Dear IUF members,

We are happy to send you the first official IUF newsletter today. It is our goal to keep you updated with IUF work, important events and interesting stories around the sport of unicycling.

If you wish to contribute or have feedback for us, please email us at newsletter@unicycling.org. Please forward this newsletter to anyone interested. We are working on sign up and unsubscribe options for the next newsletter.

Happy New Year!

The IUF Team

In this newsletter

• Meet Olaf, the new IUF president
• Unicon 17 – News from the Organization Team
• Questions to a new world champion
• Unicon 16 DVD
• Upcoming Events

Meet Olaf, the new IUF president

Hello fellow unicyclists,

I would like to use the opportunity to introduce myself to you and say some words about the daily business of the IUF and our plans for the near future.
My name is Olaf Schlote, I am living near Cologne, Germany with my family. I am 45 years old and started unicycling 7 years ago. I got involved into the sport when my daughter started riding. Over the last seven exciting years I worked on implementing Flatland and Street as official competitions (togehter with Spencer Hochberg and Kevin McMullin) and invented the EUC (together with Yoggi). Beside, I organized several smaller Downhill races – just to name some milestones. For more then four years I have been a part of the IUF executive board now, which now elected me as the new president of the IUF. I am very happy about the opportunity and look forward to upcoming challenges.

Here are the main targets we decided to focus on in the next two years:

• Organize a great and successful next Unicon
• Introduce our sport to more people and more countries
• Work on international public recognition (Discovery Channel, X Games…)
• Build an official World Record Database
• Making the IUF a much more transparent organization

There are more issues in the pipeline and we are always open for your ideas. Feel free to contact the IUF at contact@unicycling.org.
Right now, we have a great rulebook committee running to update our rules for next Unicon. For the first time, the discussion is open to the public. We also changed the structure in order to involve more riders and to focus on the needs of each discipline. More than 100 people are working on the rulebook right now. Have a look at it and feel free to join the discussion here:http://rulebook.unicycling.org

When the new rulebook is finished, we will also create a new digital home for it, to make it easily accessible for anyone and in order to provide more functions and possibilities, especially for translators. Right now, we are looking for translation volunteers. We would like to make the rulebook available in Japanese, French, German and Spanish, but are open for any other language. If you would like to help translating, please send me an email to olaf.schlote@unicycling.org

Finally, I would like to thank all riders and volunteers around the world, who work every day in order to coach riders, organize conventions, develop new rules, or work in the background. Without you, the great changes or sport is experiencing would not be possible. Thank you!

Olaf

Unicon 17 – News from the Organization Team

Greetings to all unicyclists!
We are extremely happy and anxious to host the next world unicycling championships and convention in the heart of beautiful Montreal!

Already, we are working hard in order to make sure that Unicon 17 will be an amazing event for everyone attending. It will be the first Unicon held in North America since Unicon 11 in 2002. We are also proud to announce that we will host the North American Unicycling Convention just before Unicon.

Just how great is Montreal for a unicyclist like you?
Montreal is THE great city for unicycle riding, no matter what type of riding you practice; from the Mount Royal mountain for muni, to downtown street riding, all the way to distance riding down the long cycling paths of Montreal, to the gyms available for freestyle riders – everyone will find a spot to practice what they love most, with the people who share the same passion.

Bringing such a huge event to a city as populated as Montreal is a great chance to expose our growing sport and its diverse disciplines to the public – and we have plans to expose it to as many people as possible.

As far as tourist attractions go, Montreal offers a great variety of places to visit: Museums, historic venues, our various cultural districts such as China Town or Little Italy, LaRonde, our big amusement park, and our city’s countless festivals – to name only a few. Our metropolis also features a huge public transportation network, involving easy and cheap access to our award winning metro and our bus transport system, which will make visiting Montreal an easy and pleasant experience.

Through Unicon 17, our main goal will be to share Quebec’s unique culture with unicyclists from around the globe, and on the other hand, to share our unicycling passion to the French Canadian population. Given that we are the only French-speaking province in North America, participants to our event will be sure to discover a very special city.

By now, you might be drooling a little to find out what the exact dates of Unicon 17 will be. The good news is, we have fixed the dates already! Unicon will be held July 31st to August 12th 2014. The weather in Montreal at that time of the year is great for riding, with a monthly average temperature of 24°C / 75°F!

Now that you we’ve made you wish you could fast forward to Unicon 17, you might also be wondering about certain information we haven’t yet confirmed and talked about. Soon, we will have an official Unicon 17 website, as well as newsletters coming out for 2013. They will include information about:

• Accommodations
• Venues / locations
• Two top secret projects on which we’re already making progress… and which you won’t want to miss!

