The 9^th International Unicycling Convention

Julien Monney (Geneva Unicycle Club, Switzerland) attracts a crowd around him as he demonstrates new and impossible skills. Here, Julien is pedalling with his hands going in the direction that his feet are pointing. Julien also took the world champion title in Standard Skill. Photo by Bill Gilbertson.	Contents: Introduction Unicycle Chain Sumo Tournament Hockey Track Personal Recollections in Racing Orienteering Standard Skill Artistic Result Summaries: Racing Overall Champions Other UNICON IX Web Sites: Complete Results World Hockey Tournament
The Ninth International Unicycling Convention (UNICON IX) was held from July 25, 1998 till August 2, 1998 in Bottrop, Germany and was hosted by the Eagles, of DJK Adler 07 Bottrop e.V. This IUF sponsored convention was a great success with record attendance of 660 participants from 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
The host club, the Eagles, performing their 3rd place group routine. Many thanks to the Eagles, and to the organizers: Rita Platzcke-Widlak, Christian Widlak, Gisela Hoverath, Franz-Jürgen Hommen, and Christa Hommen for hosting UNICON IX. Photo by Bill Gilbertson.

Day One – Taking Over The Park

On the first day we all rode to a nearby park to attempt a massive unicycle chain, which is where you get as many unicyclists riding together as possible. We counted heads as we rode through the park entrance — 369 riders! There was a very long, rectangular path going around the middle of the park’s garden area, and we nearly filled it up. Though there was never a complete riding link-up, that did not seem to matter. We were all there, we all rode, and the town and the press saw us! All the riders had great fun to ride in such a huge group, and they did massive “waves” down the line while holding hands. It was a perfect way to start an international event, by doing something where we all had to work together, and shouting to the world that as unicyclists, we are all part of one giant nation!

Sumo Tournament

Later in the gym, it was time for the Unicycle Disco. Non-European riders did not know what a unicycle disco was (a DJ plays music and you dance and ride to it as you please).

Manfred Hartung and Bernd Rahmann playing an informal game of sumo. Photo by John Foss.

A cool idea, but a lot of people didn’t get it, so Steve Dressler and I decided it was time for the UNICON Sumo tournament.

The object of Unicycle Sumo is to force your opponent outside your riding area boundary or to make him dismount. I’ve enjoyed this game in various forms since my earliest days of riding. Sumo is also known as Gladiators in Europe, or Demolition Derby in the States. It can be played one-on-one or in a group, and with or without boundaries. In Bottrop, we played in a small rectangular piece of floor, about 4 x 4 meters, with two riders at a time.

Two contestants start at opposite sides of the rectangle. They must bow to each other, and then one of the referees gives the start signal (“Kill!” or whatever). Safety rules are employed to keep the game safe and fun. A skillful rider can recover from the most amazing knocks, pushes or spins. It’s great watching the contortions riders make to keep their wheel from going out of bounds. When one rider dismounts, the other must remain riding for at least 3 seconds to gain a point. The winner plays the next person in line, and we counted how many matches in a row anyone could do. The winner was Lars Lottrup (Denmark) with 10. Second was Manfred Hartung (Germany) with nine and a half or so. We tried to break the game up so that younger, smaller riders could also play against each other, but we were being informal so I think a lot of people just watched when they could have participated.

Unicycle Hockey World Championships

For the third time in the history of UNICON, a tournament was included to determine the world champion in unicycle hockey. The games of the tournament were spread over the whole week.

Wanja Lindner (Mörfelden) and Jamey Mossengren (Team USA) playing in the hockey tournament.

Twenty-four teams from 7 countries (Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States) participated. Since the event was held in Germany, it was no surprise that more than half of the teams were German. Initially the teams were placed into six groups of four teams each. The six best German league teams were placed into different groups. The other teams were drawn (almost) randomly into the groups. The only requirement was that clubs that had more than one team at UNICON would also end up in different groups. The Danish team from Haslev enjoyed the games so much that they volunteered to organize the European Championships next year. The Swiss team was never seen without their mascot (a cow), and the ringing of the cow bells was a constant accompaniment of their games. Considering that they started playing hockey only recently, the Swiss team was quite strong. They even beat the British team, which was very unlucky this year. Some of the British players arrived in Bottrop only after their team already had dropped out of the tournament. Team USA was the only non-German team who reached the quarter finals.

After several days of exciting games, LaHiMo 1 and Bochum 1 qualified for the finals on Sunday. LaHiMo shot the first goal, but there was no time to celebrate and Bochum dominated the remainder of the first half, which ended 7-4 for Bochum. In the break LaHiMo regained some power and scored several goals (including a penalty shot) to break even again. The spectators were caught up in he excitement of the game. Their cheering sometimes made it impossible for the players to hear the referees blow the whistle. Just seconds before the end, Bochum shot the last goal of the game and won with a final score of 11-10. Although disappointed after losing such a tight game, LaHiMo showed their reverence to the new world champion by inviting the whole team for a drink. (The author was one of those who had to buy a drink.)

