KALAMUNDA residents Sara Colombini and Julie Bertram have won gold at a jigsaw competition sponsored by puzzle developer Ravensburg.

The WA State Jigsaw Puzzle Competition was held at the end of June and had two divisions.

The first division was for teams of four who had to complete identical 1000-piece puzzles in two hours and the second division was for solo competitors who had to complete a 500-piece puzzle in two and a half hours.

Puzzle enthusiast Colombini said anyone could enter the event.

“Obviously you’ve got some highly competitive people, like myself,” she said.

“And then you’ve got people that are just there to have a go and be part of it.”

Colombini and Bertram were joined by Leonie Thomas and Caroline Andrew and competed as a team under the name Jigsaws Anonymous.

The four-woman group took first place with a time of 42 minutes and 58 seconds, which was 20 minutes faster than second place.   

Colombini also placed first in the solo division after completing the puzzle in 42 minutes and 53 seconds, six minutes ahead of the silver solo winner.

Colombini said she was beyond excited when she heard she won gold in both divisions.

“This was the first time I’ve come first in solo and that was a huge achievement for me.

“To win in both divisions made it even sweeter.”

She said puzzling had always been part of her family culture.

“I just remember watching (family) do it and then I did it.

“It’s something that works with how my brain works, as in I can do it well but also it’s very therapeutic.”

Colombini said whether she was doing a speed or leisurely puzzle, her mind often switched off from things that worried her.

“If I’m leisurely puzzling then I’m just enjoying creating something.

“If I’m speed puzzling, in my head I’m going, ‘Go faster, go faster’.”

In 2021 Colombini started a social puzzle group in Kalamunda also named Jigsaws Anonymous.

“I used to meet with some mum friends regularly just to do puzzles and we just got so much out of that.

“It was really just such a lovely social thing, doing a puzzle together, having something to eat and drink and chatting and telling each other our problems and our good times.

“And we thought, I think other people would really benefit from this, so we decided to give it a go and it’s been really successful.”