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 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

Huge congratulations to all the Australian team members for their efforts at the Asia Pacific Unicycle Convention and successfully defending Australia's title as Asia Pacific Hockey Champions!

The second Asia Pacific Unicycling Convention took place in Hong Kong this year with an expanded program: a full-day unicycle hockey tournament, featuring seven teams, and a full day of track and field events including 100m, 400m, 1600m, long jump and 50m backwards, as well as informal competitions such as unicycle sumo and longest still-stand.

Four teams competed in the hockey A-league: Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. The A-league results are as follows:

• Singapore vs Australia 3-7
• South Korea vs Hong Kong 6-0
• Hong Kong vs Singapore 7-0
• Australia vs South Korea 4-4
• Hong Kong vs Australia 2-6
• Singapore vs South Korea 3-6

• Final: Australia vs South Korea 4-3.

The Phillipines won the B league comp against Hong Kong B and South Korea B.

Ruben recieved an award for best young rider of the competition. Ashley Curtis, team captain said,"I am very proud of the team, we were all exhausted but no-one gave up. Everyone did their job and more."

The next Asia Pacific Unicycle Convention will be held  in 2011 in South Korea.

Big hoorah for Kevin Wharton for placing second in the expert category of the Extreme Unicycle Championship 2009 Summer edition. This international competition, held in Buthiers France from 31 July - 2 August, saw competitors from fifteen countries compete in extreme unicycling. Mark and Kevin Wharton attended and sounds like they had a fantastic time. Hope to get pics soon. Look out for Kevin at Unicon!

Check out this amazing performance  - unicycling and cyling on a trampoline - the backwards somersault's got to be favourite.  Viva Les Espoirs du Cirque - Vélo Trampoline!