• November 12, 2018
    IUF

    EUC 2019 is coming closer

    Hello unicyclists!

    Less than 9 months are left until ECU 2019!

    As last year, the European Unicycling Championships will be held in the Netherlands, in Sittard-Geleen to be precise. It will take place from 25th of July until 4th of August 2019. Alwin Jacobs and the core team are working hard every day to make this great event possible.

    A lot of things stay the same as last year, for example:

    • Swiss Timing team, a great location for track racing and IUF Slalom
    • Tom Dumoulin bike park for 10k
    • Wood15 for Urban events
    • Stadtsportshaal for Basket
    • location for muni
    • Fitland area for registration, freestyle, cyclocross,…
    • lodging in Fitland

    We have also made some changes and improvements:

    • Marathon will take place on the amazing Zolder race circuit
    • Hockey moves to the sports hall in the City Resort (Fitland)
    • The camper area is a little bit further away than last time but it will allow more than 50 campers.

    We are very happy to welcome a lot of competitors (and non-competitors) in the Netherlands next year! Also non-european competitors are welcome to register and participate in the competitions. Be aware that as a non-european competitor you cannot get into a final, however you will get age group medals!

    For more information please check out our website: www.ecu2019.eu

    If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via info@ecunicycling.eu

    See you soon in Sittard-Geleen!

    » Read on
  • September 1, 2018
    IUF

    Unicon 2020 Status Update

    This is an update for the unicycling community on the current status of the proposed Unicon 2020 location in Brixen, Italy. As of September 1, 2018, the location for Unicon 2020 is still not finalized. The board is providing this update in order to increase the transparency of its internal actions.

    At the IUF meeting at Unicon19 in Ansan, South Korea, the board members present—Jim Sowers, Ken Looi, Emile Mathieu, and Jenni Rinker—announced the IUF had originally received several bids but at present had only one viable bid for a Unicon 2020 location. This bid was made for Brixen/Bressanone, in Italy.

    Over the years, the number of disciplines and competitions that constitute Unicon has grown substantially. Likewise, the demands on the hosts have also increased. As we have learned from mistakes and shortcoming in past Unicons, and given the importance of insuring a quality event that is a “world championship”, the IUF has formalized the requirements for hosting a Unicon. The IUF also has put in place a requirement that it is able to provide input to the event and that the hosts will be accountable to the IUF. The objective of this requirement is to ensure that Unicon does, in fact, meet the quality expectations of the participants.

    Because we have added these requirements, the process for negotiating and finalizing an understanding between the hosts and IUF is moving more slowly than it has in the past. There is a cost to trying to raise the standard.

    The IUF board has met weekly since Unicon19 and is working diligently to finalize an agreement with the proposed hosts that will ensure the quality of Unicon 2020. It is our hope that these discussions will be resolved quickly, but we cannot give an exact timeline as to when a final decision will be in place. We will post further updates on the status of Unicon 2020 as it develops.

    » Read on
  • June 27, 2018
    IUF

    Even more new World Records

    Beside the already announced new World Records, Niklas Wojtek from Germany set a new World Record in 100 and 200 meter Track Race.

    The 100m world record was set in 2006 during the UNICON XIIV in Langenthal, Switzerland (12.54 sec). He set a new world record for the 100m at 12.473 seconds.
    The 200m world record was set in 2017 during the race competition in Nottwil, Switzerland (25.662 sec). He set a new world record for the 200m at 25.489 seconds.

    Congratulation Niklas, especially for braking the 12 years old 100m World Record done by Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan).

    Both World Records was set in Nottwil, Switzerland on the 9th and 10th of June 2018

    » Read on
  • June 20, 2018
    IUF

    New World Records set in Switzerland and Germany

    Congratulations to Lisa Maria Hanny and Gert Jan de Vleeschouwer!!!

    Lisa, who is keeping the existing record already, set a new World record in Long jumps 2 times inner 1 week. She jump 3,30 meter in Nottwil, Switzerland on the 9th of June and then finaly 3,35 meter in Warendorf, Germany while the German Championships. Jan beat his own World record in IUF Slalom with 17,59 seconds by 0,01 second in Nottwill, Switzerland.

    There are some rumors that 100 and 200 meter World records was also set to a new level in Nottwil but we are still waiting for the final confirmation. The 100 meter record was not broken since 2006.

    » Read on
  • January 31, 2018
    IUF

    LAUCC 2018

    The IUF is proud to announce the 8th edition of LAUCC!!!

