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Rubik's Cube: Records broken at UK championships

PA Rubik's CubesPA
Different types of Rubik's Cubes were tackled during the finals of UK championships

A series of national records have been broken by quick-fingered Rubik's Cube solvers at the UK championships.

Competitors tackled the tricky cubes at the annual three-day speed-cubing event in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, hosted by the UK Cube Association.

About 18 events involving the speed-solving of 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7 cubes and extra challenges took place.

"Speed-cubers", some as young as seven, tackled the cubes one-handed, blindfolded and even with their feet.

Routines and rituals

At The Forum on Sunday, Robert Yau regained the UK title of 3x3 Rubik's Cube Champion that he had previously held, with a new best time of 6.95 seconds.

The world record is currently held by Patrick Ponce of the USA, who in September 2017, solved it in 4.69 seconds.

PA Rubik's Cube UK ChampionshipsPA
PA Rubik's Cube UK ChampionshipsPA
Lewis Byng, 16, is officially timed as he attempts to solve a Rubik"s Cube
PA Rubik's Cube UK ChampionshipsPA

Callum Hales-Jepp broke a national record for the UK by using his feet to solve the 3x3 cube in 38.9 seconds.

Another UK competitor, Harry Savage, completed the same sized cube with the fewest moves in 26 seconds and a one-handed national record was smashed by Ciaran Beahan for Ireland, who took just 13.69 seconds to solve the puzzle.

Organisers said like all sportspeople, each "speed-cuber" had their own warm-up routines and rituals, like clapping to increase blood flow and running their hands under warm water.

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The Rubik's Cube

Rubik's Cube
  • The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian Erno Rubik, a young professor of architecture in Budapest, Hungary
  • He wanted a working model to help explain three-dimensional geometry.
  • With colourful stickers on its sides, the solid cube twisted and turned - and still it did not break or fall apart
  • It took well over a month for Rubik to work out the solution to his puzzle
  • There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (43 quintillion) ways to scramble a Rubik's Cube
  • Every legal permutation of the Rubik's Cube can be solved in 20 moves or fewer
  • If you were to turn a Rubik's Cube once every second, it would take you 1.4 trillion years to go through all the permutations.

Source: Rubik's UK

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