The UK’s best student climbers gear up for the highly anticipated BUCS Climbing Championships this weekend.
Over 400 climbers will travel to Sheffield this weekend to compete in the 2022/23 BUCS Climbing Championships.
Now in its second year, the UK University Climbing Championships offer students of all ability levels the opportunity to represent their university on the national stage. Open to both novice and experienced climbers, students will compete across three difficulties during the one-day event, ranging from easy, medium, and hard.
From boulder problems to lead climbs, the competition is intense as climbers test their strength, endurance, and mental focus in order to be crowned BUCS National Champions.
Now just two days away, our countdown to the BUCS Nationals continues as we look at where this year’s Championships will be taking place and highlight some of the main events taking place on Saturday.
Where are the Climbing Championships held?
Students from across the UK will once again gather to compete and showcase their skills on the challenging walls of The Climbing Works, a world-class climbing venue based in Sheffield.
Climbers will have the opportunity to compete at a top-level facility that is frequently used as a training base for Team GB’s climbing team.
Championship Format
Multiple champions will be crowned on Saturday, with an individual and team title being awarded in both men’s and women’s categories.
All climbers will be scored on a total of 25 routed climbs, nine easy-level climbs, eight medium-level climbs, and eight hard-level climbs. Participants earn the maximum points by succeeding on the first attempt (10 points), with lesser points available for completing on the second or third attempts.
In total, climbers can earn a maximum of 250 points. Last year, only three students were able to achieve a perfect score of 250 in the individual category, including Finley Wood (Sheffield), Kieran Forrest (Sheffield Hallam), and Jim Pope (Sheffield Hallam).
Last Year’s Champions
With almost 50 universities represented at this year’s Climbing Championships, each institution will be vying for the ultimate prize of being named Overall Champion. The overall title is awarded to the university with the highest combined score from the top 3 climbers on the team.
We look at which universities took home the overall titles last year and which students will be returning from the winning teams.
Men’s Overall Champions
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) emerged as last year’s winners of the Men’s Overall title with a score of 720.
As well as securing gold and silver medals in the men’s individual climbs, Jim Pope and Kieran Forrest helped SHU to victory along with their teammate, Elias Bignold.
Both Keiran (pictured) and Elias return to this year’s Championships as they look to fend off last year’s runners-up and rivals, Sheffield.
Women’s Overall Champions
The University of Sheffield took the Overall Women’s title last year with a combined score of 567.
Scores from Kitty Morrison, Grace Fidler, and Flo Brailsford helped Sheffield claim the inaugural title, ahead of runners-up Bangor (517) and third-placed Edinburgh (514).
Kitty, Grace, and Flo (pictured) all return to this year’s event as they look to retain the overall crown and challenge for individual glory.
Stay tuned for all the results coming next week!
Find out which students were victorious here as we will be bringing you all the important results from each Championship event at the 2022/23 BUCS Nationals.
Check back in to discover which universities have claimed the championship titles next week!
In the meantime, you can learn more about climbing at the UK university level here.
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