The Vancouver Open, Summer 2008 was held on June 14th, 2008 in a suburb of Vancouver, called Burnaby. This competition was the first competition to be held in Canada that was outside of Ontario, which meant it was also the first time canadianCUBING had attempted to organize a competition out of province.

The competition was made up of largely first time competitors. The west coast community is farther behind the Ontario cubers because they have not had the chance to get together in groups, exchange ideas and compete in official competitions in the way the Ontario cubers have been able. There were, however, a lot of signs that this can change fairly quickly as several cubers showed a lot of potential.

The competition could not have been possible without the assistance of Hong Chen, our west coast representative for canadianCUBING. Hong put in a lot of time trying to find a suitable location for the competition to be held. There were a few options presented to us, but the venue we chose turned out to be best suited for the first competition. Hong also did several media appearances leading up to the competition to help raise awareness of speedcubing in BC. We wish to thank Hong for all his efforts.

One logistical challenge for this competition was to ship out all the equipment, prizes, merchandise and supplies from our base in Toronto to Vancouver for the competition. We were nervous that they would not show up in time, but everything arrived safe and sound, though the timer's arrived in the worst shape of them all. The boxes were all broken open, and we lost 2 shirts in the process. But the timers and displays were not damaged during shipping.

Kroeger Inc, once again, was kind enough to donate the puzzles used to act as prizes for the winners of each event. First place in an event won a new Magic, a white Rubik's DIY kit, cubesmith stickers, and a certificate. Second place won a black Rubik's DIY kit, cubesmith stickers and a certificate. Third place received cubesmith stickers and a certificate.

The Magic event marked the first event to happen the morning of the competition. There were only three people in the event, so the winners were decided before the competition even began, only the order needed to be decided. The problem seems to be in the availability of Magic puzzles in the area. Only two people appeared to have a Magic puzzle, with many, many people asking if they could purchase one to the point that we ran out of stock quickly. We expect the west coast next competition to have many more competitors in this event.

In third place was Vince Yim with an average of 4.90 seconds. In second place was Kristopher de Asis with an average of 3.09 seconds. And in first place was long time friend of canadianCUBING, Patrick Lam, with an average of 2.75 seconds.

The 2x2x2 event was second on the schedule and had more people compete in it than the Magic event did, but not enough to warrant two rounds, as we now have at the Ontario competitions. There were a total of 10 people in the 2x2x2 event. This was the first time to ever compete at a solving station for over 50% of the competitors in the event. As such, the times for some people were slower than they had wanted, but it was a good warm up to get used to the timing stations before the 3x3x3 event.

In third place with an average of 9.86 seconds was Kristopher de Asis. In second place was Deseree Aune with an average time of 9.67 seconds. And in first place was Ibrahim Vajgel-Shedid, with an impressive average of 5.61 seconds.

The 4x4x4 event was moved from before the lunch break to after lunch due to the high number of competitors that added this event to their registration the morning of the competition. It saw a total of 11 competitors compete, with all but one meeting the combined average cut off time of four minutes. At previous canadianCUBING competitions, we generally used three minutes as the cut off time for the 4x4 event, but since there were so few competitors at the competition, we had more time to work with during the day.

In third place was Hong Chen, with an average of 1:45.62 seconds. In second place, with an average of 1:27.26 was Kristopher de Asis, and in first place with an average of 1:17.74 was Ibrahim Vajgel-Shedid.

The 5x5x5 event implemented the combined average approach, as usual, with a cut off time of five minutes, instead of our usual four minutes at previous competitions. There were a total of seven competitors in this event, and much to the scramblers' delight, only three made the cut off time. This meant that anyone that completed the average also placed in the event.

In third place was Vince Yim with an average of 4:57.84. Not to take anything away from Vince, but it is worth noting that had we used the usual cut off times of four minutes, he would not have even been able to complete the average. In second place, with an average of 3:27.64 was Hong Chen, and in first place with an average of 3:04.28 was Kristopher de Asis.

