Bay Area Speedcubin' 63 - Atherton 2024

The sports hall at Menlo-Atherton High School was humming across June 22 and June 23, 2024, as competitors and spectators settled in for a weekend of rapid-fire solving. The cavernous campus space served as the central hub for Bay Area Speedcubin' 63 - Atherton 2024, bringing together 239 cubers from across the region and beyond. Rows of competition tables were lined with digital timers, display monitors, and scrambling stations that operated without interruption. The Atherton, California, USA tournament proved to be an expansive gathering, hosting 13 distinct events across 29 competitive rounds on the official calendar.

The 3x3x3 Cube contest drew a massive field of 229 solvers through four stages of knockout rounds. Matty Hiroto Inaba produced a masterful display in the final round to secure victory with an elite 5.51-second average. Inaba also supplied the quickest single solve across the entire division with a blistering 3.59. Max Siauw maintained strong form to finish as the runner-up with a 6.53 average, while Varun Mohanraj rounded out the podium in third place at 6.67 seconds. The main 3x3 results underlined the exceptional depth of talent gathered in the hall.

Beyond the traditional Rubik's Cube, Inaba continued to dictate the pace in the larger puzzle disciplines. In the 4x4x4 Cube, he clinched the title with an average of 24.08 seconds, outpacing Siauw who took second with 25.07, and Paul Mahvi in third at 27.30. Inaba added a third major trophy in the 5x5x5 Cube, where his 45.16 average proved unmatched across two rounds of play. Across every major stage of the weekend, Inaba demonstrated technical precision on the larger NxN cubes.

Max Siauw proved to be equally dominant across a diverse mix of specialty categories, capturing four separate titles during the speedcubing festival. In the 7x7x7 Cube, Siauw prevailed in a thrilling clash with Inaba, logging a winning average of 2:13.35 against Inaba's 2:13.67, with Mohanraj taking third in 2:36.84. Siauw also claimed top honors in the 6x6x6 Cube with a 1:22.60 average and won the Square-1 final averaging 6.47 seconds. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded division, where memorisation must be executed entirely without visual cues, Siauw secured first place with a single solve of 24.14 seconds, finishing ahead of Jimmy Kingston and Caleb Suh.

The rapid-fire side events created constant excitement on the floor throughout the cubing competition. Cameron Miller collected three individual titles over the course of the schedule, topping the Pyraminx with a 2.41 average, the Clock with 4.19, and the Skewb with a 2.87 average ahead of Jusun Choi and Joel Kim. In the 2x2x2 Cube, Varun Mohanraj surged to victory in the final with a 1.67 average, overcoming Stanley Tran and Miller. The 3x3x3 One-Handed event featured international mastery as Anto Kam earned first place with a 10.50 average, while Alessandro Diomampo sealed the Megaminx victory with a 38.12 average over Nico Harper.

Beneath the top podium battles, the hall was filled with remarkable individual milestones that defined the heart of the speed cubing gathering. William Lucas Liao took on 5 events and posted a 2x2x2 personal best of 1.46 seconds, cutting an astounding 79.6 percent off his previous benchmark, while also registering his first official attempts at Clock and Skewb. Ben Kalman tackled 4 events and slashed his 3x3x3 personal record by 52 percent down to 15.18 seconds, alongside his first ever attempts at 2x2x2 and Skewb. Logan Kubota competed across 9 events, taking 68.8 percent off his Clock mark with a 12.85 personal best, improving his Skewb to 5.39, and finishing his first official 5x5x5 attempt.

That same drive for personal improvement was evident across the venue floor from dozens of dedicated solvers. Konnor Vongphakdy entered 6 events and improved his 4x4x4 personal record by 41.1 percent to 1:14.57 while trying Clock and Skewb for the first time. Jihu Im took on 11 events, achieved a personal best of 4.53 in Skewb representing a 46.6 percent improvement, and notched a career-best 16th-place finish in Pyraminx. Charles McElvany registered a 31.3 percent personal best of 6.18 in Pyraminx while making debut attempts at Megaminx and 4x4x4. Suriya Kutty entered 9 events, improved their One-Handed time by 34.6 percent to 44.62, and tackled 4x4x4 and Square-1 for the first time. Gabriel Lungren also took on 10 events, recording first-time solves in One-Handed, 4x4x4, and Square-1.

As the final timers were cleared away at Menlo-Atherton High School, the successful conclusion of Bay Area Speedcubin' 63 - Atherton 2024 left a lasting mark on the regional circuit. The wide range of 13 events allowed seasoned champions and emerging talents alike to test their abilities across every style of puzzle. With four distinct event winners earning multiple titles and hundreds of personal records established, this WCA competition demonstrated the thriving community spirit and rising competitive standard across Northern California.