Shropshire School Boy Heads To UK National Speed Cubing Championship
Shropshire Mums very own 11 year old James Ireland (alias Casual Cuber) is heading off to the UK Cubing Association Championship at the Coventry Building Society Arena later this month.
James picked up a rubix cube from a local store just under 12mths ago. He quickly learned the algorithms to solve the cube and soon found himself venturing into elite art of "speed cubing" recently made more famous by the Netflix documentary " The Speed Cubers" featuring World champions Max Park and Felix Zemdegs.
James attended his first ever official UK Cubing Association competition at Cheltenham back in June where he gained his first records with the world cubing association. With a fastest single solve time of just 25.97 seconds for the 3x3 cube and 8.95 seconds for the 2x2 cube setting his first personal best timings officially registered with the World Cubing Association.
Last month saw James head to Droitwich Spa for his second UK Cubing Association competition where he managed to make it all the way to the final for the 2x2 with a new person best of just 2.61 seconds, a huge improvement which at the time placed him 213th in the UK, this has now moved to a still very respectable 217th. James also gained a new WCA personal best record with a best single solve time of 1m 52 seconds for the 4x4.
This month James is heading to the Coventry Building Society to compete in the UK Cubing championships where he has qualified to enter into the 3x3, 2x2, 4x4 and the skewb competitions as one of 500 competitors which will see cubers from around the UK and around the world compete including world champion Max Park.
James says he is hoping to come away with a new personal best record for the 3x3 which he currently has a record with a single solve time of 25.97. At home he is usually upto 10 seconds faster now so hoping to smash that personal best.
Speed cubing is very much a growing trend around the world aided by the recent "The Speed Cubers documentary and the inclusion in Netflix hit series Stranger Things.
"I love the thrill of chasing the faster solve time and it's so exciting when I manage a new personal best, I know there are a few other speed cubers here in Shropshire and I am hoping to arrange a local meet up soon. We are also in talks with the UK Cubing Association to bring an event to Shropshire. There can be anything from 100-500 competitiors at these competitions and cubers travel from all over the country and even the world to attend. It is a dream of mine to bring the competition to Shropshire and we are currently trying to find a suitable venue here in Shropshire to accommodate the 2 day competition"
As a local Shropshire primary school boy sponsored by Shropshire Mums, we wish James all the very best in the UK Championships at Coventry later this month.
About The Competition
The UK Cube Association presents the Kewbz UK Championship 2022, the UK National Speedcubing Championship, taking place on 28th-30th October at Coventry Building Society Arena!
It will be the first National Championship held in the UK since 2019 due to COVID-19, so the UKCA is making it the biggest and best the UK has ever seen, with 500 competitors taking part.
Competitors will not only compete for the fastest times in the 3x3 Cube, originally invented by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik in the 1970s and which exploded in popularity in the 1980s, but also in sizes from 2x2 all the way up to 7x7, and other 'twisty-puzzles' such as the Clock, Megaminx, Pyraminx, Skewb and Square-1. In addition, competitors will face challenges such as solving cubes One-Handed, and Blindfolded! All the events will be sanctioned and officially recognised by the World Cube Association, which is the global governing body of the sport.
Speedcubers from all across the country and the world will be competing, with 35 countries being represented, although it's only the speedcubers from the UK that will be eligible for the prestigious title of UK Champion.
"Becoming the UK champion back in 2019 was so thrilling and gratifying for me. To defend and retain my title this year would be incredible, but lockdown and the resurgence of cubing will of course play a big part in that. It’s up in the air this year, and whoever wins the title, me or not, will deserve it."
Kewbz UK Championship will also be seeing competitive action from one of the stars of the 2020 Netflix Documentary "The Speed Cubers", Max Park from California, as he battles with Tymon Kolasiński from Poland. The prestigious 3x3 Average World Record has been fiercely fought for throughout 2022, and it currently stands tied between them both at just 4.86 seconds! It will be the first time these two speedcubing legends will be competing against each other since the World Championships in Melbourne in 2019. Could Coventry be seeing any new World Records?
"We can't wait for the return of the speedcubing National Championship in the UK, and are thrilled to be holding it at Coventry Building Society Arena"
"We hold competitions almost weekly across the UK, but this will be our biggest and best competition yet. Since the pandemic, our competitor numbers have skyrocketed, and we're looking forward to seeing faces old and new at this year's championship."
KewbzUK, a West Sussex-based speedcube store, are sponsoring the competition, and will be there with a stall selling the latest and greatest twisty puzzles on the market.
Spectators will be permitted to attend across the weekend by paying a £5 fee at the Hall 2 Ticket Office whilst the competition is ongoing and tickets are still available. The fee grants you access to all days of the competition, including the final day on 30th October, when the 2022 UK Champion will be crowned.
More info about spectating, and the competition schedule, is available on the WCA Website here.
Added: Mon Oct 17 22:58 2022 (2 years ago)
Read: 1k