The blindfolded event was a spectator favorite at the competition, as it often is at many competitions. A total of six people competed in the event, so we just let them stay at the timing station and the judge would bring the cube back to the scrambling table each time while the competitor waited at the station. Of the six competitors, only two managed a successful blindfolded attempt, which meant that for the first time at a canadianCUBING competition, we only had 2 winners in an event.

In second place, with a best time of 4:01.86 was Kristopher de Asis, who managed a successful attempt on his second try, DNFing the other two attempts. In first place was local favorite Hong Chen, with a best time of 3:23.90, who was actually disappointed with his time. Hong had wanted to break two minutes, but DNF'd the first attempt. Knowing he had to get one successful attempt, he took his time on the second attempt which was successful. On his third and final attempt, knowing he could go as fast as possible having been successful already, he tried to go too fast and DNF'd. His times were quite fast, and he has the ability to achieve sub two minute times.

The one-handed event did not have the same level of interest as it does in Ontario, with only nine competitors entering the event. The event saw organizer Dave Campbell compete, his only event that day, while Hong Chen acted as scrambler and main judge in his absence.

In third place was podium regular, Kristopher de Asis, with an average of 43.88 seconds. In second place was Patrick Lam, with an average of 39.75 seconds and taking first place with an average time of 30.44 seconds was Dave Campbell.

As always, the 3x3x3 event is the main event with all but two competitors competing in the event, making 22 competitors in the first round. There were a total of 3 rounds at the competition, with the top 20 moving on to the second round, and the top 10 making it to the finals. For those that did not compete in the 2x2x2 event, this was their first time competing, as it followed on the schedule. As such, the first round had some slower averages than the later rounds, as the competitors started to warm up and get used to competing under pressure.

The top three places were the same through the first two rounds, but in the final round, Deseree Aune overtook Patrick Lam to claim third place with an average of 20.83 seconds. In second place was the talented Kristopher de Asis with an average of 18.14 seconds – his slowest average of the three rounds. And in first place was Ibrahim Vajgel-Shedid with an average of 15.47, his fastest of the day. Ibrahim also set a 12.88 second solve in the round, putting him in the top 10 fastest solves by a Canadian.

The most notable performance of the day was, of course, Kristopher de Asis, who placed in every single event that day. He is proficient at most events, and has great potential in all of them, especially the 3x3x3 event.

Deseree Aune's performance was quite notable, as she placed in two events, including the 3x3x3 event, and over took Sarah Strong as the country's fastest female cuber. She, too, showed a lot of potential, and I have no doubt that if she sticks with it, she can be up there with the fastest females in the world.

Ibrahim Vajgel-Shedid also had an outstanding performance at the competition. He traveled with his mom from Victoria for the competition. When canadianCUBING arrived at the venue a little after 8 AM the day of the competition, Ibrahim was already there. We had not known anything about him up to that point. We met him and talked briefly, and he even proceeded to help us unpack and set up the room for the competition. He is a really nice, humble and polite young man. His times were outstanding in most events, especially the 2x2 and 3x3 events. Considering he has only been cubing for a little over a year at the time of the competition, there is a good chance that he will be competing for the fastest Canadian in the years to come.

All in all the competition was a success. canadianCUBING achieved what it had wanted to do. Our goal was to bring the type of environment that the Ontario cubers experience to the west coast. We wanted to give the cubing community out there a boost, to get them all in the same room, talking and making friends. There were many friendships founded that day, and we expect that the interest out there will continue to grow, and the times will continue to drop.

canadianCUBING wishes to thank Polycom Inc and Bentall Real Estate Services for their contributions, and all our volunteers that showed up and worked very hard for little in return without complaining. It is not possible to do without the help of others. Thank you for making the competition possible.

There will be another competition on the west coast in the future. In the meantime, we encourage all the cubers in BC to gather in unofficial settings and cube together. Practice the official regulations, learn to scramble, learn to judge, race each other, create fun games, and just enjoy cubing. Show your friends how fun it is, and get them into cubing, and when we come back, we will be prepared to have an even better event, with more people, faster times and much more fun. See you all then.