# German Nationals 2008



## Cerberus (Oct 6, 2008)

The V-cube tournament the next day seems to bring it to a really high level and I am wondering who else will be there, Dan Cohen travels here also....
We should convince all top cubers to come there and make it the unofficial world championships 
I hope this time we don't stand that close to the crowd and have some more place to relax.

German Nationals Website

I am sad that I can't go to the V-Cube tournament because my best friend is celebrating his birthday saturday/sunday.


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## masterofthebass (Oct 6, 2008)

I know that Erik, Frank Morris, Michal Halzcuk, Kamil Zielinski, and I are definitely going to be there (for the v-cube competition of course). There may be a few others who come, but that's not worked out yet. This v-cube competition will be sort of like a mini bigcubes world championships. If you have any possibility of coming, I would highly suggest it, as it will be a great event.

Most of us will be there for german nationals as well.


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## AvGalen (Oct 7, 2008)

Somehow V-Cube day will not really be about V-*Cubes *for me:

5x5x5: I will use my Rubiks because it's still faster for me than V5
6x6x6: The only V-Cube I will use. I just hope that nobody will get hurt from all the pieces that will be flying around
7x7x7: Not really a cube, now is it?

Seriously: I am really looking forward to another crazy cube-competition-weekend. It will be the first time for me doing 3 different big competitions in 1 weekend (WCA-German, Unofficial V-Cube, Golden oldy weekly)


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## pjk (Oct 7, 2008)

masterofthebass said:


> I know that Erik, Frank Morris, Michal Halzcuk, Kamil Zielinski, and I are definitely going to be there (for the v-cube competition of course). There may be a few others who come, but that's not worked out yet. This v-cube competition will be sort of like a mini bigcubes world championships. If you have any possibility of coming, I would highly suggest it, as it will be a great event.
> 
> Most of us will be there for german nationals as well.


Awesome that you're going to be able to make it Dan. Nice to hear Frank is going too. Good luck.


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 7, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> I just hope that nobody will get hurt from all the pieces that will be flying around



that's a very important point. bring goggles everybody, arnaud's on the loose.


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

I live about 15 minutes away of the competition, so maybe I will be there. 

It takes place at the annually games convention. I will be there for all four days, as every year. 

This year I won't compete, but I will be at the competition.

If anyone of you wants to go to an irish pup or anything like that after the convention, just let me know.



Q


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## AvGalen (Oct 10, 2008)

ParityErrors said:


> I live about 15 minutes away of the competition, so maybe I will be there.
> 
> It takes place at the annually games convention. I will be there for all four days, as every year.
> 
> ...


That sounds like a "call me, I won't call you" option. How are we supposed to contact you? It would be so much easier if you would just meet up with the dozens of other cubers at the end of the competition


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> How are we supposed to contact you?



Just talk with me at the competition. 

I just wanted to help to find a location if anyone wants to go out after the competition.

Btw. I haven't seen Stefan in the list for the competition, does anyone know why?


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## Stefan (Oct 10, 2008)

ParityErrors said:


> I haven't seen Stefan in the list for the competition, does anyone know why?


http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/Deutscher_Speedcubing_Club/message/932


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## joey (Oct 10, 2008)

Resume in english? (google translated the word 'smoking', so I assume it was because what happened last year.)


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## Stefan (Oct 10, 2008)

Sorry, wasn't thinking (except that Q understands German). Yes, because of smoking.


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## TMOY (Oct 10, 2008)

If I understand correctly Stefan's message (my German is really rusty ), Stefan had a problem with people smoking at German Nationals 2007 and decided he would not attend the 2008 edition if he had no guarantees it wouldn't happen again. Is that correct ?


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## joey (Oct 10, 2008)

I really wish it was non-smoking too.


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

Stefan, we both talked at the competition last year and I told you, that there will be a new law soon.
Smoking is now not longer allowed.


Q


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## Stefan (Oct 10, 2008)

The request for a guarantee was for a TV interview, not the competition. *They* wanted something from *me*, so I was entitled to specify conditions. That's not the case for competitions. (Plus the competition organizers have no control over the toy fair, whereas the TV people do have control over their studio).

Q: Smoking was also strictly forbidden in the airplane hangar where I was hired for cube demonstrations a few years ago. But they simply organized a "special permission" for smoking there. I learned the lesson, won't fall for that again. And last year the toy fair already lied to me about smoking being forbidden.

Maybe I'll be there again next year if this year it turns out to be smoke-free.

Anyway, to those who'll be there I wish lots of fun and great competitions.


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## joey (Oct 10, 2008)

Is this law in effect already?


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

StefanPochmann said:


> The request for a guarantee was for a TV interview, not the competition. *They* wanted something from *me*, so I was entitled to specify conditions. That's not the case for competitions.


I know, but last year you left for the blindcubing event because of the smoke.
You don't need to, this year.



joey said:


> Is this law in effect already?


It is. Sadly the pubs have found a hole in that law and organize themselves as "smoker's clubs". You have to become a member to enter those pubs, but then smoking is allowed there.

But at the convention smoking has to be forbidden.



