Speedcubers made short work of solving Rubik's cubes this past weekend on Vancouver Island.
Speedcubing Canada's first-ever B.C. championships were held Friday through Sunday, Aug. 16-18, at Nanaimo's Beban Park Social Centre.
Competitors solved up to 13 different puzzles at the competition, culminating with the main event, the 3x3x3 classic cube. Luke Jankowiak of Langley is the first B.C. champion in the event, as he averaged 7.71 seconds over his five solves. It was his fifth and final solve that clinched the competition for him, as he unscrambled the cube in 6.50 seconds.
Jankowiak said his first solve of the final round was just OK, as he felt like he wasn't seeing as many moves ahead as he normally can.
"Within a couple of solves [I] kind of got into the flow of it and just popped off from there," he said.
The veteran speedcuber said for him, the pastime is about having fun, learning new things and taking on challenges along with his cubing friends.
"I've been doing this for seven years and I'm glad to finally get to call myself champion," he said.
Winning one of the fastest events, the 2x2x2, was Kevin L锚 of Burnaby, who averaged 2.30 seconds in the final round and had a 1.80s best solve. He said with provincials during the summer holidays, he and other cubers have had a lot of free time to practise, and he tried to make the most of it, especially the 2x2x2.
"For the past few weeks I've been practising that a lot and learning new ways of solving the cube," he said. "It's an honour to be able to get the title 鈥� It's a great feeling."
One of the all-rounders to excel at provincials was Jose Rodriguez of Victoria, who competed in 12 of the 13 events and won the B.C. championships on both the 7x7x7 and the 6x6x6 cubes. He was also a co-winner of the Mini Guildford Challenge exhibition event.
"This competition personally for me has been a big step for me to overcome my nerves鈥�" he said. "I feel like I found some things that work for me and in general I think this was a huge competition for me."
In the 7x7x7, the other top contender went before him and put down impressive times, putting the pressure on, but Rodriguez was able to rise to the challenge and win by one second. It put him in the right frame of mind for the 6x6x6, the very next event, and he won that provincial title by more than nine seconds.
"Doing that well in a B.C. championship [on the Island], it's very cool," he said. "I'm definitely stoked for the next ones, whenever that is. I still have good times to get and hopefully next year some good things are coming."
He and other cubers mentioned that they hope provincials in Nanaimo helps to create more interest in speedcubing on Vancouver Island.
"It's fun as a hobby to do and you can make an entire friend group through cubing," Rodriguez said. "It's first of all, how fascinating the cube itself is, but then also just the community keeps you wanting to come back for more."
The first-ever B.C. champions in speedcubing include: 3x3x3, Luke Jankowiak, 7.71 seconds; 2x2x2, Kevin L锚, 2.30; 4x4x4, Noah Stelting, 33.26; 3x3x3 one-handed, Noah Stelting, 15.44; Skewb, Kevin L锚, 3.94; Pyraminx, Jacob Kotai, 1.99; 5x5x5, Jacob Kotai, 1:01.87; Megaminx, Ethan Rusnak, 48.07; 3x3x3 blindfolded, Kevin Matthews, 42.45; Square-1, Eeshir Pannun, 9.93; Clock, Dilshawn Sidhu, 4.27; 6x6x6, Jose Rodriguez, 1:57.90; 7x7x7, Jose Rodriguez, 3:22.81.
Covered Speedcubing Canada's first-ever B.C. championships this weekend in Nanaimo. This is Jack Anderson solving a classic 3x3x3 Rubik's cube in 6.3 seconds鈥�
鈥� Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports)
