Landman and Coxsey crowned new British bouldering champions

Posted by Alex Messenger on 13/07/2015

Shauna Coxsey and Tyler Landman win the British Bouldering Championships at Cliffhanger, Sheffield

This weekend, the BMC British Bouldering Championships returned to Millhouses Park, Sheffield, as part of the annual outdoor Cliffhanger Festival.

Taking place on a specially-built covered stage, the championships attracted 71 entries, and were the highlight of the festival. As the sun beat down on a cheering crowd, the climbers were pushed to their limits on a variety of fiendish plastic problems, handcrafted by the expert routesetting team of Percy Bishton, Jamie Cassidy, Andy Long and Rob Napier.

It was soon clear that BMC ambassador Shauna Coxsey was back on form following a finger injury earlier this year. However, for once, she was up against some serious competition: French Bouldering Champion Fanny Gibert, currently on an internship at Sheffield University, had also entered. After the semi finals, Fanny was leading, but Shauna pulled it out of the bag on her home turf to flash all four problems in the final and win.

The men’s field was more open, with three climbers vying for top spot at times. Nathan Phillips crushed the qualifiers and Dave Barrans was leading after the semis, but it was visiting superstar Tyler Landman who finally climbed all four of the final boulders to take the title ahead of Dave Barrans and James Garden.

This year also saw some very strong performances by younger climbers, which shows great potential for our bouldering future.