Q


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## joey (Oct 10, 2008)

Stefan please come. I miss you <3


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 10, 2008)

joey said:


> Stefan please come. I miss you <3



please do, it's a great opportunity to showcase the pochmann cereal you've been working on


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## Stefan (Oct 10, 2008)

Ah, right... the cereal... I came up with a good name for it as well. I'll make a website or video about it this weekend (borrowed my dad's camera a few days ago).

I might go to UK Open. Now let's not talk about my issue anymore.


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## AvGalen (Oct 10, 2008)

7e)	The competition area must be smoke-free, and should have a reasonable noise level. 
(one of those rules that gets broken sometimes )



ParityErrors said:


> AvGalen said:
> 
> 
> > How are we supposed to contact you?
> ...


You are missing the point. How can I recognise you? Or should I just ask everyone if they are "ParityErrors"? (I will be wearing a shirt with my name on it and I will continuously be at the location with all those cubes and cubers)


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> 7e)	The competition area should have a reasonable noise level.


That rule will be broken for sure.



AvGalen said:


> You are missing the point. How can I recognise you? Or should I just ask everyone if they are "ParityErrors"? (I will be wearing a shirt with my name on it and I will continuously be at the location with all those cubes and cubers)


I would love to see you ask thousands of people. 
That is no blind date. We cubers are going to talk I suppose, and as I am the only cuber from Essen it will be easy to recognize me. I can link you to a picture of me if that helps. 



Q


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## AvGalen (Oct 10, 2008)

ParityErrors said:


> ...and as I am the only cuber from Essen it will be easy to recognize me. I can link you to a picture of me if that helps.
> Q


I don't know how I would recognise you "because you are the only cuber from Essen". The picture will help me recognise you, but only when you show up at the cubing area.


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## ParityErrors (Oct 10, 2008)

Because we would talk about where we are from, etc...
I will show up for sure.

Be sure to have a look at the rest of the convention. Bring some extra time.



Q


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## masterofthebass (Oct 10, 2008)

Aww, I won't meet stefan again  O well, at least Arnaud will be there


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## Bryan (Oct 10, 2008)

masterofthebass said:


> Aww, I won't meet stefan again  O well, at least Arnaud will be there



It's OK, many of us go for months without meeting Stefan and we live. I assume you met him at the US Open though, right?


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## masterofthebass (Oct 10, 2008)

Bryan said:


> masterofthebass said:
> 
> 
> > Aww, I won't meet stefan again  O well, at least Arnaud will be there
> ...



Of course, for the past 2 years. It would've been awesome for a surprise break in the lack of Stefan though.


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 10, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> I will be wearing a shirt with my name on it, *I WILL BE SMILING, I WILL BE WITH A BEAUTIFUL WIFE, I WILL HAVE A MEGAMINX IN A HOLSTER ON MY SIDE,* and I will continuously be at the location with all those cubes and cubers



...................


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## Raffael (Oct 14, 2008)

ParityErrors said:


> I live about 15 minutes away of the competition, so maybe I will be there.
> 
> It takes place at the annually games convention. I will be there for all four days, as every year.
> 
> ...



I will be at the convention for all 4 days as well and I would like to go to a pub afterwards.
Why aren't you competing anymore?


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## AvGalen (Oct 14, 2008)

CharlieCooper said:


> AvGalen said:
> 
> 
> > I will be wearing a shirt with my name on it, *I WILL BE SMILING, I WILL BE WITH A BEAUTIFUL WIFE, I WILL HAVE A MEGAMINX IN A HOLSTER ON MY SIDE,* and I will continuously be at the location with all those cubes and cubers
> ...


Fake quoting


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## Crazycubemom (Oct 14, 2008)

Btw someone gonna celebrate his birthday at GN 008 ( who is that ?), I do hope he will make a SURPRISE record(s) on his birthday , now I have to think about a present foe him ( maybe something from Holland ?)


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## masterofthebass (Oct 14, 2008)

I don't think he's going to set any records, because 5x5 isn't official


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 14, 2008)

Crazycubemom said:


> Btw someone gonna celebrate his birthday at GN 008 ( who is that ?), I do hope he will make a SURPRISE record(s) on his birthday , now I have to think about a present foe him ( maybe something from Holland ?)



um um um um clogs. cake! i hear you are a good cook maria..


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## Ton (Oct 24, 2008)

We will have 64 compititors! So it will be a tight schedule with all of the events. We have 14 non-germans, in the qualification to the finals we will make sure that there are 6/8 germans in finals+ max of non Germans.

We plan to do the Rubik's final 1 at a time, for other events we use 6 timers 



The qualification are from 10:15 to 13:00, but please be there at 10:00 since we have a lot of competitors. So would be nice if the experience cubers start at 10:15 and assist us.

See you Saterday !


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## Rama (Oct 24, 2008)

Last year there weren't too many competitors and 'less' events and we just barely made it, will there be more timers then last year?


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## Cerberus (Oct 24, 2008)

Ton said, there are 6, last year we got 4, 2 each table... I hope we got a stage so you got more freedom around you.. I hope everything will be done fluently and without a problem, I hope everybody will be willing to help scrambling and judging, I think there will be some groups like at the german open were, so everybody can help that the competition will work fast.


