Harvey debuts at world speedcubing competition

HARVEY Knight is ten years old and competed in his first World Speedcubing competition at the Westgate Indoor Sports Centre in Altona North on the first weekend of March. The competition was coordinated by Speedcubing Australia with 260 competitors ranging from 5-85 years old with most falling between 10 and 20 years old travelling from across Victoria, interstate and overseas. Harvey became involved in speedcubing last year after his Dad bought him a rubik’s cube and then he taught his aunt how to solve them. “I just started watching videos and helping her,” Harvey said. He is determined to become faster and faster practicing for up to an hour each night. “I listen to videos about rubik’s cubes and because I don’t get a lot of screen time I write the algorithms down, so I can practice them without having to go on a device,” Harvey said. There were six types of cubes and solves in the competition, 2x2x2, 3x3x3 (which is a standard sized cube), 4x4x4, one handed 3x3x3, Skewb, Pyrmaminx and Megaminx. Harvey entered in the 2x2x2, 3x3x3 and 4x4x4 and he volunteered as a judge. In the 3x3x3 Harvey placed 228 out of 255 with 52.98 second average solve. He achieved an unofficial personal best (pb) of 33 seconds. In the 2x2x2 Harvey placed 186 out of 214 with a 10.99 second pb. He completed an unofficial pb of 6.14 seconds which he achieved on the day of the competition. In each event you get five attempts and an average score. “They rank you by taking your worst time and your best time creating an average out of the three middle times which determines your place, however your fastest time is still your pb,” Harvey said. “There’s no age category and it’s just how fast you can do it.” The competition events begin with the competitor’s cubes being given to the scramblers. “The scramblers will give everyone the same scramble and then the runners take those out and look at the station number which is what table you’re on, then they give it to the judge who puts it on the table in front on you,” Harvey said. “They’ve got a stopwatch and they only start it once you say then you have 15 seconds to inspect it and if you go over 15 seconds then that’s a two second penalty and if you go over 17 seconds it’s a DNF (did not finish or disqualified) and then you put your hands on the timer and start to solve. “Once you finish the judge will look at your scores and time.” Harvey loves teaching his friends how to speedcube. Alongside completing in the speedcubing competition Harvey competed in a triathlon on the same weekend and made regional swimming this year. He can’t wait to compete in another speedcubing competition soon and reach a new pb.

Harvey debuts at world speedcubing competition

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