Dutch Rubiks Open Championship 2006

Last weekend I competed in the Dutch Rubiks Open Championship. As always, I had a fantastic time meeting up with all my cubing friends, both new and old. I'm also very happy with how I performed!

Prior to competition, I usually set myself some personal goals. My goals are always about improving my own previous competition records, not about beating other competitors. Here were my goals for this competition:

Event: 3x3x3 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition average of 34.77s (from Dutch Open 2005). Was hoping, but not expecting, to beat my previous competition single solve record of 27.96s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Got an average of 28.19s, and a new best competition single solve of 25.59s.

Event: 4x4x4 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 3 mins 28.02s (from Worlds 2003). I was going to be disappointed with anything over 3 mins, but ideally was aiming for something in the range 2 mins 40s to 2 mins 50s.
Outcome: Solved in 2 mins 57.96s.

Event: 5x5x5 speedsolve
Goal: Solve in under 6 mins. I had never competed in this event before, so I didn't have a previous competition time to beat.
Outcome: Solved in 5 mins 40.16s.

Event: 3x3x3 one handed speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 1 min 52.24s.
Outcome: Got single solve of 1 min 34.86s, and an average of 2 mins 1.64s.

Event: 2x2x2 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 34.16s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Got a single solve of 13.72s, and an average of 18.78s.

Event: Clock
Goal: Beat my previous competition average of 34.96s (from Dutch Open 2005). Was hoping, but not expecting, to beat my previous competition single solve record of 22.68s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Didn't beat my best single solve time, but did beat my previous competition average with 28.29s.