British Bouldering Championships 2025: Report
- Wednesday 29th January 2025
Report by James Lister/Depot Climbing
Hot on the heels of August’s 2024 British Bouldering Championships, 2025’s event occurred just five months later at the UK’s latest addition to the indoor rock-climbing scene: BIG Depot Manchester.
The BBCs act as one of the main selection events for GB Climbing and following athlete feedback, for the first time, the event took place ahead of the international competition season. This resulted in a strong field of competitors with a lot of internationally experienced athletes attending, including Olympic Gold medallist Toby Roberts and fellow Olympians, Erin McNeice and Hamish McArthur.
Qualifiers
The qualifying heats took place on Saturday, with the big hitters making it through to Sunday's semi-final rounds. Defending champion Zoe Peetermans showed she had no interest in giving up her crown easily, qualifying for the finals in second place. She was hot on the heels of Olympian, Erin McNeice, who went through in second place behind 2023’s winner Holly Toothill.
Meanwhile, in the men's qualifying, Hamish McArthur brought his recent good form that provided such a strong tick list of V14 and 15 boulders in Squamish to the mats of Manchester, tying with Team GB Paris gold medallist Toby Roberts in first place.
Semi-Finals
Twenty climbers progressed through to the Sunday morning semi-final round, with the top eight from each category moving into the evening finals.
Max Milne led the charge in the men's heat, with an impressive three tops and one zone, including two flashes to move comfortably into the final, closely followed by Toby Roberts with the same number of tops in three more attempts.
2023’s defending men's champion Sam Butterworth came through semis in 5th place, with two tops and two zones, just ahead of McArthur and Nathan Whaley and Jamie Jenkins, both producing matching scores to round off the eight men's finalists.
In the women's semi-final round, Erin McNeice cruised through to finals, producing four tops, including three flashes, in her usual effortless style that has seen her dominate the domestic competition calendar of late.
Previous title holders were right behind Erin, with 2024 Champion Zoe Peetermans producing four tops and 2023 Champion Holly Toothill with three and a zone, setting the scene for a competitive final of serious pedigree. Narrowly trailing the top three was current Youth European Bouldering Champion, Lucy Garlick, with a further three tops in slightly more attempts.
Finals
With the semi-finals concluded, there were now 16 competitors remaining from 150 hopefuls that began qualifying on Saturday morning.
A crowd of 150 eager spectators gathered to cheer on the best British competition climbing has to offer, with a further 17k streaming online, as eight men and eight women prepared to battle it out for the crown of British Champion.
Maya Patel and Connie Bridgens were the first women out for B1 in the finals, a slab with a balanced start to a dynamic jump and mantel ahead of a delicate and droppable finish, both coming away with a zone and no top. Emma Edwards eventually topped B1 on her third attempt, before Zoe and Erin followed up as the only other athletes to top the first women's boulder of finals.
On the men's opening problem, no competitor was able to top the boulder, with just four of the eight climbers scoring a zone. Those getting a score on this boulder all utilised a heel hook to aid in the early movement.
Tops began on M2, and flashes were seen from Jack MacDougall, Dayan Akhtar and Hamish, and Toby following up with a top on the fifth attempt. This tricky boulder involved a jump start to a capped hold before a dynamic jump to a crimp zone before a tension-dependent, wide move to the top.
Things didn’t ease up on W2, with a difficult coordination movement early on proving difficult for most of the competitors, Fae MacDougall getting the top in four attempts, behind Emma on her second attempt and Erin continuing to look relaxed with a flash.
A technical boulder involving heel and toe hooks and rollovers on positive dual tex holds on W3 proved to be more amenable to the competitors, as it saw four flashes from Erin, Emma, Fae, and Lucy with zone scores from Zoe and Holly.
The M3 bloc proved more amenable, seeing six tops from the eight competitors despite its technical nature. A jump and catch from an undercut start led to a technical and balance-dependent reach for the top hold. Hamish McArthur provided the first top after five attempts, pressing through the top volume to confidently move through the top move. Further tops were made by Sam, Jac, Dayan, Toby and Max, all employing slightly different beta for the tricky top moves.
W4 saw four flashes and a total of seven tops, Erin, Emma, Fae and Lucy all casually making the boulder look a lot easier than it was. The first top came from Connie Bridgens who got the top on her fifth attempt, with help from a cheering crowd urging her on. Holly Toothill recovered from a false start due to a timing malfunction to keep her head and add another top to her scoreline.
Last out on W4 was Erin McNeice, who kept her consistency to float up the final boulder and wrap up a perfect score of four flashes to take the title for the first time.
Going into the final men's boulder, Dayan Akhtar and Jack MacDougall were in strong contention for the title, with Hamish hot on their heels and what proved to be one of the tougher boulders to decide it all.
A delicate walk along high-angled volumes, before a big jump to the tiniest of holds screwed on to a dual tex volume proved tough for most of the field, with only the aforementioned Jack, Dayan and Hamish making it through this section. The top section provided no let up, with a deep undercut of a volume and a high foot on a poor hold leading to a dynamic jump to a top hold that had to be pressed to be held, with Max Milne proving that the hard work of the lower section wasn’t over after being spat off setting up for the final move.
A notable flash of the final boulder from Dayan Akhtar applied pressure on Jack MacDougall, who topped the boulder on his fifth attempt to wrap his first British Bouldering Championship title with less than a minute to go to rapturous applause and cheering from the spectators watching on.
The men’s final ended with Jack taking the top of the podium, with Hamish in 2nd and Dayan in 3rd. The women’s podium saw Erin McNeice on top, followed by Emma Edwards and Fae MacDougall.
Women’s Result
1. Erin McNeice
2. Emma Edwards
3. Fae MacDougall
4. Lucy Garlick
5. Zoë Peetermans
6. Holly Toothill
7. Connie Bridgens
8. Maya Patel
Men’s Result
1. Jack MacDougall
2. Hamish McArthur
3. Dayan Akhtar
4. Toby Roberts
5. Maximillian Milne
6. Sam Butterworth
7. Jamie Jenkins
8. Nathan Whaley
