Local advantage counted at the UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup event this weekend in Utrecht.

Organised by UIAA member federation NKBV (Royal Dutch Mountaineering Federation), the competition was the fourth in the series of European Cups held since mid November.

Women: Dutch climber Marianne van der Steen and Finland’s Enni Bertling resumed the sporting rivalry which has defined the women’s lead competition so far this season. Following a third place and a second, van der Steen secured her first victory of the season and for the first time finished ahead of Bertling. In the overall European rankings Bertling now holds a more slender 27-point advantage over van der Steen. Aneta Louzecka, Czech Republic, has also taken part in all four events and third place in Utrecht means she now holds the same position in the overall classification.

Men: The Netherlands’ Dennis Van Hoek (main photo) and Tom Phillips claimed second and third place respectively to ensure a strong weekend for the hosts. Despite the second place finish Van Hoek has seen his deficit to the European Cup leader Virgile Devin increase. The French athlete won in Utrecht to extend his overall advantage to 65 points. In doing so he was the only athlete to top the route in the final.

Youth: Four youth events were also held. The category winners were U16 men – Rory Watson (Great Britain); U19 men – Robert Erno Seregi (Hungary); U19 women – Caitlin Russell-Connor (Great Britain); U21 men – Théophile Truchard (France).

The European season resumes on 22 January with an event in Malbun, Liechtenstein. Before that comes the small matter of first World Cup event of the season in Cheongsong, South Korea to be held from 14-16 January.

A full replay of the event can be found below:

The event page and links to results can be found here.

A microsite created for the event can be found here.

Photos from Utrecht courtesy of Robert Hendriksen and Joep van de Zandt can be found on the UIAA Flickr Channel.

TITLE SPONSOR UIAA ICE CLIMBING WORLD TOUR