A British runner has claimed a Guinness World Records title after solving four Rubik’s Cubes while sprinting around a track — finishing a mile in just 5 minutes and 9.25 seconds. George Scholey, a repeat record holder and speedcubing champion from the UK, completed the “puzzle cube mile” on 12 October 2026 at Central Tech high school in Toronto, Canada, and Guinness World Records published the achievement on 6 November 2026.
The format is exactly as strange as it sounds. Scholey solved a cube, sprinted a 400-metre lap, solved another cube, sprinted another lap, and repeated the pattern until he had solved four cubes and run a full mile. He finished with a time of 5 minutes 9.25 seconds, braving windy weather at the Toronto track to take his fourth multitasking, speedcubing record.
A record holder with a habit
Scholey’s puzzle-cube mile is his fourth record in the same unusual field. He has previously claimed the titles for the most rotating puzzle cubes solved on a skateboard, the most rotating puzzle cubes solved in 24 hours, and the most rotating puzzle cubes solved while running a marathon. The marathon record has since been broken by Toti Moragas Pardell of Spain, with 561 cubes — a figure that makes Scholey’s four cubes in five minutes look almost modest by comparison.
The appeal of the puzzle-cube mile is that it is two hard things at once. A 5:09 mile is fast by any standard — most fit adults would struggle to run a single mile in under six minutes, let alone while stopping to solve a puzzle. And solving a Rubik’s Cube takes concentration that sprinting destroys. Doing both, four times in a row, is a test of a very particular kind of brain.
Why it counts
Guinness World Records certified the attempt, and the record is for the fastest time to complete a puzzle cube mile — a title that did not exist before Scholey created it. The windy conditions at Central Tech high school in Toronto are worth noting: a cube is a small, fiddly object, and wind makes it harder to hold, harder to turn, and harder to see. Scholey’s 5:09.25 was set in spite of the weather, not because of it.
It is the kind of record that sounds like a joke until you try it: run a lap, solve a cube, run a lap, solve a cube. Four times. In five minutes. Most of us would still be on the first cube when Scholey crossed the finish line.
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Sources: Guinness World Records, 6 Nov 2026.
