The day was full of great competition climbs, banging beers and tasty tunes. It was great to see so many of our regular climbers who we have got to know come down to celebrate with us. Our community at The Font over the last 2 years have been phenomenal and we were so happy to put together this event for them to enjoy.

The setting team had been hard at work during the week to set 40 qualifying climbs and 8 absolutely mega finals boulders that only a few would be able to try on the day.

Font Fest kicked off at 9am on Saturday with our first qualifying round. As the competitors began to get warmed up, the centre was buzzing with excitement, aided by the strong choice of tunes. After 3 hours of battling the fresh blocs, the first round was over, and the second qualifying round was prepped to begin at 12:30.

The second round was even busier than the first! With 150 keen climbers ready and waiting to get their mitts on the qualifiers, all hoping for a chance to compete in the finals. After another 3 hours of climbing, everyone was sufficiently tired, fresh out of skin (sorry about that) and psyched out of their minds! With the qualifying rounds finished, it was time to collect the results and reveal the 12 competitors that would be fighting for the top spot in the Font Fest Finals.

For the men’s finals we had Jules Astier, Callum Taylor, Adam Fidler, Kris Kothari, Shane Willis and Elias Bignold.

In the women’s finals we had Carmel Moran, Ky Giorgi, Sadie Perkins, Dipika Hopkins, Rasika Chomkwang and Eve Cuthbertson.

Font Fest Finals was truly a spectacular event to watch. The crowd flooded onto the mats and into the gym space, beer in hand. Matt VC and Konner B took the mic and used their witty humour and climbing knowledge to expertly commentate the whole of the finals.

The men were faced with a variety of different blocs that challenged both their technical ability and strength. M1 was a powerful boulder on good holds that required a huge amount of upper body power. M2 consisted of delicate body positions on terrible holds. M3 brought back the element of strength, requiring the competitors to dynamically campus their way to the zone. M4 had the crowd psyched. A huge dynamic move from the starting volume to a large hold which then required the climber to lache back to the starting volume and jump again to the zone (it was absolute madness)!

The women were also faced with a variety of climbing styles within their final blocs. F1 was a tricky to read boulder with very slopey holds and 20 footholds at the start (yes 20!). F2 was a bit more straightforward but required the climbers to find the right body position to make the most out of each hold. F3 featured a dynamic starting move that proved difficult for the competitors to read. F4 tested the women’s slab climbing ability on slopey volumes and slippy feet.

Everyone climbed their hearts out but, in the end, there could only be one winner. Elias Bignold managed to secure the victory in the men’s category and Eve Cuthbertson came out on top for the women.

We couldn’t be happier with how Font Fest went. We love seeing the community come together and share their passion for climbing. Congratulations to the winners Elias and Eve, and a huge thank you for everyone else who came along and got involved. Whether you just came along for a bit of fun or made it all the way to finals, thank you for celebrating our 2nd birthday with us and we really hope you enjoyed it!

Finally, a huge shout out to our entire team who helped make this event happen. From the routesetters who created the incredible blocs for everyone to climb, to our front of house and management team who expertly handled everything that was thrown at them. Without our amazing team, we wouldn’t have been able to pull off this incredible event in our climbing gym and their hard work throughout the run-up was invaluable. Thank you and see you at Font Fest 2024.