How to Organize a Bouldering Competition

Organizing a bouldering competition is a project with many moving parts, but every successful event starts with the same core checklist. Work through these items roughly 8-12 weeks before your event date — the further ahead you start, the fewer last-minute emergencies you will face.

Venue

• Gym partnership or standalone venue: Most bouldering competitions take place inside existing climbing gyms. Confirm wall availability, session times, and whether the gym will close to the public during the event. For outdoor events or festivals, you need portable walls or natural boulder fields with adequate crash pad coverage.
• Capacity: How many climbers can be on the walls simultaneously without safety conflicts? A typical gym can handle 80-150 climbers in a scramble format; larger facilities or outdoor venues can accommodate 200-400.
• Spectator space: Competitions draw audiences. Ensure there is a viewing area separated from the climbing zones, with sightlines to the main problems.

Insurance and Liability

• Event insurance: Most venues require a separate event liability policy covering participants and spectators. Contact your national climbing federation — many offer blanket event insurance for affiliated competitions.
• Waivers: Every participant must sign a liability waiver before competing. Digital waiver systems (integrated with registration) save time on event day.
• Medical plan: Have a first-aid kit on site and a designated first-aid responder. For larger events (100+ climbers), consider having a paramedic on standby.

Route Setting

• Hire experienced setters: Route setting is the single biggest factor in participant satisfaction. Budget for at least 2-3 setters for a scramble event (20-30 problems) and allow a full day of setting plus a half-day of testing.
• Grade distribution: Plan the spread before setting begins. A good starting point: 30% easy (introductory/beginner), 40% medium (intermediate), 20% hard (advanced), 10% elite (expert only).

Format Decision

• Scramble, circuit, or IFSC-style? Your format choice affects every other decision — from staffing to problem count to scoring. See the next section for a detailed comparison.

Categories

• Age groups, gender divisions, and skill-based tiers. Define these early because they affect registration, scoring configuration, and awards.

Budget

• Revenue: Registration fees, sponsorships, merchandise sales.
• Costs: Venue rental, route setter fees, insurance, prizes, marketing, scoring platform, staff/volunteer meals, equipment.
• Build a spreadsheet and track every line item. A typical gym competition budget ranges from $500 for a casual monthly league round to $5,000-15,000 for a large festival event.

Permits and Federation Affiliation

• Check whether your local or national federation requires event sanctioning. Sanctioned events may offer benefits like insurance coverage, official rankings points, and access to certified judges.

Equipment

• Crash pads (if not gym-provided), timing displays, PA system, problem markers/tape, QR code signs (for digital scoring), registration desk setup, awards/prizes.

Marketing and Registration

• Open registration 6-8 weeks before the event. Use a platform that collects participant data (name, date of birth for age categories, emergency contact). Promote via social media, gym newsletters, local climbing communities, and federation channels.

Route setting is the backbone of any bouldering competition. Even with perfect logistics, poor route setting will leave participants disappointed. Invest the time and budget to get this right.

How Many Problems to Set

The number of problems depends directly on your format:

Format	Problems	Setting Time (2-3 setters)
Scramble / Festival	20-30	1-2 full days
Circuit (per round)	4-6	Half day per round
IFSC-style (per round)	4-5	Half day per round

For a scramble event, 25 problems is a strong target — enough variety that climbers never feel idle, but not so many that some problems go unattempted.

Grade Distribution

A well-distributed set ensures every participant has meaningful problems to attempt, from first-time competitors to elite climbers:

• 30% Easy (introductory): Roughly V0-V2 / 4-5c. Every competitor should be able to Top at least several of these. They set the floor for participation and ensure no one leaves with a zero score.
• 40% Medium (intermediate): Roughly V3-V5 / 6a-6c. The bulk of the competition. These problems separate the middle of the field and generate the most attempts.
• 20% Hard (advanced): Roughly V6-V8 / 7a-7b+. Only experienced competitors will top these. They create separation at the top of the leaderboard.
• 10% Elite (expert): Roughly V9+ / 7c+. Designed so that only the very strongest competitors in the field can achieve a Top. Some may go untopped — that is by design.

Problem Safety

Safety is non-negotiable. Every problem must be evaluated for:

• Fall zones: Ensure adequate crash pad coverage beneath every problem. Identify any falls that could send a climber into a wall corner, pillar, or another climber's landing zone.
• Dangerous movements: Dynamic moves near the top of the wall, swings into adjacent structures, or uncontrolled barn-door falls should be eliminated or mitigated through pad placement.
• Start positions: Starting positions should not require dangerous static positions on volumes or features where a slip could result in an uncontrolled ground-level fall.

Testing Before Competition Day

Every problem must be tested by climbers who were not involved in setting it. Testing confirms:

1. The intended grade is accurate (grade inflation is the most common setter error)
2. The problem is safe from all realistic fall positions
3. The zone hold placement is meaningful (reachable by most target-grade climbers, but above the crux for higher-grade problems)
4. The top hold is unambiguous (no debate about which hold is the top)
5. There are no unintended beta shortcuts that trivialise the problem

Recruit 3-5 testers of varying ability levels and have each climber attempt every problem. Adjust holds, positions, or grades based on feedback before the event.

Zone and Top Hold Placement

• Zone hold: Should be placed at a meaningful midpoint — far enough into the problem that reaching it represents genuine progress, but accessible to most climbers in the target grade range. At scramble events using the Flash/Top/Zone points system, the zone carry significant point value and must feel earned.
• Top hold: Must be clearly identifiable (distinct tape colour or marking), large enough that control is unambiguous, and positioned so that achieving it represents completion of the full problem. Avoid holds where the top call is subjective — a clear jug or positive edge eliminates disputes.

