January was entirely dedicated to competitions. There were so many enjoyable comps that it was sometimes difficult to decide which ones I wanted to enter. In this blog, I look back on a month filled with bouldering competitions and surprising formats in various bouldering gyms across the Netherlands.
Catch013
At Catch013 in Tilburg, you are placed in a category based on your level and climb 8 boulders within that category. That is not many, but all the boulders are immediately at the right level. You do not have to work your way through a long series of easy problems first. Personally, I find that a pity, because I like to have a few extra boulders to warm up and get into a flow.
I climbed the first 5 boulders quickly. After that, 3 tough problems remained, graded 7B and harder. I gave up on one of them fairly quickly. The holds were positioned at strange angles and, after a dynamic jump, you had to catch yourself on a single small edge. That does not suit me.
The other two boulders were set in the overhang. On the first, it was mainly a matter of figuring out the correct sequence of foot placements, but after a few attempts I managed to complete it as well.
The final boulder consisted of pockets, usually my favourite holds. Unfortunately, they were positioned in a way that felt illogical to me. I solved this by using one of the pockets as a mono and matching on it. Not elegant, but effective. With a pogo movement, I jumped to the finishing hold.
In the end, I climbed 7 of 8 boulders. Still, I did not really enjoy the set. This was mainly due to the way the holds were positioned in several of the problems. Because of the forecast of slippery roads, I left early. Later, I heard via Instagram that I had come in first. A few days later, I picked up my prize after all: a nice T-shirt.
Wildflower Birds of Spray Bouldering Competition
The day after Catch013, I travelled to Leiden curious about Wildflower-comp. My skin still felt good and I was wondering about this concept, as it was a spray wall competition. I had never been to this bouldering gym before and did not quite know what to expect.
The gym is compact and consists of a 40 degree spray wall, a section of vertical spray wall and a MoonBoard. In addition, there are training facilities such as a campus board, hangboard and free weights. It is immediately clear that this gym is not intended for a first climbing experience, but primarily for focused training and getting stronger. The spray wall offers a wide variety of holds.
The atmosphere is open and friendly. Everyone seems to be there with the same goal: to climb hard and have fun. At the start, I received a beautiful competition shirt, which secretly may have been the main reason for participating. At twelve o clock, after a brief explanation, we began thirty boulders, which could be viewed in the app Boulderbook. For each boulder, you can see which holds may be used and which rules apply, such as whether matching is allowed or not.
The first boulders are relatively easy. The challenge lies mainly in remembering the holds and the sequences. As the boulders become harder, the number of holds decreases and the overview actually improves. On the MoonBoard, you only have to follow the colours, which provides some calm.
Because I did not know in advance how difficult the set would be, I worked through the list systematically from number 1 to 30. At times, I discovered creative solutions, such as a ghost match on a boulder where matching was officially not allowed. The pace was slower than in a regular competition, as each boulder requires careful study. This gave my body sufficient rest in between attempts.
I fell at boulder thirty. It was truly difficult, and after twenty nine boulders my energy was largely gone. Later, I heard that I had achieved the highest score across both sessions. My prize was a beautiful backpack.
I genuinely enjoyed this competition. The concept is strong, the boulders are challenging and the community feels welcoming. It felt more like a pleasant day of training together than a classic competition. If you are in the Leiden area and looking for something different from standard climbing gyms, Wildflower is absolutely worth a visit. With the app, you also gain access to hundreds of spray wall boulders.
Dockmasters 2026
Dockmasters was the first major competition of the year. Just like last year , we attended on Saturday so that we could watch both the women’s qualification round and the semi finals later on. The organisation was once again strong and, with 60 boulders, there was plenty of challenge. In the end, just like last year, I climbed fifty five boulders. One too few for the podium. I did enjoy the set more this year. There was greater variety in the movements and less repetition.
If I could improve one thing, it would be the long reset before the semi finals. It interrupts the flow of the event. With fewer qualification boulders, the semi final problems could already be set in the wall, covered with a curtain. That would allow the programme to run more smoothly.
Bruut Locals
At my favourite bouldering gym, Bruut in Breda. a small scale locals competition was organised. The focus was on climbing together in a relaxed atmosphere, without real competitive pressure. There were fun extras such as duo boulders, speed boulders and a run and plopper challenge. My goal was simple: to finish above Martijn. He was eager to beat me once before I turn 40, and of course I could not let that happen. Just like in previous competitions, I climbed many boulders quickly, until I got stuck on 2 problems.
The first required you to run to the left across volumes. Although I had practised this type of movement more often lately, I could not make it work this time. Other climbers like made it look easy, but I did not come close. The second boulder was a technical problem on new Cheeta holds. You would expect them to be rough, yet I found them surprisingly smooth. As soon as I understood the puzzle, I completed it on the very next attempt.
I climbed the duo boulders together with Martijn. It remains special to use each other as a climbing hold. In the speed boulder against Martijn, I lost immediately because my foot slipped on the first move. A second attempt did not improve the result.
After adding up the scores, Martijn was five points ahead. Because of his win in the speed boulder and a higher score in the run and plopper challenge, I still had to do something extra. After a few additional sprints towards the wall, I managed to place the stopper just high enough to secure the victory. I went home with a beautiful trophy.
Beest Boulder Marathon
Throughout the entire month of January, Beest in Breda hosted a boulder marathon. Each week, new boulders were added, building up to a total of 60. Every boulder counted equally: one point for the zone, two for the top and three for a flash.
Because of a busy schedule, I chose a different approach. I went only in the final week and climbed all the boulders in a single 1 session. A kind of Dockmasters, but solo. I moved through them quickly and logged everything in Toplogger. Even the hardest boulders went down within a few attempts. One problem remained: the most difficult of the set, with a bathang start. I could not make that one work.
After changing, I began to complete my scorecard and discovered that several boulders had already been taken down for other sets, such as slab of the week. I found that disappointing. I did not miss just one, but more than five boulders, which significantly reduced my score. This time, a win was unfortunately out of reach.
