Midlands Mix-up 2024

CJ Furey held his nerve through the final turn of the deciding solve to claim the premier 3x3x3 Cube title by a razor-thin margin of seventeen hundredths of a second. Registering a 7.30 winning average alongside a tournament-best single of 5.83, Furey edged past Cillian Hainbach whose 7.47 average took second place. Iollan Walsh followed closely in third at 8.43. The climactic duel capped a packed weekend of high-level speedcubing in Kildare, Ireland, where 100 competitors assembled for a marquee WCA competition.

Midlands Mix-up 2024 ran across July 20 and July 21 at The Hamlet Court Hotel, providing two full days of intense solving across 13 distinct disciplines and 21 scheduled rounds. Fans following the 3x3 results saw the main bracket narrow down from 94 entrants through three hard-fought stages. The venue hosted an electric atmosphere as solvers tackled everything from side events to massive multi-layered puzzles in the heart of the 2024 Irish cubing calendar.

Despite his narrow defeat in the classic Rubik's Cube showdown, Cillian Hainbach orchestrated an extraordinary campaign across the larger hardware. Hainbach completed an authoritative sweep across the big cubes, winning the 4x4x4 Cube with a 29.65 average and the 5x5x5 Cube with a 55.46 mark. He added a third gold in the 6x6x6 Cube with a 1:47.37 average, besting Stephanie Rose Martin who placed second in all three big cube podiums with times of 33.50, 1:05.99, and 2:11.28 respectively.

The blindfolded categories belonged entirely to Simon Kelly, who produced a masterclass across three distinct memory challenges. In 3x3x3 Blindfolded, Kelly secured victory with a rapid single of 23.92 seconds over Colm McCarthy's 31.19. Kelly repeated his triumph over McCarthy in the 4x4x4 Blindfolded final with a winning time of 4:38.64, before capturing the 3x3x3 Multi-Blind discipline by successfully solving 21 out of 24 cubes in a time of 48:37.

Fast-paced sprint finals also delivered remarkable results across the board. In the 2x2x2 Cube final, Lucas Patrick Dowling surged to first place with a 1.83 average, leading Hainbach's 2.81 and William Carey's 2.85. Carey earned top honours of his own in Skewb with a 3.15 average, finishing ahead of Conor Ryan McMorrow and Namuun Natsagdorj. Jack Corr controlled Clock with a winning 3.65 average, while Stephanie Rose Martin captured the 3x3x3 One-Handed event in 14.62 seconds.

Beyond the podium battles, the competition floor was defined by breakthrough performances and personal milestones across the running order. Łukasz Siara cut his 2x2x2 personal best down to 4.00 seconds, marking a 59.4 percent drop from his previous best of 9.85, while also posting his first official results in Clock at 24.27 and One-Handed at 54.82. Leonard Coburn took on 6 events and shattered his previous 4x4x4 mark by 32.6 percent with a new 2:49.36 personal best, alongside debut runs in Skewb and One-Handed. David Akasheh dropped his 2x2x2 record by 35.1 percent to 6.64 seconds and completed his first official attempts in Skewb and Clock. Isobel Byrne entered 4 disciplines, logging a 37.4 percent improvement in 2x2x2 to 5.69 while establishing baseline marks in Megaminx and Skewb.

The progress continued across a variety of puzzle types as competitors took on new challenges throughout the weekend. Rhys Friel contested 9 events, setting a 12.13 Clock personal best that shaved 21.3 percent off his prior benchmark, alongside debuts in Megaminx and One-Handed. Jonah O'Driscoll logged 10 separate events, securing 12th in One-Handed and establishing his first marks in Megaminx and Square-1. Eoin McCooey lowered his 3x3x3 personal best to 21.11 seconds while taking on Megaminx and Clock for the first time. Abbey McNally placed 10th in Square-1 and recorded initial career times in Clock and Skewb, demonstrating the remarkable depth present across every heat of speed cubing.

Specialist categories rounded out the full schedule, with Prabhav Rajaram Nayak winning the Megaminx title in an average of 37.31 seconds and Adam Bermingham claiming the Square-1 crown with an average of 10.56. Host nation competitors collected 31 podium placements across the tournament, with visitors from Mongolia taking 5 and India securing 3. As Midlands Mix-up 2024 reached its conclusion, the gathering in Kildare stood as a testament to the thriving competitive standard of Irish cubing.

From the nerve-shredding tenths of a second separating the finalists on the main stage to the personal milestones achieved across all thirteen events, the tournament showcased the full breadth of the sport. The competitors left Kildare with hardware, fresh personal records, and sharpened skills to carry forward into the rest of the season.