Liam does Derry proud at Rubik's Cube world speed competition

A young Derry boy put in an excellent performance when he took on competitors from around the world at a recent Rubik's Cube speed solving comeptition.

Nine-year-old Liam Costello travelled to Waterford to take part in Seaside Solving Saturday - a speed cubing competition run by Speedcubing Ireland in association with the World Cubing Association.

Competitors included some of the best cubers from around the world and several records were broken at the event.
Liam came 29th in the 3x3 event in which his best time to solve a Rubik's Cube was 26 seconds. He also competed in 3x3 one handed, 4x4, 5x5 and megaminx events.

Liam, from Ardmore, did himself and his family very proud and he said he was 'very excited' to meet lots of world famous speed cubers and made 'plenty of new friends.' Liam, a pupil of Good Shepherd Primary School in the Waterside area of the city, got his first cube when he was six years old.

Liam, second from right, taking part in the Seaside Solving Saturday comeptition held in Waterford.

He admitted he found solving the puzzle difficult at first. He said: “It was very difficult at the start but it just seemed fascinating and I thought it would be a good party trick.

“ It took me three months to solve it the first time and then I started working on doing it quicker and quicker and learned how to do other types of cubes.

“I found going to the competition very exciting. The best bit was meeting other people who have the same interests as me. I'm hoping to go to another competition in Dublin in the summer."