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 25^th of July until 4^th 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!

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.

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

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.

Eric Grundhauser from the Atlas Obscura contacted the IUF some weeks ago and ask us what is the hardest Unicycle trick? We thought that Eli Brill could be a very good person to discuss this question with and so bring Eric and Eli together. Here you can see the result:

What Is The Hardest Unicycle Trick?

Many thanks to Eric and Eli for providing such a good article about Urban Unicycling!

Check out the Open Unicycle Calendar and Open Unicycle Map. You can find the links at our Events page

Many thanks to Maksym Siegieńczuk for creating this great tool for the comunity!

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.

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