Track

I must start by commending the fabulous facilities. The track was excellent, with a huge roof over the grandstand that saved us from the rain. Rainy days of racing were not disasters, because all but the racers on the track could stay dry.

Lei Shi, Marc Haefliger, Huan Bi, Yuichi Ono, Daiki Izumida, and Yingxin Du (left to right) race to the finish of the Expert 400m at record breaking speeds. Daiki Izumida won this race. Photo by Bill Gilbertson.

Spectators had enough room to move about, socialize, and check out the vendors’ goods. In addition, the electronic timing system was superb. We should always use something like that!

The most notable thing about the track events at UNICON IX was probably the amazing Chinese racers. This was China’s second appearance at UNICON. Their first, in 1994, was only a year after the establishment of organized unicycling in China. Now that they’ve had a few years to train riders, it has become obvious that they’re really into racing! This was most notable in the longer events. In the short races, Japan still dominates. The men’s Expert 100 and 400 meter races were exciting near photo-finishes.

Track Gliding was held for the first time. We were worried about expert riders coasting the whole distance in the gliding race (which is legal because there’s no good way to tell the difference). So we made it so riders had to choose one event or the other, and it worked fine. The winning distance was 105.23m by Emi Uji (Japan), with a very fast run-up and a super light touch on the tire. I won it for the men, but at only half the distance!

Some Personal Recollections of UNICON IX

Top results from the races:
100m
Mio Ueta (Japan)	14.97	Expert
Yuichi Ono (Japan)	13.36	19-29
400m
Xinyuan Liu (China)	1:01.53	Expert
Daiki Izumida (Japan)	58.96	Expert
1500m
Xinyuan Liu (China)	4:08.75	13-14
Yingxin Du (China)	4:03.55	11-12
Obstacle
Dana Schneider (USA)	22.48	15-18
Yuichiro Kato (Japan)	19.83	19-29
50m One Foot
Mio Ueta (Japan)	9.57	Expert
Yuichi Ono (Japan)	8.29	Expert
30m Walk Wheel
Mio Ueta (Japan)	10.21	11-12
Yuichi Ono (Japan)	7.42	Expert
Slow Forward
Andrea Kirsch (Germany)	31.74	15-18
Colin Schworer (USA)	42.03	15-18
Slow Backward
Bernadette Girshausen (Germany)	29.07	15-18
Colin Schworer (USA)	53.63	15-18
Track Gliding
Emi Uji (Japan)	105.23m	15-18
John Foss (USA)	55.0m	30-UP
Track Coasting
Dana Schneider (USA)	77.21m	15-18
Michael Kirsch (Germany)	110.56	19-29
Marathon
Xinyuan Liu (China)	28:52.70	13-14
Huan Bi (China)	28:30.03	15-18
Bold indicates a world record

A month before UNICON IX I had an accident while playing tennis and it was only four days before the convention began that I was able to ride a unicycle again. I didn’t expect much after my injury and didn’t put myself under pressure, so I won the 100 meter race in the 15-18 age group.

At first the timekeepers didn’t realize I had won — and I didn’t either. After the race, I looked at the records where the timekeepers were keeping track of successive times and saw mine, a terrible 15:45! Disappointed, I said to myself that the accident hadn’t been without consequences. But soon people began congratulating me about my excellent time and I became sure that the official time couldn’t be right. I contacted the officials and they finally reviewed the video timer. Only 15 minutes before the expert race started they decided that I qualified for the expert race. My real time hadn’t been 15:45 — it was 14:45.

I was surprised that 12 people qualified for the expert race. At the beginning of the race I still had the difficulties of my previous time on my mind, so I had a bad start. But then I rode faster than ever and 20 meters in front of the finish only Yuichiro Kato and I were still riding. (The others had fallen victim to the uneven track.) Kato was so much in the lead that I instinctively rode more slowly over the last twenty meters to secure my second place. I made it to the next heat, but in the second expert race three of the riders were faster than I had been.

I had great expectations for the 400 meter race, my best event, but on my journey to the track I left my backpack on the train and in it were all my things, including my racing shoes. Despite the best efforts of the friendly organizers, no one could find my backpack. What could I do without my shoes? When I had exhausted all possibilities, my toughest racing adversary, Michael Kempf (Germany), lent me his shoes for the race — but it was difficult to feel comfortable on my unicycle with new shoes that were two sizes too small.

