Kiwi Wins Gold at Unicycle World Championships
Kaikohe’s Christian Huriwai pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the Unicycle World Championships by winning the men’s final in the Street competition. New Zealand has never before won a medal in Street let alone a gold medal. Just as surprising was the failure of defending champion, Frenchman Adrien Delecroix, to make the top three.
Huriwai scored well across each of the three sections while Delecroix spent a considerable amount of his available time trying to perfect a front flip off one of the ramps. This cost him valuable points as he never successfully landed a flip.
Unicycle street freestyle is very similar to skateboarding with tricks such as style grinds, drops and flips are attempted but on one wheel instead of four. Street freestylers put the ‘extreme’ into unicycling as they perform tricks on urban obstacles such as ledges, handrails and stairs with technical proficiency, style and creativity.
The venue for the World Championships was Waitangi Park on Wellington’s waterfront.
New Zealand’s only previous Unicycle World Champion is Ken Looi who won gold in the marathon in 2006.
Unicycle World Championships Street Results
Expert Men
1. Christian Huriwai (New Zealand), 2. Loic Baud (France), 3. Maxwell Schulze (United States)
Expert Women
1. Sophia Pellman (Germany), 2. Irene Genelin (United States)
UNICON XVI goes to….
The small mountain village of Lajen, in Italy!
Congratulations….let’s hope we will have an even bigger Kiwi contingent there in 2012!
Proposed Dates
Saturday July 21st 2012 to Tuesday July 31st 2012 (11 days)
Location
Brixen/Bressanone is one of the main cities in South Tyrol, in the northern part of Italy. The official languages are German and Italian. Brixen is the German name for the town; Bressanone is the Italian name. Brixen/Bressanone has a population of 21,000 and 1000 year old history. The area is renowned for its mountains, such as the Dolomites, which compose a significant section of the Alps.
More about Brixen/Bressanone: www.brixen.org
More about South Tyrol: www.suedtirol.info
Einradgruppe Lajen
We started unicycling in 2003 with 7 kids. In 2004 we set up our group “Einradgruppe Lajenâ€. Now we are a group of more than 130 unicyclists in our little town. We take part in many national and international competitions.
Unicon XVI
Hi All,
The IUF board have just received proposals to host UNICON 16. There are three bids: Italy, South Korea and Germany.
I need some feedback regarding where you would like to see the next Unicon being held. You can post your comments directly in the forums on this link: UNICON 16 Discussion
Or you can email me directly on info@unicycle.org.nz
Please do so within the next two weeks.
I have one vote on the IUF board, so want to represent as many unicyclists from NZ as possible.
Ken Looi
Vice-President
International Unicycling Federation
Unicon XV: only 2 months away!
We’re just two months away from Unicon, The 15th Unicycle World Championships and Convention! You’ll hear from us more often now as we bring you up-to-date with the biggest event on the unicycling calendar, and the first Unicon ever held in the Southern Hemisphere.
Registration update
We have 602 registered unicyclists from 21 countries. Our biggest teams are from Germany and Denmark with 103 and 81 registrations respectively. Coming close behind is Japan, with 75 participants.
Registration cut-offs
The next registration payment cut-off is 30 November 2009. The registration price is currently NZ$350, but increases to NZ$500 on 1 Dec 2009. Pay for your registration early to get the lower entry price. You can register and edit your entry until 1 Dec 2009 (whether or not you have paid).
Other registration cut-offs
The deadline for registration for the following events is 14 November at 11:59p New Zealand Time:
* Individual Freestyle, Pairs Freestyle, Group Freestyle, Standard Skill, Street, and Flatland;
* Basketball and Hockey teams;
* Points Racing (100m, 400m, 800m, 50m one-foot, 10m.30m Wheel Walk, Obstacle Course) and Relay Race.
For Basketball and Hockey, to officially register, the team captain needs to send UniconXV an email with the team name and all players.
The other events do not have a deadline but you will assist in our planning if you are signed up for the events where you want to compete.
Opening Ceremony
The parade of unicyclists will take place along the scenic waterfront with panoramic views across the Wellington Harbour. As you enter the Civic Square, you will be greeted with a Powhiri (traditional Maori welcome). Don’t forget to wear your team t-shirts for the opening ceremony.