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## Markus Pirzer (Oct 24, 2008)

Ton said:


> We will have 64 compititors! So it will be a tight schedule with all of the events. We have 14 non-germans, in the qualification to the finals we will make sure that there are 6/8 germans in finals+ max of non Germans.
> 
> We plan to do the Rubik's final 1 at a time, for other events we use 6 timers
> 
> ...



I can't be there at 10:00 because my train (which I've already booked weeks ago) arrives at 10:02 at the central railway station and in the past it was never a problem to appear a few minutes later at German Nationals.

Of course I will help with scrambling and judging.


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## Ton (Oct 24, 2008)

Markus Pirzer said:


> I can't be there at 10:00 because my train (which I've already booked weeks ago) arrives at 10:02 at the central railway station and in the past it was never a problem to appear a few minutes later at German Nationals.
> 
> Of course I will help with scrambling and judging.



It is not a problem if a few arrive after 10:00, it is just a request to make things go smooth, there are now much more compititors.... When most of you are in at 10:00 -at least 12- we can start immidiatly.


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## ParityErrors (Oct 24, 2008)

Raffael said:


> Why aren't you competing anymore?



I have to work the whole night through and don't know when I will be there.
No need to stress myself to a specific time. 
I'm not the fastet either. So it doesn't matter if I compete or not. 

As I have been at the location the last two days I can assure you, that it is smoke free. 


Q

P.S. As I was walking through the hall yesterday I saw those unsolved cube lying around at the competiton area. They are free to try for everyone there.
I just had to solve it. 
As I started, one of the employees of Jumbo came to me, saying: "If you can solve it, you can keep it."
Me: "For sure?"
E: "Yes."
Me: "Thanks for the cube."


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## Ron (Oct 25, 2008)

Wow, this competition was hectic:
= A lot of people in a very small room
= Huge audience walking among us
= Not a planned time schedule for the morning, anyone competed when he/she was ready
= No time for lunch, toilet, I only had a small drink
= Germans and international competitors together, so we had to make double certificates (except for blindfolded, top 3 Germans)
= It was hot
= With some guys being at two stands (Jumbo and V-Cubes) we had some delays finding the missing guys
= Pim was not able to help us, so Ton and I had to run the show with only two guys
But... we had good help from our friends, especially Rama, Arnaud, Maria, Charlie and Sébastien, but also the others not mentioned.

I hope you had a great time.

Ron


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## BinomDreher (Oct 25, 2008)

Ron, at first i gotta thank you and your team for making this event possible and never loosing patience although the circumstances were very tough...It was my first competition ever and i was a bit "shocked" when I entered the room and there were so many people, not enough space, other fairy visitors passing by etc pp....
But i have still had lots of fun - I did my crappy solve and finally I could see and talk to some of you cubers I know from this forum which was very nice (although I would have really liked to stay longer at your stand, but my girlfriend was a little exhausted and there were no possibilities to take a seat around^^).

Sidenote: It was a little weird that in the finals, the (obviously non-cubing) audience just applauded at Eriks 10.xx solves, but not at Rams or anyone elses 12/13-ish solves^^ must be the magic number 10 heh 

@Joey: Thanks anyway for judging mostly the slow people


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## Rama (Oct 26, 2008)

BinomDreher said:


> Sidenote: It was a little weird that in the finals, the (obviously non-cubing) audience just applauded at Eriks 10.xx solves, but not at Rams or anyone elses 12/13-ish solves^^ must be the magic number 10 heh



Well when non cubing people see a 15s solve they want to see a 14 then a 13 etc... They are very high demanding. xD


Well it was very hectic alright, hopefully we have more space next year.
I only ate half a bread with raisins and shared a schnitzel-bread with Charlie and had one bottle of energizer.

I am very satisfied with my 3x3x3 results, I really practised for it (since DO) and despite my timer malfunction (I got a fast oll and 3c edges) so I had to retry that one and +2 on my 13.42 solve I know for sure I can get sub 12. 

I wasn't really nervous, I don't know if it was because there was no time to be nervous or if I just really was relaxed, but 1 thing is for sure, I got sub-1 for 4x4x4 and I only did a few solves the day before. I will certainly practise 4x4x4 now. 

It was nice to meet people who I only met on speedsolving or youtube.


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## ParityErrors (Oct 26, 2008)

Rama said:


> ...hopefully we have more space next year.



I talked to one of the Jumbo staff, and she told me that the speedsolving event will bes seperated from the exhibition booth. So there should be more space next year.



Q

P.S. @Ron Good luck at the swimming event.


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## RobinBloehm (Oct 26, 2008)

I think we have to mention Michael Pohl who broke the German National Record for 3x3 Average in his first competition ever, everyone was happy cause we got a record back from Lucas Garron 

Congratulations again on this way.

As Rama I wasn't very nervous except for my last 3x3 try in the final, cause it would have been very easy to come in as the second best German and gain 100€ 
But for the 4x4 the Average of 5 was one of the best I could hope for in a competition because I liked the light of the TV-camera, making it easier to see the colours. My 1:09.XX was a 34 seconds reduction, so It should have been a sub-1, but a bad cross and double parity made that impossible for me, damn....
anyway, I powned the other Germans 

Now I hope to see you all at the next competition, hopefully there will be an Aachen Open, directly at the borders to the Netherlands and Belgium at the second or third weekend in January, what do you think, are you interested?


