hidden behind a tarpaulin with only the commentators rambling and the cheers of the crowd to give them clues. They come out in pairs of men and women and are given four minutes to do as well as they can on a problem. This set-up demonstrates the variety of climbing as it displays how people climb according to their strength, meaning that competitors can complete a climb in completely different ways. There were some familiar faces in the final, especially an individual known for his unique beta, which this year included using his head as an extra limb to get himself up the wall. Leeds achieved first places for men and women, followed by competitors from Birmingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Leeds Becket, Cambridge, Nottingham, and Edinburgh. Institutionally Sheffield won out overall. Bristol had a brilliant run coming in at 8th, 95th, 137th, and 153rd, from Harry Clarke, Tate Evans, Oliver Schiffmann, and Toby Nathan respectively out of 244 participants for the male results and the women at 68th, 109th, 126th, 132nd, 136th from Erin Nann, Tia Shah, Joanna Stopford, Beth Seymour, and Gabriella Giancola out of 214 female participants.
Overall it was a fantastic trip and a great show from Bristol. The team atmosphere was encouraging and kind and I encourage anyone interested in competing to try out and give it a go. Follow @uobclimbing or search UBMC on the SU website to stay updated on upcoming competitions and events.
Featured image: Oliver Schiffmann