Competition Updates
Competition venue photos are now up on the Unicon website. Most of the events will be held in the heart of the city. Muni and marathon competitors can also find photos showing part of the course for their race.
Similarly, we have put up course info sheet for 10 km race and marathon on the website. You will be able to check out the course map, route description, and for marathon, the elevation profile of course.
Video Competition
Have you got an awesome, new, original unicycling video to share? Showcase your other talent and take part in the Unicycling Video Competition!
Unicon Workshops
Have a workshop idea? Want to organise an informal rides or day trips? Any wacky unicycling games you like to share other unicyclists? If you would like to host one, or if there’s any particular type of workshop that you really like to take part in, email us at unicon15@gmail.com and we’ll take it from there.
See you in Windy Welly in two months.
Huifang
Unicon XV organising committee
UNICON XV, Registrations pass the 500 Mark
Unicon XV, The 15th Unicycle World Championships and Convention, to be held in Wellington Dec 27th 2009 to 7th Jan 2010, has surpassed the 500 mark as of today. Over 20 countries are represented in the biggest event in Unicycling. This will be the first ever Southern Hemisphere Unicon, and is a chance for New Zealand Unicyclists to experience this event without having to travel to the other side of the world.
If you have yet to register, do so before 1 Sept for the reduced entry fee!
New Unicycle World Record!!!
Ken Looi, a unicyclist from Wellington, has smashed the old Unicycling Hour World Record, held by Jan Logemann of Germany (27.564km) with a 29.993km ride in Dubbo, NSW, Australia. This is the furthest distance ridden by a unicycle in one hour. Ken rode into the record books on board a 36″ Schlumpf geared Unicycle.
Read about the record on Kens’ Blog
NZ Unicycle Weekend in the News!
The NZ Unicycle Weekend is well underway, and we have had plenty of media coverage.
For those of you who missed it, here is the TV3 News item which appeared in todays 6 o’clock news:
Not only that, this is our second newpiece in one week. Joe Dyson appears on The Breakfast Show before the NZ Uni Weekend:
And for those in the Manawatu, there is a great photo of Jesse Traill in the local newspaper last week:
Full reports and a photo gallery of the NZ Uni weekend will go up shortly!
NZ Unicycle Federation Memberships: Re-opening
Many of you have been waiting patiently whilst we rebuilt the website and the online membership form. As you all know, we are hosting UNICON XV, The 15th Unicycle World Championships and Convention. This is a great chance to grow the sport of unicycling in New Zealand and show the rest of the world what we do! If you’d like to help put NZ Unicycling on the map, please support your national unicycling body (that’s us), by renewing your subscription to the NZ Unicycle Federation.
To kickstart our new membership drive, we’ve extended all memberships to next year.  All past members are asked to update their membership details, and we will automatically extend subscriptions to 31/10/2010.
As part of the agreement with the organisers for the NZ Unicycle Weekend 2008, we have also given included membership to the NZ Unicycle Federation to everyone who attended that event. This will be current to 31 March 2010 also. If you were at NZ Uni weekend 08, just fill in the online registration form and email back to us.
And finally, if you are planning on attending NZ Unicycle Weekend 2009, over Queens B’day, your registration fee will cover for NZ Unicycle Federation subscription until Queens B’day 2010. We will get your membership details at the NZ Uni weekend.
The NZ Unicycle Federation AGM is held at every NZ UNI weekend, and it is a requirement for you to be a member in order to cast your votes or to stand in for an executive position. But that’s easy, because you become a member by attending the event.
See you all in Palmerston Nth on Queens Birthday weekend!
Ken Looi
Secreatary, NZ Unicycle Federation
NZUNI weekend 2009: Palmerston North
As a early build up towards Unicon XV, we now have an earlier date for the NZ Unicycle Weekend. It will be held over Queens Birthday next year, from 30 May to 1 June 2009. Come over to Palmerston Nth and meet other unicyclists for a weekend of riding, MUni, hockey, movies and pizza!
For more details, go to the Puni website: NZ UNI weekend
NZ Links
Societies
World Links
Unicycling Events
- 2013 NZUni Weekend - The NZ Unicycle Nationals 8 May 2013
- Australian Unicycle Nationals 2013, plus APUC. Canberra 7 February 2013
- Unicon XVII Montreal Canada 2014 17 January 2013