We have created two Facebook pages for you to be able to stay up to date and to address the topics you care about:

• UNICON 17 Suggestions & Ideas: https://www.facebook.com/groups/224547257673881
• UNICON 17 https://www.facebook.com/Unicon17

If you don’t use Facebook, or would like to help us by volunteering please send us an email: info@unicon17.ca

Truly and unicyclingly yours,
Unicon 17 Organization Team

Questions to a new world champion

Janna Wohlfarth (20) won the individual freestyle expert competition at Unicon 16.

Congratulations! Your routine was regarded the world’s best female routine this year. What did it look like?
Thanks! The theme of my routine was “The Simpsons”. I rode my unicycle as Marge Simpson with the crazy  blue hair. On the stage with me were friends who were dressed up as Maggy, Lisa, Bart and Homer. The music was the Simpsons theme and other Simpson songs.

What was it like to hear the results? What did you think?
To hear the results was unbelievable. I thought “They cannot actually mean me.” I was irritated, excited, and very happy.

Have you had any titles before? Did you expect to win?
No, not worldwide. I won some national competitions in Germany, this year and the year before. But never at a Unicon. I knew my routine went good, and I was very happy about that. But I didn’t expect to win.

How did you practice for this competition?
I started practicing the routine last winter. I practiced three or four times a week and when I was done with my high school exams, I was able to practice a couple of hours every day. It was very exhausting, but also a lot of fun. I put a lot of risky skills into the routine, and hoped that they would work in the competition – they did.

What do you do right before a competition? Any secret methods?
Just before a competition, I’ll find a quiet spot to sit down all by myself. I’ll listen to the music oft he routine and go through it in my head. On the day of my competitions I am usually very nervous. But once I am on stage, it is all gone and I am very focused.

What is your favorite thing about unicycling?
It is fun to ride with other people and give inspiration to each other. I like doing pairs routines with my sister or brother. And I love to come up with the routine. When unicycling, I can relax and be creative – that is what I love most about it.

Unicon 16 DVD

Unicyclist, artist and filmmaker Jess Riegel spent the days of Unicon 16 in Brixen filming all the big and small exciting moments of the event. He now released the beautifully edited DVD:

“Unicon 16 Brixen delivers a comprehensive view of the sport of unicycling as it documents the Unicycling World Championship & Convention in Brixen, Italy. Celebrating the spirit of unicyclists from all over of the world, the film captures the essence of competitions in mountain unicycling, trials, distance, freestyle, flatland, street, basketball, hockey, track and more. Fused with a uniquely Riegel soundtrack, Unicon 16 Brixen will entertain, inform, motivate and inspire!”

Watch the trailer and buy it here: http://jessriegel.com/

Upcoming Events

Winter EUC

Extreme Unicycle Championships in Cologne, Germany, January 18^th – 20^th 2013, http://e-u-c.info/winter13/

LAUCC

Latin American Unicycling Convention and Championships, Costa Rica, February 1^st – 3^rd2013, https://www.facebook.com/laucc.unicyclechampionship

Eurocycle

European Unicycle Championships, Langenthal, Switzerland, May 9^th – 12^th 2013, http://www.eurocycle2013.ch/

Düsseldorf Marathon

Unicycle Marathon, Düsseldorf, Germany, April 28. 2013, http://www.rmsv-duesseldorf.de/einrad/marathon/marathon13_en.html

Unicon 17

Unicycle World Championships and Convention , Montreal, Canada, July 31st – August 12th 2014, https://www.facebook.com/Unicon17

If you are hosting an event, please send us some information about it so we can put it on the IUF website and in this newsletter. mailto:newsletter@unicycling.org

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Thanks for reading. Happy riding!

Dear unicyclists,

Unicon16 will take place in less than a year. We are quite excited already. Today, we would like to update you some news and organizational issues.

Enjoy reading and feel free to send us some Feedback.

We hope to see you all at Unicon16 in Brixen!

Take care,

the IUF Newsletter Team

Contents:

1. Unicon 16 & World Championship
2. IUF Membership Information
3. UNICON 17 Bid Process
4. International Event Calendar

Unicon16 & World Championship

by: David Weichenberger (Organization Committee)

Unicon16

Unicon16 is a huge unicyclist convention for the whole world, a joyful unicycle festival. Unicon16 brings all aspects of unicycling together in one place: Brixen, Italy.

Here, you will get to know unicyclists from foreign nations, ride together, and play together. The exchange of the different aspects of unicycling is important to us and at Unicon16 there will be lots of time and room for it.

Unicon16 is an event for all unicyclists. You are very welcome to put in your ideas and make it the greatest festival you can imagine.

Unicon16 can only take place with your help. Get involved now by writing an email to us at info@unicon16.it .

Unicycle World Championship

The Unicycle World Championships will be held as part of Unicon16. Following IUF rules, many different unicycling competitions will take place. The winners of each category will be the new world champions.

Registration

We have an all-time registration record for Unicons already. While I am writing this, the number of registered participants is over 1500, of which over two thirds are competitors. That’s twice as much as Unicon 15.

