The Boulder Field Masters Series
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This Friday, July 26, the first of The Boulder Field Masters series begins. This series consists of three competitions with cash prizes totaling $60,000. Each competition will take place at The Boulder Field, in Sacramento, California, and will have a unique format for both professional and citizen categories.
The first format, dubbed The Greatest Flasher, will be a true flash or trash comp. The pros will have a qualifying round Friday night and finals Saturday night. During the qualifying round, each gender will have ten boulders and the opportunity to try each boulder only once. A flash is worth ten points and achieving the zone is worth one point. The top six pros advance to finals, where they will have ten more boulders. During the final round, competitors may watch each other climber and fight to go in whatever order they’d like, but they only have 45 minutes for all the problems.
“I think flash format will be a challenging and exciting twist on the typical bouldering format,” said Colin Duffy, who recently won the USA Youth Nationals for Male A. “It will require climbers to be much more strategic and meticulous than normal. This will be my first time at a comp with a format of this nature.”
Citizens, who may enter as youth, junior, beginner, intermediate, advanced or masters, will compete midday on Saturday on 55 boulders. They will have a traditional redpoint format, but there will be a hefty flash bonus.
Throughout the comp, spectators can enjoy food trucks, music, coffee, locally brewed kombucha and, of course, beer.
“We have been planning a competition series like the TBF Masters for several years,” said Carlo Traversi, pro climber and president of The Boulder Field. “ I wasn’t convinced that the current format was the best format for displaying climbing. The formats we picked were the result of a collaboration with a lot of people …It’s an experiment in some ways.”
The second TBF Master comp is The Force Majeure, a comp devoted to old-school style climbing—aka power! It will take place September 20-21. The third and final comp in the series is The Modern Climber, a homage to today’s parkour-style boulders, taking place December 6-7. Stay tuned for the deets on both of these events.
“We look forward to collaborating with The Boulder Field to introduce a new competition climbing format and inspire others to go climbing in future seasons to come,” said Willem Driessen, the vice -president of global marketing for Black Diamond, the title event sponsor.
More information about categories, prizes and registration can be found at tbfmaster.com.