Santo Domingo Autumn 2025 (Day 1/2)

What‽ A new speedcubing competition within 3 months of the previous one‽

Yep! For the first time since 2019 we've had more than one competition in a year! This time being Santo Domingo Otoño (Autumn) 2025.

(Does it annoy me that the previous one was officially called SD Summer but this one SD Otoño? Perhaps. Does it annoy me even more that Otoño has an ñ meaning that I can't write that in the URL? Probably more so.)

This competition is actually being held in a private venue in the outskirts of the city, as opposed to all the latest competitions which have happened in a very crowded mall. This space is very big, open, and roomy, and although the acoustics aren't that good, I like it!

Now to be completely honest, I am still feeling pretty tired today, just like yesterday, and so I haven't been as energetic as I was last time. Because of that I've been quite rusty so far, but that's alright! My results aren't the main focus for me in comps, but rather just spending a good time with friends!

However, of course, I still have to compete. My first event was Megaminx, with a cut-off of 1:45 which I did not achieve. My first solve was 2:09 which is kinda bad for me, and then my second solve was gonna be a 1:43, but I accidentally turned the bottom layer at the end resulting in a +2 penalty, leading to me not making the cut.

I didn't know this until after the solve, but I hadn't actually tightened my Megaminx as much as I would since I didn't know I could, and it's now much more stable, but oh well. Now I have it ready for next time!

Secondly, continuing the tragedy, I had Square-1, and I also did not make the cut-off, this time of 40 seconds. Both of my solves had parity and resulted in 54s, which aren't that bad for me really, but yeah, the cut-off this competition was much stricter than previous ones. Oh well.

In retrospect, I wish I had signed up for more events. There were some events like 3x3 One-Handed and 3x3 Blindfolded that I did not sign up for because I most-definitely wouldn't make the cut, but since I didn't for some of these I feel like I could've taken those shots, but it's alright! I'll keep it in mind for next time.

Fortunately, my third and final event of the day is Skewb, my main event! This one went pretty decently, given my previous results I didn't expect to do that good, but I still got a pretty decent 8.11 average! My second best official average (which is kinda embarassing but whatever).

In my mind getting a 10 or above in Skewb is bad, and my last solve ended up being a 9.99 so uhhhh yeah lol. The rest was alright though! I got a 8.78, 6.65, 8.91, and a very good 4.80!

In that fourth solve my friend Oscar broke the National Record by over a second, so that's cool! (Aside from the fact it moved my national single rank from 2nd to 3rd grrrrrr)

And that's it for today! I am currently writing this on the way back home, and I am quite tired — about as much as the start of the day lol. But regardless, I really enjoyed today! I am so happy we got a new competition so soon after the previous one (relatively at least), and it's always a pleasure seeing my friends and fellow cubers!

Hopefully tomorrow will go better for me competitively, but even if it doesn't I know for a fact I'll still have fun! And I also know it will be a very special day in more ways than one (foreshadowing!!!)

Read Part 2 here!