Originally established by KCL’s Mountaineering and Climbing Club (KCLMC) in 2010, this year’s edition of the London University Bouldering Event (LUBE) promises to be even bigger and better, cementing its reputation as the UK’s largest student-run, non-profit bouldering competition.
A few changes have taken place since last year. KCLMC has secured a record number of sponsorships, including bouldering plans from Lattice Training, hangboards, and most excitingly, the indispensable Boot Bananas. In the interest of inclusivity, teams must now have a 1:1 gender ratio, or as close to it as possible. In a team the maximum size of 8, there must be 4 men and 4 women; a slightly uneven ratio of males to females is permitted if there are trans/non-binary competitors. If the team is unable to meet this requirement, only the top scorers’ results will count towards the university total, thus making the competition more equal.
Following on from Round 1 last month at BethWall Green, Round 2 was held at CroyWall in south London on 26 November, with university teams journeying from all over the UK to compete. In the qualifiers, competitors were given 3 hours to attempt 25 boulder problems scattered around the gym, with points being awarded based on the number of attempts for a top or bonus holds. Rather than being overly competitive, the atmosphere throughout was friendly (albeit a bit hazy from the sheer amount of chalk everywhere), climbers from different universities discussing the problems together and cheering each other on. From here, 3 of the top scoring men and women advanced to the final, challenged with problems set specially for them.
The men’s boulder problem was a fiendishly difficult slopey, overhanging route: despite this, flashes were managed by competitors Sammy Oakes and Ian Davies (both from the University of Birmingham). This forced a tiebreaker problem, which paradoxically failed to break the tie as neither could top it. First and second place were eventually decided based on who achieved the higher number of points in the qualifier, with Oakes coming in first and Davies in second. Rounding out the men’s podium, Oliver Marx of Cambridge came in third, topping the problem on his third attempt. The women’s final problem was more decisive as only Hannah Zia (also Cambridge) managed a top. Second place went to Asha Bakhai and third to Anna Soligo, both representing Imperial. These results count towards the final LUBE standings, putting the finalists and their universities in a good position for the rest of the year.
Although no one from the King’s team made it into the final, the team still moved up the rankings from ninth to eighth, with competitors determined to focus on training for the next round. Team member Tamsin White reflected on the competition as a learning experience, saying she felt more confident compared to the last round and had developed a strategy to try some of the harder routes first to ease stress during the qualifiers. KCLMC President Alex Castle noted the “crazy” hard work put in by LUBE Secretary Karishma Pepper to organise the event, while Vice President Daniel Clark highlighted a remark someone had previously made that “they were surprised an event of this scale running so smoothly could be run by students.”
While King’s may not have triumphed this time, both Presidents stressed the inclusive nature of the club and emphasised that climbing is a social sport. And if Round 2 is anything to go by, the team has a bright future ahead.