I did well in the age group race and had the second best qualifying time. The expert race over 400 meters was the most exciting race at UNICON IX. The chance for the championship was still open after 300 meters, but Daiki Izumida and Yuichi Ono had still so much reserve that I couldn’t beat them. I tried to risk improving my fourth place position for third, but my shoes weren’t my own and on the last straightaway, where the track was uneven, I lost my grip and kissed the ground. My dream of an expert medal was over.

That was the worst day for me at the UNICON IX but that wasn’t all, I’m afraid. Because I wanted to reserve my concentration for the 400 meter expert race, I decided not to queue up for half an hour to practise for the obstacle race. Unfortunately it rained on the following day and the track was wet; on a wet track you can’t be fast over obstacles. And at the 1500 meter race, I could only bow to the great times of the Chinese riders, who broke the world record by 10 seconds.

The only thing that wasn’t good at UNICON IX was that the schedules for victory ceremonies were not well publicized. I missed the victory ceremony for the marathon (I was third in the 15-18 age group). But when I compare the helpfulness and kindness of the organizers with all the other races I have ever participated in, I think it was a wonderful week.

Orienteering

The UNICON host club, DJK Adler 07, was originally an orienteering club. Unicycling was added later, so there were definitely some serious orienteerers there. My first orienteering race was in England, at UNICON VIII in 1996; this was my second-ever orienteering race. Here it is, from the point of view of an inexperienced orienteering dude.

Svenja Dubberstein (Smiling Faces, Germany) stamping her last control in the orienteering race. Photo by Günter Vetter.

The purpose of this race is to interpret your map, get to all the checkpoints, and return to the finishing area in the least amount of time. No time limit, but don’t come back until you’ve been to every checkpoint! The rules were different from what we used at UNICON VIII. There were no teams. You didn’t have to set up your own map. You didn’t get to see your map until a few minutes before starting. There were different checkpoints for different age groups. At each checkpoint you would find a little paper punch that stamps a unique pattern into your game card. Don’t lose your game card (or map)! I did and lost a lot of time going back and looking for it in the rain!

For once the rain came at a semi-appropriate time. This race was also a substitute for a straight MUni race, in a park on dirt trails, and the rain kept us cool. It didn’t rain the whole time, but it did enough to get everything muddy so we could spread it all around!

I was the first rider to start (not by choice!), but certainly not the first to finish! Toward the beginning I was riding with a Swiss guy, and we cooperated in finding one of the checkpoints (in the middle of the nettle patch). But he didn’t lose his punch card when I did, and off he went. Later I ran into trouble trying to find a checkpoint next to the freeway (Autobahn). It was on the other side of a fence which I thought marked the highway property. People with orienteering experience had an advantage at being more familiar with reading orienteering maps (it was labeled in German, by the way). I wasn’t sure what all those little lines meant...

Anyway, I had lots of fun getting lost, running into other people out there, finding checkpoints that weren’t on my map, and zooming through the mud. I finished in 1 hour and 45 minutes or so. Not bad? Orienteering expert Roger Davies from England only beat me by about 50 minutes! I guess there’s a lot to be said for experience...

UNICON IX Champions Racing: female: Mio Ueta (Japan) male: Yuichiro Kato (Japan) Junior Standard Skill: female: Ashley Wood (USA) - 267.1 male: Michael Owens (USA) - 250.4 Standard Skill: female: Dana Schneider (USA) - 282.875 male: Julien Monney (Switzerland) - 287.400 Junior Individual Freestyle: female: Ashley Wood (USA) male: Michael Owens (USA) Individual Freestyle: female: Dana Schneider (USA) male: Dustin Kelm (USA) Junior Pairs Freestyle: Britta Hommen and Aaron Widlak (Germany) Pairs Freestyle: Dana Schneider and Andy Cotter (USA) Group Freestyle: Twin City Unicycle Club (USA) (Andy Cotter, Connie Cotter, Kris Donohoo, Bill Gilbertson, Kevin Gilbertson, Heather LeVesseur, Jamey Mossengren, Dana Schneider, Andy Schwartz, Colin Schworer, Cameron Ulmer, Preston Ulmer, Ashley Wood, Ryan Wood) Hockey: Bochum 1 (Germany) (Thorsten Bayer, Michael Classen, Zoltan Nemeth, Maurice Olivier, Julia Zabel, Thomas Roecken, Holger Summer, Arne Tilgen)

Standard Skill Competition

There were two groups of competitors; those who knew what they could do and did and those who didn’t know what they couldn’t do and didn’t. The winners, obviously were in the first group. There were incredibly good performances by those expert riders who planned and practiced hard for this particular event and dismal performances by those who should have known better. This is international competition and there is no excuse for not being fully prepared.

Yoji Kato (Japan) performing one-footed seat on side during the Standard Skill competitions. Photo by John Foss.

There was really no contest for first place. Julien Monney and Dana Schneider each won by almost 16 points. They were almost 1 full point better per skill than their nearest competitors.

