It took teenager Laura Beacom just 10.486 seconds to become UK Sport Stacking champion, winning the title for a second time.
The speed stacking UK Championship took place at Neale-Wade Academy in March, Cambridgeshire, which saw some of the most talented stackers from the UK and Europe battle it out to win the fourth edition of the tournament in June.
Laura, the reigning champion from 2020 (the 2021 event was cancelled due to Covid), retained her crown by posting an overall time of 10.486 seconds across three events. Not only did the Belfast teen win the female category by a comfortable gap of 1.109 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Simea Fehrenbach, but she also posted a quicker time than Billy Willmoth (10.488 seconds), the winner of the male category.
Though sport stacking may not be on the conscious of everyone, it is a hugely challenging sport where competitors utilise incredible hand-eye coordination, focus, quickness, and physical skills. The name of the game is simple, to stack and unstack cups in a set sequence faster than anyone else – sounds simple, right?
Wrong, as the UK’s number one stacker explains.
“It took me a month or two just to properly get the sequences and use them well,” Laura told Fen Regis Trophies. “It was another year until I started getting good.”
What is Sport Stacking?
Far bigger in Asia, sport stacking – also known as cup stacking or speed stacking – involved stacking nine or 12 cups in a pre-determined sequence as quickly as possible. Cups are designed specifically for the activity, allowing for faster times. Sequences involve stacking cups in pyramids of 3,6, or 10 cups.
The governing body for the sport is the World Sport Stacking Association (WSSA), which was founded in 2001 under the name of World Cup Stacking Association (WCSA) until it was renamed as the WSSA in 2005. WSSA UK is the governing body in the United Kingdom and Ireland, while Speed Stacks UK organises events in schools around the country and is the official sponsor of the WSSA.
In 2015, sport stacking entered the Guinness Book of Records for the highest number of worldwide participants at 618,394.
How it Started
Laura credits the Rubik’s Cube for first getting into sport stacking, due to a similarity in sequences and patterns it takes to solve. The Belfast stacker was 12 when she first tried her hand at the sport that has seen her travel far and wide.
“I was clearing out my house and I found a set of cups I got for Christmas,” said Laura. “I usually wouldn’t have touched [them] but I decided to get them out and give it a go.
“I was okay, but obviously not great. I started on the carpet in my bedroom on the floor, so it wasn’t fast, but I found I learned the sequence quite quickly.
“I got my head around how you are meant to do it quite quickly. It definitely took a while to get to anywhere near being competitive.”
She added: “It was just over a year after I entered my first tournament. The first tournament I went to was July 2017 in Glasgow.
“I live in Northern Ireland, in Belfast, and my mum said to me if there was ever a tournament in Glasgow or Edinburgh or Liverpool, we would get a ferry across and go.”
2020 UK Championships, Covid, and the World Championships
For everyone around the world, 2020 was a significant year and it was no different for Laura, who had her hopes of competing at that year’s World Championship scuppered by Covid. She did, though, manage to squeeze in her maiden UK Championship win weeks before the country was put into lockdown and all sport was paused.
“I won the UK Championships in 2020, before Covid,” Laura said. “I was supposed to go to Singapore for the Worlds in 2020, but it was cancelled because of Covid.”
Two years later, Laura is the UK’s number one ranked female and finished 13th in the 2022 World Championships that took place in April. The tournament consisted of several regional events where competitors competed via satellite around the world, rather than all participants gathering in one venue.
After a strong showing this year, finishing 13th in the female category, Laura believes that she does have the potential to win a World Championship one day, but she will need to be on the top of her game to do so.
“I have a chance at winning [a World Championship in the future],” she said. “I’m high up in the rankings, but there are people that are faster than me.
“Some of these people have a slight advantage and their tournaments are bigger. In Korea, they are used to competing in front of 200 and 300 people, so they are used to it.
“Times-wise, yes I have a chance – but I would have to have a really good tournament.”
Six years on from first picking up a set of cups, Laura now has to find time in and around working, which she admits can be difficult, ensuring she dedicates a minimum of half an hour to an hour a day. The teen is also proactive in raising funds by performing on the streets and can be found on Instagram through her handle @belfastcupstacker, where she regularly posts updates from events she competes in.
