The Big Flash 2014 is a free three-day festival of climbing and competition (26-28 September) based around The Flash Championship – a bouldering competition unique to East Anglia and open to climbers from across the nation and beyond.

This will be the second annual festival at Highball Climbing Centre in Norwich but it will see the first major competition to take place on their huge DMM competition wall – the largest competition wall in the country.

Last year's inaugural event supported Climbers Against Cancer. It was very much a local affair but still raised almost £2500. This year’s event is going national and promises to be bigger and better. Once again, Climbers Against Cancer will be the focus of the fundraising, but this year 25% of the funds raised will go to support the GB Climbing Team for the 2015 season – a nice touch by a Gold Supporter!

The competitions

The event opens on the Friday evening with the ever popular ‘NuKidsOnTheBloc’ Comp, which is for adults and juniors who climb up to a maximum of around 6a. There will be 30 blocs to try across the centre, with cash prizes across five categories including two junior categories (U12 and U16).

The main event, The Flash Championship, will adopt a full World Cup Format with route setting from an infamous team, consisting of Bishton, Genoux, Long and Whittaker. Qualifiers A and B will take place on Saturday over 30 blocs from Font 5, with the 20 top scoring male and females going through to Sunday's semi finals. There, they will battle it out for a place in the grand final on the Sunday evening where a huge crowd and a £3k prize fund awaits. Winning male and female will take home £500 each, with cash prizes for all other finalists.

You can enter either competition as an individual or team (or both) and there are cash prizes for winners, plus lots of raffle prizes and giveaways too. Just be in it to win it.

Registration for both competitions is now open online at www.thebigflash.co.uk

They are also adding a Dyno Comp to this year’s program, with qualifications on Saturday and the final on Sunday. There's no need to register for this, just turn up on the day.

What else is happening over the weekend? 

In addition to the two climbing competitions there will be a whole timetable of free climbing and non-climbing events taking place alongside the comps. There really will be something for everyone, including a boot demo, climbing coaching, strength and conditioning sessions, yoga, pilates, osteopathy, physiotherapy and sports therapy consultations, as well as workshops and seminars on sports injuries and nutrition.

All climbing sessions/coaching/activities/consultations are free all weekend. All you’ll be asked to do is to donate appropriate monies for each activity you take part in, or alternatively make one big donation for the whole weekend.

See www.thebigflash.co.uk for full details and registration and keep an eye on the @HighballNorwich Facebook and Twitter feeds for the latest updates.

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