Every time he entered the gym, Julien Monney, was the center of attention. The difficulty and vast variety of his skills including some never seen before awed all of us.

Julien’s base score of 304.6 certainly gave the competition something to shoot for. Daiki Izumida tried to chase him with a base of 303.8. Daiki is capable of great performances, but he clearly was unprepared and had a bad day, dropping an incredible 66 points! He wasn’t alone, three other competitors dropped more than 50. Julien dropped 17, which seems like a lot, but when you have a base score over 300 you can afford to take a few well thought out risks.

Can Julien be beat? It would take incredible dedication along with raw talent. Julien practiced for two years specifically to retain his World Champion title in this event. He told me that he practices several hours a day almost every day and the month before the competition he practiced 8 hours daily. He knew what he could do when he went out there. He is likely the best technical standard rider of all time. I see no other male that has the focus and dedication necessary to beat him.

If anyone can touch Julien’s score, it would be Dana Schneider. She was less than 5 points behind him. Dana practices hard and tries to win it all. This is becoming increasingly difficult. The winning males in all events were all specialists. And there are some emerging riders that will push Dana. Thirteen year old Ashley Wood, Junior Expert Female Champion, knew exactly what she could do scoring 267.1 out of 271.7 points. Already a level 9 rider, she should be capable of continued fast growth during her prime learning years.

To those of you who bombed. Learn and practice this event. This 47 year old balding overweight guy shouldn’t be able to beat you.

My View of Artistic Unicycling

Yoshime Kato and Kazuhiro Shimoyama (Toyota Unicycle Club, Japan) impressed the audience with their graceful performance with style. They took first place in the 15-18 age group. Photo by John Foss.

I have participated in many unicycling competitions, including UNICON I (the world’s first international unicycling competition.), and in almost all other UNICONS that ever took place. These were truly wonderful experiences for me. What was most exciting of all was that in every competition I saw new skills never seen before, witnessed new records being broken, and was able to make many friends and exchange unicycling skills.

I was still a little boy when I first saw former world champions John Foss and Jose Roman perform. I will never forget the shock of seeing them perform incredibly advanced skills. I would say that they were my heroes, and that they are the ones who motivated me on a path that ultimately led me to become a world champion myself and to breaking world records.

Dustin Kelm (Team USA) amazes the audience with his world champion freestyle routine. Photo by Bill Gilbertson.

It was a wonderful experience to watch and participate in the artistic unicycling events in UNICON IX. The level of technical skill in the Standard Skills competitons was very high. Most of the top competitors performed breathtaking uni-spins and other advanced skills, but the key to their success was the high level of technical execution.

Most impressive of all was the outstanding performances of Julien Monney and Dana Schneider, both of which became world champions. Their flawless performances stunned the spectators, and demonstrated the important role that the Standard Skill competitions play in raising the skill level of unicyclists.

There is not enough space in this article to fully describe the freestyle competitions of UNICON IX. I saw a lot creativity and originality in the many freestyle performances. Particularly impressive was how the Japanese competitor Kazuhiro Shimoyama gracefully combined outstanding skill with beautiful dancing. His performances will leave a lasting impression, serving as a model for other unicyclists to aspire to. It also demonstrated that merging technical skill with artistic expression has truly come of age.

The zombies of the Twin City Unicycle Club (USA) performing “Thriller.” TCUC took first place with this spectaclular routine. Photo by Günter Vetter.

Group riding and pair competitions are both popular artistic unicycling events in Japan today. There is no doubt that watching a group perform in unison is very impressive. However, in line with the Japanese tradition of imitating others, rather than creating something new, almost all teams perform the same or similar routines. Spins and pirouettes are really beautiful to watch, but in Japanese competitions this is just too much of a good thing.

For artistic unicycling to evolve to a higher stage, technical skill and artistic expression must work in harmony. I believe that artistic unicycling performances should appeal both to the judges and the spectators alike. In Japan, competitors tend to focus on their performance without much regard to the spectators; in other words, they lack showmanship.

For me, UNICON IX was one of the best Unicons I ever attended. I hope that future Unicons will be even better still. I would like to see the IUF involved in various activities that will lead unicycling to becoming an Olympic sport. I want the IUF to create an environment in which all the unicyclists of the world, regardless of race or nationality, could communicate. As a unicyclist involved in international competitions, I would like to do my utmost to help promote unicycling in the world.

IUF Webmaster: Kevin Gilbertson <mail@gilby.com> Authors: John Foss, Bill Gilbertson, Kevin Gilbertson, Marc Haefliger, Yuichiro Kato, and Rolf Sander. Photography by: John Foss, Bill Gilbertson, Günter Vetter. Last modified: 21 May 1999 Copyright ©1999 International Unicycling Federation, Inc.