    LAUCC is the regional unicycle event in Latin America, uniting riders from the entire continent, passing across a few countries as Costarica, Mexico, Colombia Peru, Chile and Ecuador in the past editions. In this 8th event, Quito will host the competition; Ecuador for second time will receive the best riders of South and Central America in the disciplines of trial, street, flatland and downhill.
    The Latin American Unicycle Championship and Convention, is a chance for all the riders and non-riders, for meeting new people doing what they love to do, unicycling. With activities, workshops and competitions, LAUCC yearly increase the unicycle community in this continent.
    The support of the international and national brands plus the great efforts of the Latin American unicycle community are giving as a result, the 8th edition of this event that will every year grow and improve.
    LAUCC Quito is official, from the 6th to the 13th of April in Quito this 2018, an event made by Latin American riders for the entire world.

    » Read on
  • August 10, 2017
    IUF

    ECU in Sittard / Netherlands – New World Records

    The European Championship is over and it was an amazing event. Thanks to the organizing team for all their work!
    During ECU some new World Records were set.

    Our congratulation to:

    Gert-Jan De Vleeschouwer – IUF Slalom – 17.60s
    Niklas Wojtek, Simon Rodler, Andreas Richter, Noah Leber – 4×100 Meter – 50.71s
    Ana Schrödinger – Stillstand – 1h 49min 08.37s
    Ana Schrödinger – Slow Forward – 2min 56s 02
    York Beese – Slow Backwards – 1min 03s 08
    Lisa Maria Hanny – Long Jump – 327cm

    Thanks to IUF World Records Committee member Mirjam Lips for reporting all of these records.

    » Read on
  • March 7, 2017
    IUF

    IUF Newsletter No 1 2017

    Hello Unicycle community, we thought it was time to give you an update about what’s going on with the IUF and in the unicycling world. Included in this short newsletter are announcements, along with a few requests for you:

    IUF Board election 2017

    Every 2 years the IUF completes our Board elections and it is once again time for this. During the IUF Public meeting at the past Unicon we already asked for applicants and we wanted to give another chance for you to apply to be on the Board. We are always looking for new active members of the Board. Applicants should be interested in unicycling and in administration as well. A good level in English is very helpful and you should be available multiple times a year for online meetings which are often at strange times, since the Board is spread around the world.

    If you are seriously interested in becoming a member of the IUF Board of Directors, please send an application to contact@unicycling.org by the 26 March 2017. The application should include: who you are, what kind of experience you have, and what your motivation is to become a Board member.

    European Championships 2017


    The 2017 unicycle season has already begun with EUC 2017 winter edition last weekend (with a new Platform High Jump World Record!) Coming up this summer the official European Championships will be hosted in the Netherlands. If you have already signed up, be happy and excited until it starts. If not, you should hurry to sign up in time. You can find all the details about the EC here: ecunicycling2017.eu

    Don’t miss it, enjoy it!

    Unicon 19


    As you probably already know, the next Unicon will be hosted in Seoul, South Korea. The Koreans are working on it every day along with support from the IUF by Ken Looi (Board member and Unicon 15 host) and Jenni Rinker, who are supporting them as best as possible. Right now, they are working on the homepage to make it available in several languages, so make sure to check out unicon19.kr every now and then as to not miss any information. You can also follow their Facebook page here: facebook.com/Unicon19. We are looking forward to another exciting Unicon in 2018, see you there!

    Unicon 20

    Unicon 19 is still more than a year away but Unicon 20 will be something special. It’s the 20th Unicon which will be held in the year 2020, and it could be YOU who could host this amazing triple 20 event. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about it, and send us your proposal if you think Unicon 20 in 2020 should happen in your area. You are also welcome to contact us with questions about how to host or what is involved in hosting the event. In fact even if you do not have a proposal ready, we would be happy to hear about any interest by anyone who is considering hosting in 2020. Proposals should be submitted by the end of 2017.

    We probably forgot to mention something, but we have to save some content for Newsletter No 2 as well!

    Best regards,
    Your IUF Executive Board

    » Read on
  • October 7, 2016
    Development, Rules

    IUF Rulebook Reorganization

    As the IUF Rulebook director, I am happy to announce the official release of the re-organized IUF Rulebook. This reorganization was completed as voted upon in the previous IUF Rulebook Committee. This has been a huge volunteer effort and the majority of the work has been done by Steve and Mary Koehler from Minnesota, USA. I would like to deeply thank them for all of their hard work.

    Below is a write-up by Steve Koehler describing the both the process and the design of the reorganized rulebook. You can find the reorganized rulebook on the IUF’s Publication page.