Depending on when you are signing up for Unicon16, prices will vary.

It will help us organize a lot, if you register early. Therefore, it is cheaper the earlier you register. Until December, it is €200 for competitors and €100 for non-competitors to register.

In order to make your decision easy, we will pay you back the fee in case you register and decide not to attend Unicon16 until April 30th 2012.

We are looking forward to host a big Unicon. Thank you 1500 times.

Click here to register: http://anmeldung.unicon16.it

Read more about registration on our Website.

IUF Membership Information

by: Ryan Woessner (IUF President)

Alongside registration for UNICON XVI, the IUF is excited to announce a new membership program.  While membership fees have been collected in the past, our new program will help bring unicyclists together from all over the world. Some highlights of the program:

• Each individual membership will cost 10 Euro and will last for a two-year period.
• Membership is open to any one.
• Any competitor or non-competitor wishing to participate in UNICON will be required to be members of the IUF.
• Membership dues are collected on our website (iufinc.org), which can be accessed via the UNICON XVI Registration Form.
• Individuals not registering for UNICON XVI may become members of the IUF on our website (iufinc.org).

Your membership fee allows for:

• Seed money for UNICON hosts;
• Development of unicycling around the world;
• Furtherance of the convention aspect of UNICON;
• Creation of an IUF Publication;
• Directors & Officers Insurance for the Executive Board;
• Expansion of online resources and database.

Upon becoming a member of the IUF, an individual will:

• Be able to participate in UNICON (if qualified through country method) and other IUF-sponsored events;
• Receive a quarterly electronic newsletter;
• Obtain a IUF Membership card and ID;
• Gain access to a personalized page on the IUF website;
• Connect with unicyclists from around the world through an international resource database;
• Test for the International Unicycling Federation Skill Levels;
• Support the development and growth of unicycling around the world.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact IUF President, Ryan Woessner, at ryan.woessner@gmail.com.  The IUF very much looks forward to continuing the expansion of unicycling around the world through the financial support of unicyclists.

UNICON 17 Bid Process

by: Ryan Woessner (IUF President)

Every two years, the International Unicycling Federation, along with a selected national organizing committee, sponsors UNICON, the World Championships and Convention of Unicycling.  UNICON is the largest gathering of unicyclists in the world.  Since 2000, the number of participants wishing to partake in UNICON events has skyrocketed, with over 2,000 individuals expected in Italy next summer.  The summer of 2014 will mark the 17^th time unicyclists from around the globe will gather with the purpose of expanding the sport of unicycling to more nations.

Organizing a UNICON is extremely time-intensive.  Because of this, the IUF Executive Committee recommends that Candidate Countries develop an organizing committee that contains a multitude of individuals from both the host country as well as other international volunteers.  Additionally, the IUF is here to help you develop ideas and initiate the bid process.  If you are interested in hosting UNICON XVII during the summer of 2014, please submit a bid to the IUF Executive Board by 1 January 2012.

Any national organization or host committee may bid for UNICON XVII.  This includes North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Oceana and Europe.  Please note that since UNICON XVI will be held in Europe (Italy), the IUF Executive Committee will consider diversifying continents depending on the number of candidate countries as of 1 January 2012. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact IUF President Ryan Woessner via email, ryan.woessner@gmail.com, at any time.

International Event Calendar

by: Olaf Schlote (IUF Director)

Originally, I planned to list all events I can get information about and ask around to collect the needed data. Soon I saw, though, that I couldn’t get a lot of useful information because many events are not placed yet or the organizers do not spread the word internationally. This brought me back to an idea we had when realizing late, that EUC 2011 summer edition and NAUCC 2011 were placed at the same weekend. This might not sound like a big problem because one took place in Hungary and the other in the USA, but it affected several riders’ plans. Today, a lot of riders travel a far way in order to take part in good conventions.

So me and a lot of other riders agreed, that there is a need to set up an international convention calendar which is online and accessible by all riders and editable by all organizers. In this calendar, you should be able to sort events by country and by discipline. You should be able to get a short description to each event and find a link to the event website. Best case scenario would be to provide all the information for an event and register right at that website.

In order to realize this project now, we need some good developers to get it started. We already have a sponsor for webspace and a domain. As often though, a lot of people want to use it, but it’s hard to find people who want to develop and run it. However, there is a need to do it. If you can imagine being in the team that creates the calendar, please send me an email: olaf.schlote@iufinc.org.

As for now, here’s a list of upcoming international events:

Winter EUC (Trial, Street, Flat)
Germany, 20.-22. January 2012

SUCK IV (Muni, Trial, Flat)
Slovenia, 28./29. April 2012

Mondo (Juggling, Unicycling)
USA , April 2012

CUT (Muni, Trial, Flat)

NAUCC (US Nationals)

Salzkammergut Trophy (Downhill and Long Distance XC)

Unicon16 (World Championships and Convention)