Grantham to host first official speedcubing competition this autumn

Grantham will stage its first official World Cube Association competition at Grantham College’s Refectory Hall on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, and every one of the 60 available places has already gone. The Grantham Autumn 2026 open will be held at Stonebridge Road, Grantham, NG31 9AP, with Eleanor Sinnott and the UK Cube Association running the event and WCA delegates AJ Nicholls, Nevins Chan Pak Hoong, Oliver Hexter and Sam Spendla overseeing it.

The sellout gives the meet an immediate significance beyond a single weekend on the calendar. The base entry fee is £30, spectators will be admitted free, and no on-the-spot registrations will be taken. Anyone who cancels before Monday, October 12, 2026 at 9:00 AM PDT will receive a full refund, a sign that the event is being run with the sort of formal structure that comes with official WCA sanctioning.

That sanctioning matters because a competition needs a WCA Delegate to be officially recognised, and the delegate is responsible for ensuring the regulations are followed. Grantham’s setup looks like a full competition rather than a stripped-back local meet, with a viewing area, practice space, a speedcubing shop, a delegate station and an on-site canteen for food and drinks. For a town that has not previously hosted an official WCA competition, that package makes the debut feel like a proper stop on the UK circuit rather than a one-off novelty.

Paul Fixter, who spent around 10 months working with WCA UK and Grantham College to bring the event to town, has used his son Benjamin Fixter as the local face of that growth. Benjamin Fixter, WCA ID 2024FIXT02, has already competed in 10 competitions and logged 398 completed solves, with personal bests of 8.23 seconds in 3x3x3, 2.13 in 2x2x2 and 14.67 in one-handed 3x3x3. His profile also shows official results across 4x4x4, 5x5x5, Clock, Megaminx, Pyraminx, Skewb and Square-1, and he is ranked 79th in the UK for one-handed 3x3x3 average.

That mix of a sold-out field, a formal WCA crew and a young local competitor with real rankings gives Grantham Autumn 2026 a bigger signal than a standard first meet. Grantham is not just getting its own competition, it is being pulled into the same organised national system that has already turned smaller city and town venues into credible stops for the sport.