WHAT IS THE GRAVITY BOWL?
South Africa's biggest bouldering competition!
Hosted annually, (with a couple of years of pandemic not included) the Gravity Bowl brings international standard competition bouldering to the climbing community in South Africa, along with a great after party of course!
It includes bouldering rounds for ALL climbers and a final round where advanced climbers get to battle it out for the annual Gravity Bowl trophy!
To get you psyched, here is some of the action from last year!
SO.....THE GRAVITY BOWL, HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?
The simple answer....passion for climbing!
The longer answer...
From the moment we opened our doors, Bloc 11 wanted to bring international standard climbing to South Africa. We want to offer the best holds & setting for ALL climbers, whether you are just starting out, or have been climbing for all of your life.
The Gravity Bowl takes this all a step further. We can bring our amazing climbing community together, offer the best bouldering in the country to climbers of all abilities and celebrate this passion with you all!
The inspiration for the fanatics final stemmed from international events boasting the worlds top athletes battling it out for the annual trophy or title. The purpose is to create a spectacle of our countries and some of the worlds best climbers, showing our community what top end competition bouldering is all about! Trust us....it is a show that is not to be missed!
Then of course, we throw a big party afterwards to celebrate another year of amazing climbing with you all!
WHERE DOES THE NAME COME FROM?
Well.......the Super Bowl of course. As one of the the world's most-watched single sporting events we were inspired to take on our own climbing spin on it...
GRAVITY BOWL OVER THE YEARS
So, before we go into the detail of how this event has grown over the past few years, we have to of course mention the Gravity Bowl animal. Each year is represented by a unique animal displayed on the posters, t-shirts and of course the winners trophy!
Bloc 11 opened its doors towards the end of 2016 and with that, the need to celebrate the birth of SA's new premium bouldering facility!
So it all started with Gravity Bowl 1 and Bloc 11 celebrating their opening!
Then came Gravity Bowl 2! Hosted within the same year!
For this one we had guest appearances from athletes like Jesse Gruppe an American National team athlete and some of SA's out of town talent as well!
In 2018 we had Gravity Bowl 3! This was the first year where we introduced the winners trophy! These were made to match the animal on the poster that year and has now become a tradition!
Gravity Bowl 4!
The year of the Zebra where power couple Paige Claasen and Arjan de Kok walked away with matching zebra trophies!
Then....as well all know.....
The world was locked down....
But....Bloc 11 came back stronger and we opened a second bouldering gym in Cape Town through it all!
With a light recivery period needed after the pandemic, we brought back the Gravity Bowl in 2023!
The year of the Penguin, and our biggest competition to date!!
SO, WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THE GRAVITY BOWL 6?
VENUE?
Bloc 11 Diep River
DATE?
13 July 2024
Our day starts off with morning bouldering rounds, which is also serve as the qualifier for fanatics finalists. This is a comp for ALL AGES AND ABILITIES! We have 40 boulder problems, so plenty of climbing for everyone!
We encourage everyone who is psyched on climbing to enter! We set boulders for all levels and make categories for all abilities so that everyone can enjoy the day!
We include categories for:
- Under 13 (Anyone born in 2013 or younger)
- Under 18 (Anyone born between 2006 and 2014)
- Kooks (I have just started out / have been climbing for under a year)
- Weekend Warriors (I climb out of bed, go to the gym fairly regularly and dabble in the outdoors)
- Fanatics (Everything I do revolves around climbing!!!!)
There are some incredible prizes up for grabs for all categories and tons of spot prizes up for grabs!
We then have an evening final for advanced fanatics competitors who battle it out for the Gravity Bowl winner's title! This CANNOT be missed and we welcome as much support for our finalists as possible!
And then after finals and prize giving, the best part.....
The AFTER PARTY!
OTHER THAN THE CLIMBING, WHAT ELSE DOES GRAVITY BOWL HAVE TO OFFER?
The parking lot outside of Bloc 11 Diep River is completely transformed! We will be setting up a marque filled with tables, chairs, beanbags and heaters to keep things cosy
We will have a number of climbing brands and stakeholders selling their wares with some exciting competitions and giveaways for everyone
There will be a selection of yummy treats and drinks on sale at the Bloc 11 Cafe and at our food vendors, and of course there will be the limited edition Shackleton's "Gravity Brew" beer on sale, brewed specifically for and sold only at this event!
Throughout the day we will have an assortment of DJs and bands lined up, playing in the marque keeping things festive
WHAT IS THE COST?
R250 Entry to the competition
R500 Entry to the competition + Gravity Bowl 6 Shirt
*Deadline for entry + shirt 1 June 2024
**A limited number of event shirts will be sold on the day for R300.
HOW DO I ENTER?
