Australian Unicycle Society

Uninats 2010 is being held in Canberra ACT over the October long weekend, 1-4th October.

Registrations are now Open!

Riders

Riders Registration - Apply Here - Early Registration is discounted to $85 until 22nd September, then rises to $95. After 29th September, you will need to register and pay on arrival in Canberra.

Non Riders

Non-Riders Registration - Apply Here Non-riders are free, but must also register to be covered by AUS volunteer insurance.

Important Notes:

• You must be a current AUS member at the time of Uninats - see below for membership information.
• Registrations on arrival will be at the full registration fee of $100.
• We won't be able to take credit cards at the venues - cash or cheque only, please.
• Members of the public who wish to be spectators (not participating, assisting riders or volunteering) are free and do not need to register.
• Rider Registration is open to all on a first-come, first-served basis. You must be a current AUS member at the time of Uninats (see below).
• There is a 1-day rate ($50) available on arrival for people who cannot attend the whole of Uninats. You must still be a current member of AUS to ride.
• Entry to the Saturday night party/social event is included for all registrants.

AUS Membership requirements:
All Uninats riders must be AUS members, to be covered by AUS insurance. If you are not a current AUS member:

Accommodation Options

Please note that Floriade will be on at the same time, so book early and double check the price as the quoted prices may change. 

 Map of all accommodation and Uninats Venues

Uninats is the Australian National Unicycle championships and festival, the biggest event on the local unicycling calendar, so put it in your diary, and spread the word!

We are planning to make this one a significant Canberra event- encouraging spectators to come and watch and be wowed, Events are being held all over Canberra so you'll need transport- there should be enough people with cars to give lifts to those without so we will set up car pooling to make sure no-one gets left behind.

Yahoo!7 Sport have an article on the "Top 10 sports that shouldn't be"

Starting out with Slam Ball (trampoline basketball) in number 10, it works it's way through Ultimate Frisbee, Chess Boxing and guess where Unicycle Hockey comes!

FTW!

Triple J Extreme Sport of the week this week was - you guessed it - Unicycle Hockey!

The station asked for Australian players to call in, and Tom Lambert was quickest off the draw and was interviewed about the joys of the game on-air.

The full episode of "The Doctor" is on the Triple J website (unicycling from 0:20 to 0:27), but we've got the interesting section excerpted for you here.

Check out this ABC's Behind the News show in which reporter, Sarah Larson, recently interviewed Brandon about his street unicycling.

Ok, I am posting this just for fun. Gizmodo reports that a Corbin Dunn has developed a tandem unicycle - two unicycles, one wheel – it does not look easy to ride! You can read the article, see the video and download the construction instructions – if you like doubling your fun ...

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/12/unicycle-built-for-two-cool-design-and...

By Rod Lambert, ACTURS club president

Congratulations to Canberra riders on a very successful year in 2009. The club had a lot of new riders in 2009 who have all done very well while experienced riders have continued to learn new skills as well. Unicycle hockey continues to be very popular each week and sometimes it has been a tight fit in the school hall. The younger riders have learnt to do “thread the needle” with a nice turn of speed and can now include it in their routine at displays.

ACTURS gave displays at Floriade and the Canberra Multicultural Festival in 2009, as well as a number of fetes. Highlights for the year included club members competing at the Asia Pacific Unicycling Championships in Hong Kong, the Revesby weekend and at Unicon XV in New Zealand.

Congratulations to the 2009 Club award winners:

• Mai Liney - Best 1st year girl rider
• Lauren Van Oosten - Most improved girl rider
• Darcy Matthews-Nally - Best 1st year boy rider
• Koh Bouckaert - Best Male Rider
• Karl Denton - Best Senior rider
• Rob Armstrong - Club Member of the Year

 Photo: Mai and Lauren with their certificates from Rod

The AUS has received an update from Sid Rajan, who is unicycling from Perth to Sydney (yes, that's right), to raise funds for Australia's Humour Foundation Clown Doctors and an Indian Art of Living Foundation project. A little over three months ago, Sid Rajan rode into Adelaide after 58 days on the road. Since then Mimi the Unicycle hasn't received too much attention. But that's about to change.

Sid is back on the road, having set off from Adelaide on 11 November 2009, in what seems to be the middle of a heat wave. While Part 1 of the ride involved riding through remote areas in winter, this section is going to have a lot more people and traffic, and the heat... One pedal stroke at a time is what they say. Sid sends his thanks to all his friends for their support in getting him back on the road again and raring to go (special mention to Jack O' Neill). We wish him well and smooth roads....

Check out Sid's blog to receive updates on the trip.

If you want to participate in hockey or basketball at UNICON in Wellington, you need to indicate this on your registration and put down the NAME of your TEAM.  The team name you put down needs to be the same as the one other team members are putting on their forms!  You cannot add a team after 14th November, and if you don't put down a team name you will be put in a scratch team.

Please contact chickenloaf_au [at] yahoo [dot] com (Ashley Curtis) or the AUS to find out the team names if you want to be included in one of the 'official' AUS hockey or basketball teams.

So much fun, we exhausted ourselves!  Sydney, Revesby, Canberra and Melbourne teams slugged it out over two days in a unicycle basketball and hockey tournament held on 22 and 23 October in Sydney.   Male and female riders of all ages demonstrated amazing skills and endurance as they played in a round robin and then second round for the finals.

Sydney were the unlikely winners of the basketball on Saturday (ringer Luke's precision goal shooting may have been a factor...).  Sydney also just managed to take out the hockey on Sunday - beating Revesby in the final (avenging their loss to Revesby at Uninats in Wollongong in April this year).  Other highlights: Dylan's hockey goal, skill demonstrations by Jamie and Marie and Marie's when-in-doubt-hug-your-opponent technique.

Huge thanks to Ashley for organising the event, to Rebecca for excellent score keeping, to Cris and Rochelle for staffing registration, to those who refereed and to all the competitors for your participation! Special thanks to the Melbourne and Canberra teams (and Ruben and Dylan from Albury) who ventured to Sydney for the event - that really cranked up the competition. It was a fab weekend - lots of sore muscles and sweat - can't wait to do it again!

If you are in the Australian Capital Territory and want to link in with local unicyclists, check out the new website for ACTURS (ACT Unicycle Riders Society): http://www.unicycling-act.org.au/

Sydney Unicycle Hockey are playing some demonstration games at Spring Cycle this Sunday 27th September, at Olympic Park in Sydney.

All unicyclists are welcome to come along and join in! Bring a red and a black T-shirt if you can (and your unicycle, and gloves!)

We'll be playing from 11.00-11.40am and 1.20-2.00pm at the 'Grand Challenge Medal Area' on Olympic Boulevard, near the Novotel.

Also, at least two Sydney unicycle riders will be taking part in the Spring Cycle ride itself - the main route is 40km, from North Sydney to Homebush, so go out and cheer them on if you can!

The fourth annual NRMA Community CareFlight Day was held on Sunday 13 October 2009 in Tahmoor in NSW.  Jaryd Harris, Uninats 2009 Junior Champion, entertained the crowd with his unicycling skills in  demonstrations held throughout the day.   The event raised funds for the NRMA CareFlight, which operates all over NSW and assists at many tragic accidents on a daily basis. It is not restricted to rural areas and has helped save thousands of lives.  For more information about Jaryd's activities, check out his website