A well-structured registration system ensures smooth event-day logistics and fair competition across all participant groups.

Age Categories

The standard IFSC-derived age categories used in most bouldering competitions are:

Category	Age Range	Notes
U14 (Youth D)	Under 14 years	Emphasis on participation and fun; consider limiting problem difficulty
U16 (Youth C)	14-15 years	First exposure to structured competition formats
U18 (Youth B)	16-17 years	Full competition rules apply at national-level events
U20 (Junior)	18-19 years	Eligible for IFSC Junior championships
Senior	20+ years	The standard adult category
Masters	40+ years (varies)	Growing in popularity; some events split into Masters 40+ and Masters 50+

Age is determined by the athlete's age on December 31st of the competition year (following IFSC convention). This means all athletes born in the same calendar year compete in the same age category, regardless of which month the competition falls in.

For local gym events, you have flexibility to simplify. Many casual competitions use just three categories: Youth (under 18), Adult (18-39), and Masters (40+). Choose the granularity that matches your expected field size — there is no value in having a category with only one or two competitors.

Gender Categories

Most competitions maintain separate male and female rankings within each age category. Some events also offer an Open category — a combined ranking across all genders — for climbers who prefer to compete against the widest possible field.

Skill-Based Divisions

For gym-level events, skill-based divisions can be more meaningful than age categories alone. Common approaches:

• Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced / Elite: Self-selected at registration. Define clear grade benchmarks (e.g., "Intermediate: regularly climbs V3-V5 in the gym") to guide self-selection.
• Open (all levels): A single division where everyone competes on the same problems and the ranking sorts itself naturally.
• Handicap system: Adjust point values based on declared ability level, so a beginner topping a V2 earns comparable points to an elite climber topping a V8.

Registration Platforms and Data Collection

Your registration platform should collect:

• Full name
• Date of birth (for automatic age-category assignment)
• Gender (for category placement)
• Emergency contact information
• Liability waiver acceptance
• Skill level (if using skill-based divisions)
• T-shirt size (if providing event merchandise)

JudgeMate integrates registration with scoring — athletes who register through the platform are automatically assigned to the correct category and appear in the scoring system on event day with no manual data entry.

Pricing Strategies

Strategy	Typical Range	Notes
Standard entry fee	$15-40 per person	Covers costs; adjust based on local market
Early bird discount	15-25% off	Incentivises early registration; helps with planning
Youth discount	30-50% off adult price	Encourages youth participation
Team/group discount	10-15% off per person	For groups of 4+ registering together
Season pass (leagues)	20-30% off per-round price	Locks in committed participants for the full season

Set registration caps based on your venue capacity. A sold-out event with a waitlist creates demand for your next competition; an overcrowded event creates safety hazards and a poor experience.

Digital scoring transforms competition management from a spreadsheet headache into a streamlined workflow. Here is how to set up your bouldering competition in JudgeMate, step by step.

Step 1: Create Your Event

Log into your JudgeMate organiser account and create a new event. Enter the event name, date, venue, and a brief description. Set the event type to Bouldering and choose your format (scramble, circuit, or IFSC-style).

Step 2: Add Boulders

Add each boulder problem to the event. For a scramble with 25 problems, create entries for Boulder 1 through Boulder 25. You can assign names, numbers, or colour codes to each problem — whatever system your route setters use.

Step 3: Configure Point Values

Set the scoring structure for your event. The standard scramble configuration:

Achievement	Points
Flash (Top on 1st attempt)	15
Top (Top in 2+ attempts)	10
Zone (reaching the midpoint hold)	5

JudgeMate allows custom point values, so you can adjust these if your event uses a different structure (e.g., higher flash bonuses, or bonus points for the hardest problems).

Step 4: Set Up Categories

Create your competition categories — age groups, gender divisions, skill levels, or any combination. JudgeMate automatically assigns registered athletes to the correct category based on their profile data (date of birth, gender). Configure separate leaderboards for each category.

Step 5: Enable Athlete Self-Reporting

For scramble events, enable the self-reporting feature. This generates a unique QR code for each boulder problem. Print these QR codes and place them visibly at each problem station. When a climber scans the code, the JudgeMate app opens directly to that problem's scoring input — they tap Flash, Top, or Zone, and the result is recorded.

Step 6: Configure Visibility Controls

Decide what participants and spectators can see during the competition:

• Live leaderboard: Show real-time rankings on a projected screen or public URL. Decide whether to show the full leaderboard or only the top 10 during the competition (some organisers hide the full rankings until the awards ceremony for dramatic effect).
• Individual results: Allow athletes to see their own score and ranking via the app throughout the session.
• Problem-level stats: Optionally show how many climbers have topped each problem — this creates social buzz and drives traffic to problems with low completion rates.

Step 7: Test Before Competition Day

This is the most important step. At least one day before the event:

1. Have 2-3 people scan every QR code and submit test results.
2. Verify that scores appear correctly on the leaderboard.
3. Confirm that category assignments are working (a test athlete in U16 should appear on the U16 leaderboard, not the Senior leaderboard).
4. Test the projector or screen display for the live leaderboard.
5. Clear all test data before the event begins.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Poor venue Wi-Fi: JudgeMate works offline — results sync when connectivity returns. However, inform climbers that leaderboard updates may be delayed.
• Athletes without smartphones: Have a few spare tablets at the registration desk for manual entry by staff.
• QR code damage: Print QR codes on laminated cards and bring spare copies. Chalk, sweat, and foot traffic can render codes unreadable by mid-event.