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## TMOY (Oct 26, 2008)

And also easy to reach from France with Thalys...
I couldn't attend German Nationals but I would be interested in an Aachen Open.


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## Crazycubemom (Oct 26, 2008)

Robin Hood , I will  and congratulations with all your new record's .


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## DennisStrehlau (Oct 26, 2008)

Yeah, i was soooo happy with my results.
I got 1:23 min and then 1:19 min in blindfolded without any practise and now i really want to start bld again!
And i got 31 seconds OH, wich really pissed me off, cause it must have been sub 30 (6 seconds G-Perm ) and then, the next solve i finally got my first sub 30s in competiton. 29 seconds.

It was nice meeting all the people again, especially the Germans like Jens, Monika, Robin and Raffael. I will be at the Aachen-Open.
Too bad, that my gf, Anika, couldnt make it.
And also the other guys were really nice. Like Michael Gottlieb, Frank Morris and Dan Cohen.


Greetings...Dennis


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## mpohl100 (Oct 26, 2008)

Yeah, 
so I don't know how to start.
Maybe to clarify some things I am Michael Pohl and thanks to you Robin for mentioning me before mentioning your own success.
He won the 4x4 competiton with a 10 secs difference to the second place. That's an awesome accomplishment.

Yeah that Nation record at 3x3 was really awesome. I wasn't shaky at all in the first round and so I reached my home level. 
Unluckily in the fianl I got 2 DNFs because I was so nervous!!!

Nevertheless I hadf a great time at the German Nationals.
Meeting all the guys I know from the internet was really awesome and also seeing those masters of the big cubes: Erik, Michael Gottlieb, Dan Cohen, Frank Morris and Michal Halczuk
and seeing the masters of blindfolded: Dennis and Tim and also Kai
and of course meeting the crew from Aachen Robin, Jens, Monika, Sebastian, Axel and Florian. 

You guys are all awesome!!!!!


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## Markus Pirzer (Oct 26, 2008)

Ron said:


> Wow, this competition was hectic:
> = A lot of people in a very small room
> = Huge audience walking among us
> = Not a planned time schedule for the morning, anyone competed when he/she was ready
> ...



Yes, I agree with almost all points. The competition definitly doesn't met point 7b of the regulation "Audience should be at least 1.50 meter away from the competitors". But I know this from previous German Nationals. Since we had much more competitors than last year, it was clear that it would be very difficult to match the time schedule. 

Nevertheless I had a great time at the competition.
I'm very happy with my times (apart from 4x4x4 and blindfolded) especially with my first 3x3x3 solve. I improved my single solve time at exactly 10 seconds!!!  Although it was a alomost perfect solve, I couldn't believe the time when I looked at the timer. It was even almost 2 seconds faster than my best time ever while practising.
I also had good times at magic and improved my records. I thought it could be enough for a Top 3 place, but I was 0.05 seconds behind the third German.

Unfortunately I missed the winning ceremony (it was about 1 hour later than planned), otherwise I would have missed my train.


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## KJiptner (Oct 26, 2008)

Hey guys, Janine and me just came back a few minutes ago. It was an awesome competition for me. Michael had some bad luck in the 3x3 finals, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to beat him. Congrats for the NR! Robin, Dennis and Timo also did an awesome job in "their" events! 

Incase somebody is wondering about my almost 3 min BLD, I saw how every good German besides Tim and Dennis DNFed his Blindsolves, so I knew I just had to get one, and that's what I did, using my new system, which I'm not fast with yet (Letterpair system M2+Turbo Corners  ) My second attempt was a 1:08 but Memo mistake and therefore DNF (4-5 pieces).
My 4x4 Final was horrible! I made a mistake on EVERY solve, on my last one I had only paired like 2 edges in 47 seconds and just threw the cube away, Erik or Rama like 
Also congratulations to the Internationals, who pretty much pwned the comp. It was nice meeting some new faces. Erik was close to getting 2 more WRs btw. 
And a big "thank you" to the organizers/judges, who handled the awfully crowded situation pretty well. Arnaud has invented a new judging, timekeeping system, "Stack-Management"  ("Look away, I scramble" )

Janine, Tim, Katja and me did not go to the V-Cube competition today, because we were all not very excited to do so. Janine was ill and had an exausting day at the fare yesterday already. Tim and me are not fast at the V-cubes yet (maybe me a little on 5x5)


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## Ron (Oct 26, 2008)

Markus, sorry that we were indeed running late. You probably know I hate that too. There were some factors here:
1) in the last week we received a lot of new registrations and some already registered competitors added events
2) we could not add more timers, there simply was not enough room for that
3) we missed Pim, so Ton was not able to help much with judging/scrambling at the beginning of the competition
4) we intentionally do not reserve a specific time for the preliminary rounds of the events, because we know some people arrive later than others (Germany is a big country)
5) we decided to use only 2 timers for the 3x3 final, otherwise it would be a real mess. We also had to enable the camera team to get good shots of the final.
6) during the competition we had printed the wrong (=international) certificates, so in the end we still had to print the German certificates, which took a long time. Luckily Germans took top 3 positions in blindfolded...

Personally I did very poorly in the competition. But I am not surprised about it. I started building up at 9am and after working all the time on two timers and scrambling in between, at 1:35pm I was finally ready to do my solves. Those were my first solves of the day.

