Fingers fly as records stack up

By Ben Hope
DON’T blink or you might miss Clyde champion speed stacker Molly Hallam break another Australian record.
The eight-year-old St Margaret’s School student recently returned from the World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver, Colorado where she broke several Australian records and finished fourth and 10th in the world for her individual events.
Molly said elite competition was more difficult than what she was used to but she was happy with her performance. In the preliminary finals the speed stacker set new Australian records and smashed her previous personal bests by several fractions of a second.
“I was really happy to break my personal best times, especially to break the Australian record,” she said.
Unfortunately nerves set in during the finals and she finished eighth overall.
“During the finals I was really nervous, my hands were shaking and I couldn’t stop them,” she said.
For the uninitiated Sport Stacking is an individual and team event where competitors stack and unstack specially designed cups in a pre-determined sequence as fast as possible. They race against the clock in individual events and head-to-head in the team relay competition.
Molly joined the nine-person Australian Stackeroos team and more than 700 competitors from 18 countries for two days of intense competition at the University of Denver.
On the final day of competition she joined the third-placed 12-and-under Stackeroo relay team as they broke a new Australian record, and finished seventh in the under-10 doubles event with Bendigo team-mate Mitchell Kemp.
However, the trip wasn’t all work and Molly enjoyed a visit to Los Angeles, Disneyland and a tour of the world speed stacking headquarters on the way home.
“The best part of the trip was meeting all the other stackers in the competition and making new friends,” she said.
Proud father and Australian team coach Tyron Hallam said the Stackeroos put in a fantastic performance with all members breaking at least one personal-best.
“This was the third world championship Australia have attended and our first since 2007 but we will definitely be going every year from now on; it was a great experience,” Hallam said.
“It is an intense competition and nerves are definitely a factor. Overcoming them is part of the challenge and that’s what the sport is about. You only have one shot at it on the day.”
Hallam also joined his daughter for the child-parent stacking event where they finished 16th.
“It was a new personal best for us so we were both absolutely rapt with our result,” Hallam said.