Youngsters to take on world’s best cubers

BARWON Heads is hosting a one-day Barwon Cube for the Kids competition on March 14, with a portion of registration fees donated to local charity Kids Plus Foundation.

Rebecca Kennedy, whose two children Isaac and Joey have both entered the event, said the chance to put Barwon Heads on the map of the Speedcubing Australia Association was super exciting for the youngsters involved.

“He [Isaac] came up with the idea of wondering if we could run an event in Barwon Heads,” she said.

Rebecca reached out to Speedcubing Australia to see if Barwon Heads could host an event and she explained the Rubik’s Cubing association were “all for it”.

“The more competitions they can have, the better,” she said.

The community Lions Club will host a barbeque at the event to support the fundraising efforts, which Rebecca said was intended to make a difference to Kids Plus which provides ongoing therapy for children with cerebral palsy and similar neurological conditions.

Speedcubing Australia secretary Kerrie Jarman said Australia was particularly lucky because it had relatively low rates of COVID-19 in rural areas so competitions could proceed.

“We decided that what we would do was donate half of our registration fees,” she explained of the Kids Plus Foundation fundraising event. “Cubing we’ve found, which is not surprising because it’s an indoor activity, has just exploded through lockdown,” she said.

Importantly, she emphasised there will only be one spectator per contestant for the event.

Australian Feliks Zemdegs holds second place in the World Cubing Association rankings with a time of 4.16 seconds and will be in Barwon Heads to compete.

Isaac, Joey and other youngsters in the competition are hoping to use the home-ground advantage to match it with Rubik’s cubing’s elite.
The Rubik’s cubing event will be held in the Barwon Heads Primary School gymnasium on Golf Links Road on Sunday, March 14.