Afterwards I felt sorry for Michael P. because of his 2 DNFs. There were actually quite a few competitors who did not wait for the green light to start. If you haven't done any moves, then normally I let a competitor start again. But if you have already done moves, then I think we have to be strict. Otherwise you can abuse this case for example if you have a bad cross. You just hit the timer and start solving. In exchange you get an extra attempt with a different scrambled position. We should not accept it.

Next year we will also have the stand on the other side, next to the wall.
We will have the competition over there with (at least) 6 timers in a row and noone behind you, only the wall. It will also make it better for the audience.

Have fun,

Ron
PS: looking forward pictures and videos!
Post them on http://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/media.php


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## mpohl100 (Oct 26, 2008)

Thanks for the honour Kai but I was so nervous in the final that I wouldn't have reached a sub 16 avg. so I am a hundret per cent sure that I wouldn't have been able to defeat you.

Edit: @Ron: Those 2 DNFs in the final didn`'t really affect my mood. I have reached more than I expected at my first competition and getting the NR for 3x3 avg and finishing second at 4x4 final is really making me happy. In a nutshell: I wasn't disappointed at all after my mess in the final.


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## Kenneth (Oct 26, 2008)

How come Michal Halczuk wasn't in the 4x4x4 finals?


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## Ton (Oct 26, 2008)

Kenneth said:


> How come Michal Halczuk wasn't in the 4x4x4 finals?



The format was 6 German + 6 Internationals with best of 2 to qualify, Michal was just not fast enough.... by 0.01 sec , he was nr 7 of the internationals in the qualification


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## Lucas Garron (Oct 26, 2008)

RobinBloehm said:


> everyone was happy cause we got a record back from Lucas Garron


Hey, there! 



mpohl100 said:


> Yeah,
> Yeah that Nation record at 3x3 was really awesome. I wasn't shaky at all in the first round and so I reached my home level.


Congratulations on that. It wasn't a surprise to me at all, but still...
The record was from February, and deserved to be broken. I've missed opportunities to get an official sub-14 average (US Nationals was sad, because I made enough stupid mistake to barely not qualify for semis, barring me from easy entry into finals. 3 squandered rounds...), and it's time.

However, I have two competitions next month, and I vow to take back the average record. I also plan to get 2x2x2 single and _finally_ get a cubic NR sweep after a depressing Nationals performance.

Furthermore, I plan to make it to the DM next year (unless maybe Worlds complicates it), if Verdes is willing to sponsor a flight for me to help at the V-Cube stand. I missed the opportunity this year because of a misunderstanding (very sad lost opportunities, but I'm getting over it), but my goal is to stay on top for a year and visit in 2009 to take all the main event titles.


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## AvGalen (Oct 27, 2008)

Did you know that:
* I went to German Nationals with Joey? (who stayed at my place for a week after Dutch Open)
* I came back from German Nationals with Joey, Charlie, Erik and Laetitia?
* Joey and I stayed at Dennis place the first night?
* Anika stayed there as well, but favored clubbing/sleeping over cubing?
* Joey, Charlie and I stayed at Dennis place the second night?
* Anika stayed there as well (again), but favored clubbing/sleeping over cubing (joined by Dennis this time)?
* Charlie and I got the exact same (bad) average time for 3x3x3?
* That I did really well on all other events: 4x4x4 (1:30 worst), 3x3x3_bf (all succesfull, ranking me 4th only behind Dennis, Tim and Kai), 3x3x3_oh (all sub 40) and magic (sub 2)?
* That I only did 16 solves in total on saturday, but scrambled about 300 cubes?
* Charlie was my judge on the first solve for 4x4x4? And that solve was performed like this: "table with timer and cube, Charlie (judge) standing in the competitor position, me (competitor) standing behind her with my arms around her actually performing the solve"?
* That that 4x4x4 solve was one of my best 4x4x4 solves ever (1:18)? And definately the most enjoyed one?
* That I continously scrambled and judged 3x3x3 competitors for 3 hours without leaving my 60x40 cm location on the podium?
* That I think it is a little weird that the German National was almost entirely run by non-germans (Ron, Ton, Rama, Maria, Charlie, me and others)?
* That a human body kind of fits through a tennis racket?
* That me laughing while wearing a tennis racket will NOT be viewable on youtube?
* That I was disappointed about Mátyás not being at the V-Cube tournament?
* That I was disappointed about Yu and other Asian top-big-cubers not being at the V-Cube tournament?
* That I was really happy about all the top-big-cubers (Dan, Michael (2x), Frank and 'Paris') that were at the V-Cube tournament?
* That mr. Verdes was at the V-Cube tournament (a little like Erno Rubiks being there) and that he gave signed 7x7x7's to the top-big-cubers?
* That Laetitia was solving 7x7x7's for over an hour, while NOT touching a megaminx?
* That Arnaud's silicon oil is now the most wanted item by each and every v-cube solver?
* That about 2 out of 3 bigcubes were actually scrambled correct?
* That I don't want to talk about my 5x5x5 results?
* That I broke my PB on 6x6x6 (4:23) and did another sub 5 on the second solve?
* That I broke my PB on 7x7x7 (6:55) and did another sub 7 on the second solve?
* That I was by far the most consistent 7x7x7 solver (6:55.08 and 6:55.88)?
* That I only solved 9 big cubes during this competition, but scrambled dozens?
* That black V7's exist in very limited quantities?
* That blue stickers for black V7's are even rarer?
* That I restrung the Magic 3 times (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and that it is currently in need of more restringing
* That Joey and I will be doing our entire weekly competition tonight in 1 go?