    Scott Wilton
    IUF Vice-President and Rulebook Director

    Background

    Over the past year, as decided upon by the IUF Rulebook Committee 2014, Mary and I have been reorganizing the material in the IUF Rulebook to address some problems we perceived in previous revisions. These problems included:

    1. The chapters for different events were highly inconsistent in what was covered and how the material was presented.
    2. The rule book addressed multiple audiences in the same section or paragraph. This made it difficult for a reader to know which rules applied.
    3. It was hard to determine the totality of the rules for an event, because some rules were inherited from Chapter 1 and some chapters referred to other chapters for additional rules.
    4. There was not a clear distinction between rules and advice. [We did not directly address this issue in the reorganization.]

    The organization we came up with to address these issues was to divide each event into sections by role. There are separate sections for the competitor, the event organizer, and officials. Within each of these sections, we devised an organization of subsections, so that the same material appears in the same place within each event.

    The process we used to move rules to the reorganized rule book was to move the rules one at a time to an appropriate new section. Paragraphs, or even sentences, were split and moved to the appropriate place. Rules from Chapter 1 were replicated in all related events.

    The resulting reorganized rule book was completed too late to use for Unicon 17, but will provide a good basis for the next round of rule book edits. With the new organization, which highlights the inconsistencies between chapters, we have the opportunity to fill in the gaps and make the next rule book much better than previous ones.

    Top-Level Organization into Parts

    At the top level, the rule book is divided first into Parts, then into Chapters. The parts are named as follows:

    • General Rules and Definitions
    • Track: Racing
    • Track: Other
    • Road: Races
    • Mountain Unicycling: Races
    • Mountain Unicycling: Cyclocross
    • Freestyle: Artistic
    • Freestyle: Standard Skill
    • Freestyle: X-Style
    • Urban: Flatland
    • Urban: Street
    • Urban: Trials
    • Urban: Jumps
    • Team Sports: Hockey
    • Team Sports: Basketball

    The parts cover individual disciplines, and are grouped by name into general categories. There is an introductory part for general information. This overall structure is only slightly different from the previous rule book.

    Organization of Parts into Chapters

    Each event part is divided into four primary chapters, based on the main audience for the material (competitor, official, or event host). The chapters are the same for each event part, and are as follows:

    • Overview
    • Competitor Rules
    • Judges and Officials Rules
    • Event Organizer Rules

    This change is a major departure from the previous rule book. One of the motivations of this reorganization was to facilitate the possibility to publish a smaller rulebook with only competitor rules or only event organizer rules.

    Organization of Chapters into Sections

    The Overview chapter contains general information applicable to all readers. We put here a clear definition of the event and a small competitor summary to point out the most important things a competitor needs to know.

    The Competitor chapters contain the following primary sections:

    • Safety [what safety gear is required]
    • Unicycles [what unicycles can be used]
    • Rider Identification [whether a race number/chip is required]
    • Protests [how protests are handled]
    • Event Flow [rules that apply during the running of the event, in order of the event flow (for example, information on race start comes before information on race finish)].

    Additional sections are used for rules outside of event flow, such as sign-up deadlines or the need to upload music or list of skills to be performed.

    The next two chapters, Judges and Officials Rules and Event Organizer Rules, are somewhat less defined. Both have some common sections.

    The Judges and Officials Rules chapters have the following sections:

    • Sections describing the required officials
    • Detailed rules concerning judging or officiating

    The Event Organizer Rules chapters have the following sections:

    • Venue [the requirements of the venue and/or courses]
    • Officials [a short list of required officials]
    • Communication [rules related to what needs to be communicated, and when]
    • Age Groups [which age groups/categories are required]
    • Practice [whether there is a requirement for practice time on the course or at the venue]

    Guidelines for Rule Book Updates

    As we go into the next round of the rule book update process, we have the opportunity to make some big improvements, beyond the basic reorganization. First, in order to retain the clarity of the new organization, we need to coordinate our efforts.

    • Try to understand the intent of the new structure, and keep it intact.
    • If you can think of a section that is missing, but should be common to other parts, please discuss this with the main committee, so we can amend the structure. This is particularly needed in the Judges and Officials Rules and Event Organizer Rules chapters.
    • The new structure makes it clear that there are missing rules. Please start filling these in.
    • Some of the rules, such as protest rules inherited from chapter 1, may seem strange. Please correct these.
    • When Mary and I did the reorganization, we left a lot of notes in the rule book source files regarding possible shortcomings or problems. These should be made available to the committees, so they can be addressed.
    » Read on