In the second round of 3x3 at the UK Speedcubing Championships in Birmingham last weekend, James Alonso improved his own national record average once more with an average of 5.80 seconds. In the round itself, this was narrowly beaten by Olaf Kuzminski from Poland, but James's time of 5.80 was enough to beat the UK national record (polish NR is over a second faster!)

James Alonso has had the national record average for a few years now and there doesn't seem to be anyone coming close to him at the moment, former NR holder, Chris Mills moved to New Zealand and now competes under a New Zealand nationality, and no one else is within half a second.

Despite the national record, James Alonso only narrowly clutched the win in the finals over Nicholas Archer, with an average just 0.03 seconds faster. This means that James Alonso is now a 3 time national champion in both 2x2 and 3x3.

It is also notable that James Alonso is now sponsored by Gancube and has been able to use the Gan 16 both at this competition and at others he has attended over the past few weeks, despite it not being available for purchase until literally today (as of writing this article!). Meaning that the Gan 16 was used to break the national record just 2 days before it was available to the public in the UK.