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## BinomDreher (Oct 27, 2008)

Arnaud i can assure you that i "didnt know" most of those facts 
Congrats to your good results, you deserved it at least for the massive amount of scrambles you had to do for other people^^



> * That I think it is a little weird that the German National was almost entirely run by non-germans (Ron, Ton, Rama, Maria, Charlie, me and others)?


Thats what i thought also - it felt a little like a "Dutch Open" 

Ah btw: Could you post the V-Cube competition results perhaps?


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## Jens (Oct 27, 2008)

One more nice Competition, even though i wasn't really satisfied with my results. Except for the 3rd place in 4x4 of course (Aachen 1st and 3rd, yeah ). Too bad i didn't make it to the 3x3 finals...



Lucas Garron said:


> my goal is to stay on top for a year and visit in 2009 to take all the main event titles.


Big Plans 

PS: Big thanks to the Organizers! I think you had a hard day


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## Ton (Oct 27, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> * That I think it is a little weird that the German National was almost entirely run by non-germans (Ron, Ton, Rama, Maria, Charlie, me and others)?



Yep , and not to many helped us at the start, still looking for the Germans organizing competition in Germany or at least assist us as volunteer . I was hoping a Germans cubers would volunteer, we can assist as WCA delegate if the Germans want to organize their competitions. 
btw Stefan Pochmann is the German WCA deligate


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 27, 2008)

Whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttt a mission. oh my god.

ok finally home!

german nationals was good but deeply stressful. thank you so much to ron and ton and maria and rama for being so helpful. i tried to help as much as possible but i went to the loo once and there was a queue 90384km long which kept me away for so long. it would have been nice to maybe have time for a short break for everyone who was scrambling and judging. it really isn't cool when people only judge their friends and then just disappear. very disrespectful to those who are taking the time to organise a competition.

thank you to maria for providing rama and i with schnitzel, i don't think we would have coped without it. also, i love how maria always has noodles, coffee, tea and chocolate with her. always!!

it was really really cool to meet some new cubers who weren't from europe, who are usually just screen names. it was also nice to see so much interest in cubing on both days (one guy at the v cube stand watched ALL day in the same place!! how amazing!)

v cube day was just as busy.only 4 people in the final was a bit silly in my opinion, because they all started solving at the same time, during which time 4 other cubes could have been scrambled (allowing 8 people in the final). otherwise it was really fun, i broke a lot of pbs on the bigger cubes and i got a black 7x7 

after the competition we got some food before dropping me off at the station, where i found out there was no train to hannover. disaster. but i phoned arnaud, who is the master of solving problems (Except ones where he has to get out of a tennis racket), and i went back to rotterdam. then i got a train to hannover this morning. this is a map of my journey:







seriously, what the hell.

my favourite part of the weekend was arnaud in the tennis racket. i hope i have a video. it *may* appear on youtube...

also, if there is an aachen open i will definitely come, as long as it is not the same weekend as the swiss open. i might also need to stay at arnaud's for a month beforehand so that i can sub 2 on 5x5


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## AvGalen (Oct 27, 2008)

CharlieCooper said:


> Whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttt a mission. oh my god.
> 
> ok finally home!
> ...
> also, if there is an aachen open i will definitely come, as long as it is not the same weekend as the swiss open. i might also need to stay at arnaud's for a month beforehand so that i can sub 2 on 5x5



You forgot to add that 90384km queue to the loo in the picture. If anyone could tell me how you create those pictures I will add some old and new ones (Polish Open 2007, Euro 2008 and Eriks Danish Open 2008 are the first that come to mind)

It seems that my 2009 will be extremely full. Maybe I should take 1 huge sabbatical:
* Aachen Open: Have Charlie over for a month
* Australia: Going there just for the cube and tennis tournaments seems like a waste of time/money. Might as well travel
* US Open: A couple of weeks travelling with Charlie (and maybe others) is definately on the schedule
* Worlds: Plans are a little vague and undefined, but doing a Peking Express style travelling (by car for now, but maybe by train) is currently in my agenda

I am willing to accept sponsors for all of this. Actions you want in return for this can be discussed (PM please)


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## highKO (Oct 27, 2008)

*Thanks!*



Ron said:


> Wow, this competition was hectic:
> = A lot of people in a very small room
> ...
> we had good help from our friends, especially Rama, Arnaud, Maria, Charlie and Sébastien, but also the others not mentioned.
> ...




Hi,

At first a great and special thank to Ron and Ton and all the helping hands to organize and proceed this event! This was my very first time at a cube competition and I got a lot of impressions, inspirations and a lot of fun as well. From my point of view the main experience was to practice cubing with very nervous fingers and stressed by misplaced edges from myself and so on ;-) I did not reach my goal to finish with a average sub 30, but I was satisfied to get my first WCA ranking *yippi* (about 2 years ago I restarted to solve the cube after 20 years paused ;-) with solving times about 4 Minutes *hehe*)

Now I'm a little bit more familiar with the processes (register/scrambling/judging) at a competition and I learned that the help from the competitors was very necessary as well to make the event successfully. So I guess I could provide a helping hand at the next german competition if accepted...

