Round 3 of the London University Bouldering Event (LUBE) kicked off at Arch Acton on February 4th, with 106 climbers from 13 universities across the UK taking part.
As the first center-wide competition hosted by Arch Acton, the qualifier boulders were scattered across all four levels of the converted art deco cinema. Set in a “diamond” of difficulty from V0 to V8, climbers had four hours to attempt the problems, receiving 10 points for each flash, 7 for topping on a second try, 4 on a third, and 1 on any other. The top 4 men and 5 women then advanced to the finals, with the top 3 of each landing on the podium.
The King’s team was slightly different to last round, with a mix of first timers competing alongside seasoned competitors. Sarina Bitomsky, a new addition to the team, praised the accessible nature of the qualifier boulders, saying that the difficulty levels meant that “there were easier [problems] to attempt for beginner climbers” while also offering up a challenge for more experienced ones. Dan Burge reflected on his preparation methods, attributing his strength to time spent training on the Kilter Board while acknowledging his technique had room for improvement.
For the finals, competitors were given four minutes to solve each problem (without seeing anyone else attempt it first), similar to traditional bouldering competitions. The first problems for both the men and women were coordination dynos, requiring a tricky catch to an angled crimp and a step through to a sloper hold respectively. Only Ian Davis (representing Birmingham) reached the zone hold, every other competitor struggled to stick the jump. Slopers on slabs and overhanging gastons featured in the second final; Davis and Darren Xi (Cambridge) flashed the men’s problem, while Seb Tam (Imperial) topped it after a number of attempts. It wasn’t until the third and last problem that any of the women found success, with Holly Davis (Cambridge) managing a flash.
Gabbie Lui (Birmingham) on women’s final problem 2
These problems were set at a higher difficulty, with the men’s finals reportedly set around V10 and the women’s as V7. Owing to this, the field was evidently split effectively, with fewer tops and zones scored overall compared to the previous round’s finals. On the men’s podium, Ian Davis won first place, while second and third went to Seb Tam and Darren Xi. Due to the difficulty of the women’s final boulders, second and third place were decided on points accrued from the qualifiers. The final results for the women were Holly Davis in first place, Imogen Dawe-Lane (UCL) in second and Eve Poirer (Warwick) in third.
All of the points scored by the competitors went towards the overall team standings; the top 5 (Cambridge, Imperial, Birmingham, UCL, and Warwick) remained the same after this round, but there were some shakeups further down. Notably, the King’s team moved up a rank once again, from eighth to seventh place.