It was very nice to meet all this cubing enthusiasts and get in touch with some of them. I'm looking forward for one of the next event as this.

Ciao ..highKO..


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## fw (Oct 27, 2008)

Ton said:


> I was hoping a Germans cubers would volunteer


Hm. Nobody asked us. As far as I know. I am sure, almost everyone of the german cubers would have helped if he would have been asked. Well, anyway, thanks to you guys all for organizing this event!


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## Ton (Oct 27, 2008)

fw said:


> Ton said:
> 
> 
> > I was hoping a Germans cubers would volunteer
> ...



Hmm
if I shout I need judges and scrambles , at every start of an event ... ,this should give the cubers a hint that I need help....


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 27, 2008)

Ton said:


> fw said:
> 
> 
> > Ton said:
> ...



yeah, and also ton did post before the event on here saying it would be nice if some people helped to judge and scramble? plus, it's nice to help at every competition you go to! it's no fun if ron and ton have to be on full speed all day, they want to have a nice time too


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## Rama (Oct 27, 2008)

Maybe we should *appoint* volunteers?

At every competition I am like ''I will do nada'', but eventually I end up judging, even better I help judging for events I don't even compete in...

Problem also is is that people in the first group suddenly run off when they have to judge in the second group.

And yes, I only went to the loo and the line going to the Jumbo stand back was like 50 miles away with a detour and 1 mile without a detour, but there were people sitting everywere on the ground there.


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## Laetitia (Oct 27, 2008)

Finally back in Lyon.

Did you know that :
-I went to Essen during thursday to friday night by train without having an idea of where I would stay on friday night?
-Finally, I stayed at the hotel with the V-cubers, at Erik's and Sebastien's room.
-I took a lot of differents trains during this week-end (from Lyon to Paris, from Paris to Bruxelles, from Bruxelles to Dortmund, from Dortmund to Essen, from Rotterdam to Paris, from Paris to Lyon, and also trains from Essen to the hotel)



-I solved looooooooooots of 5x5x5, 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 during 3 days
-Sebastien, Erik, Michael, Dan, and I sat in the back of the V-cube van, on lots of V-cubes.
-Arnaud and Franck can do the right scramble on a 7x7x7 (but I can't^^)
-We exchanged 1 dollar bill for 1 euro coin with the cubers from the US
-Arnaud wore the 5 differents V-cubes T-shirts at the same time !


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## Markus Pirzer (Oct 27, 2008)

Ton said:


> I was hoping a Germans cubers would volunteer



While the first round I had almost no time to help with judging.

I arrived almost an hour later than planed, because:
- my train was a few minutes late
- there was a bulding site at the main railway station in Essen and the first 3 entrances to the metro which I found were closed
- i walked past the only open entrance, therfore I needed almost half an hour from the railway station to the metro
- the ticket machine at the metro didn't want to accept my money
- although I was on the right place on the right time, I took the wrong train (U17 instead of U11)
- when I was back, i didn't get the first train to the fair, because of masses of people which all had the same destination
- when I arrived, I had to wait about 10 minutes for buying a ticket (last year I ordered my ticket weeks before and next time I will do this again).

I competed in all events and the little time I had between I used for practising and talking with some other cubers.
2 times I had to repair my magic because of broken strings (one immediatly after beginning practising, another one after my first 2 solves).

After I completed all events, I left the Jumbo stand for lunch and looking around a little bit. 

When I came back from lunch, Ron asked me for judging and I immediatly began and judged until the blindfolded event, where I competed myself.

I think the main problem was that there was not enough room for more timers. Even if there would have been more judges, I don't think we could have matched the time schedule. As far as I know, all timers were used almost all the time. Sometimes I even had to wait until there was a free timer.

Another problem were the masses of people which made the way to the timers difficult for the judges and competitors. When I judged Frank Morris the first time, some viewers even blocked one of the timer and I had to ask them going away.


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## anders (Oct 27, 2008)

Rama said:


> Maybe we should *appoint* volunteers?



It's there, it's only up to the guts of the organisers to impose the rule

1e2) All competitors must be available for judging, if needed by organisation team. Penalty: disqualification of the competitor for the competition.


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## joey (Oct 27, 2008)

Taylor said:


> What I want to know is
> 
> Who won???
> 
> ...



Erik and Kai won (international and national)

Monday: Spent the day with Joel, then picked up Rama and Arnaud for tea.
Tuesday: Went for a walkaround Cappelle.
Wednesday: Went to Gouda, had a bit of a look around, bought a dutch phrasebook.
Thursday: Went to Deflt, but got off at Deflt Zuid by accident, where there was nothing to see!
Friday:Had a bit of a cube/rest, since we were driving to Germany that night.

Nope, I didn't buy shampoo, I tried to spend as little money as possible!

I'm not sure if we took a video,I remember Arnaud asking not for it


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## Erik (Oct 28, 2008)

Finally got back after more than a week being away and doing cube things.
I had a great time. Kudos for Ron and Ton for organising!!!!!!!
I got pretty good times at the Nationals I was relaxed. My one handed is improving a lot now!

So many things to tell, like sitting in the back of a van with 2 americans, a dutch guy, a german and a french girl. But I'll do that later.
Also I'll try to get the results of the V-cube competition up, I think they are on my USB stick but I'll check taht later, it's now bedtime!


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## Raffael (Oct 30, 2008)

Did you know that..


Markus Pirzer said:


> ..
> I arrived almost an hour later than planed, because:
> ..
> - the ticket machine at the metro didn't want to accept my money
> ..



- you don't have to buy a ticket for subway if you travelled there by train

- competing in bld next to Dennis is not a good idea because your concentration simply vanishes after 1:23.93 and you have to start your memo all over again
- I got a new 5x5 PB single time in a competition again
- Dan had the funniest +2 ever (bad pop during his solve, another bad pop on his very last turn, fixed it, finished his solve with a wrong turn)
- the catering at the V-Cube-stand was excellent
- someone forgot a really excellent cube at the Jumbo-stand on saturday and they gave it to me on sunday. whoever can convince me that it belongs to him/her can have it back of course. (PM me if you think it's yours, please be honest)
- i certainly don't like doing all my 3x3 solves in a row but i guess under those circumstances nothing else would have worked
- all german cubers need to e-mail/PM me their postal adresses so we can ship the national cubing shirts
- if you are called Lucas Garron, PM me in case you want a shirt aswell
- next year the cubing area should be clearly divided in practicing area, competitors area and competition area
- the organizing/scrambling/judging people did a great job. thank you.


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## Stefan (Oct 30, 2008)

Raffael said:


> - you don't have to buy a ticket for subway if you travelled there by train


Of course you don't have to, but you might get fined if you don't.


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## Raffael (Oct 30, 2008)

StefanPochmann said:


> Raffael said:
> 
> 
> > - you don't have to buy a ticket for subway if you travelled there by train
> ...



i just checked, they seem to have changed the conditions a bit.
you now have to have a "Bahn Card" and you have to travel further than 100 km.
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/preise/bahncard/cityticket.shtml

well, either they have changed the conditions or i was very lucky in the past not to get caught 

anyway, thanks to Stefan for putting things right, this might save me a lot of trouble and money in future.


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## Stefan (Oct 30, 2008)

Cool, it worked (I had heard about it before but didn't know the details and was too lazy to search for it myself).


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## CharlieCooper (Oct 30, 2008)

Raffael said:


> - someone forgot a really excellent cube at the Jumbo-stand on saturday and they gave it to me on sunday. whoever can convince me that it belongs to him/her can have it back of course. (PM me if you think it's yours, please be honest)
> .



might be arnaud's.


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## BinomDreher (Oct 30, 2008)

I have just made a video of the 3x3x3 finals containing the top3 international and top3 german competitors - but the video is longer than the "10-minutes-of-youtube" (its around 13 minutes...). Any ideas how/where I can upload this now for you all?


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## Pedro (Oct 30, 2008)

cut the video in 2 parts?


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## Cerberus (Oct 30, 2008)

=( you can see my bad solves then....
After all it was a really nice competition but my nerves were totally wrecked somehow.... I hope to be able to go full potential next time, in the first round I was really shaky, but got a much better average then in the finals, but the crowd was really pissing there, they wanted to be so close to me that the steped up the stage and pressed onto me so that the 40*40cm were perfectly with me + 3 spectators... guess how much space I got... -__-
The finals were more relaxing in that point, but still I somehow sucked more there...

After all it was a GREAT job by the organisation team and everybody else, it was very stressfull but they kept calm to everybody and got everything running perfectly. Thanks for that!


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## Raffael (Oct 30, 2008)

CharlieCooper said:


> Raffael said:
> 
> 
> > - someone forgot a really excellent cube at the Jumbo-stand on saturday and they gave it to me on sunday. whoever can convince me that it belongs to him/her can have it back of course. (PM me if you think it's yours, please be honest)
> ...



it is indeed.


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## Crazycubemom (Nov 1, 2008)

Did you know suring GN 008 :

Maria didn't sleep the whole night thinking how is Dan Cohen , is he nice ? is he tall ,is he handsome ? , and YES He is and he is COOL!! 

While judging Dan, Maria makes a film of Dan ( soon on my you tube account ).

A young boy ( i can't remember his face) asked me if I know Rama because I told him that I live in Holland  and my answer is I know him since he was on my tummy hihihihi and I have to go to do judge again ,

a few minutes later I had a short conversation with another young cuber ( till now i don't know his name even I forget his face ) if I know Erik, my answer is "Erik is Rama's twin brother , Erik just 5 months older 

I think Michael Gottlieb is brother of Marc van Beest .

Since I have met Dan,Michael and Frank ( and also Taylor) I'd like to come to visit US Open with my family if i can get a Visa to get enter US ( I hold Indonesia nationality ).


Kamil "Paris" healing my "I missed Poland".Thx Paris


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## BinomDreher (Nov 1, 2008)

I finished uploading my video of the finals, you can see in in this thread:
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?p=98865#post98865


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