Let's get started and introduce ourselves

Comments about this discussion:

Started 01 Oct 16:16

Hi all! It's about time to get started!

I have had some technical issues with this software - and not everything has been ironed out yet. For instance, apparently I cannot create discussions (or proposals) in the World Record Committee directly, but only in subcommittees below it. But whether there is a need for subcommittees was something I wanted to discuss in the first place.

Anyway, I created this subcommittee "General issues" as a place to discuss matters of a general nature related to the World Record Committee. All members of the main committee are also members here.

We have 11 members in the World Record Committee now (which may be a world record in itself) :)
I am happy with the range in unicycling disciplines/experiences/backgrounds, and also in geographical locations.
One committee member, i.e. Jason Ahn from Korea, is still pending. Most of you will know him as the main organiser of Unicon19. I will add Jason once he has formally accepted the invitation.

I would like everyone to introduce him/herself. For that, you can create a response in this discussion.
Tell us about your "position" in the world of unicycling, your interest in world records, and anything else you think is relevant.

Comment 01 Oct 16:18

Introducing Klaas Bil

I am Klaas Bil (65), born and living in the Netherlands. I’ve been riding unicycles since 2000. I have been competing in every Unicon since 2006, mainly focusing on track and road racing. I do also ride offroad but not competitively.

I am the president of the Dutch Unicycle Association, and long-time (co-)organiser of several annual unicycling events.

I hold the Dutch 24-hour record (313.583 km). The measurement of the course length was based on the current World Record guidelines, which I helped develop at the time although I was not a formal member of the committee.

For IUF I am also in the European Committee and the Rulebook Committee (applied).

I have a general interest in numbers and records, and experience in data analysis and data visualisation.
I am a retired research engineer with Shell. My other interests include music (playing and composing) and camping.

Speaking of the latter: I will be out camping starting tomorrow (2 Oct) for about two weeks. Probably not completely offline but any responses will be delayed.

Comment 02 Oct 01:57

Thanks Klaas for setting up everything!

My name is Mirjam Lips, I'm 25 and I live in the beautiful Engadin in Switzerland. I started riding unicycles in 1997 at the age of 4 and I've attended all Unicons since 2002. I mainly do road and track races, also a bit of muni but my favourite discipline is the IUF Slalom. Currently I hold 5 different world records (1h, 24h, 100km, 100mile and IUF slalom). I am still interested in beating my own records because you can always improve yourself.

I am a member of the IUF world records committee, together with Klaas, Olaf, Scott and Ken.

Other interests besides unicycling are skiing and snowboarding.

Comment 02 Oct 13:31

Hello everybody,

my name is Jan Vocke, I'm 24 and I'm from Germany. I don't know when I started unicycling, but it was long before I take part in my first competition. My first Unicon was 2009/2010 in Wellington and I attended all Unicons and European Championships since then. First i did only track races at competitions but now I'm also doing Road (10k), MUni and Freestyle.

I'm part of the German Unicycling Assosiacion (BDR) board and there responsible for the track races - one responsibility are the German Championships and their "rules". We also tried to create some Guidelines for German Records in track races - but up to now they are not completely finished.

I have been in last two Rulebook Committees and I like it to improve the rules and making them more professional. I think that's a great possibility to push unicycling forward.

Other Interesses are swimming and the development of microcontroller based electronic devices.

Comment 04 Oct 13:32

Hello everybody,

my name is Olaf Schlote from Germany and I'm 51 years old. I start to ride a unicycle about 12 years ago. I was part of the first World Records committee and so I decide to join this second edition as well. As Mirjam already state, I'm also part of the committee that verify records since several years, so I know about all issues we had in the past.

Other interests are music and Off Road Motorcycling

To come back to Klaas point, subcommittees make sense I think as the world record thing is splitted also in different parts. One part is more general (how to verify, submit, anounce, set... a world record. Then it comes down to the different disciplines which have different issues to discuss like jumps, track, road...
Finaly there should be a sub committee about possible new listed records.

Beside all this we work right now on a new IUF membership system and one part of it should be the listing of results from any competition that use the IUF software. This should make it possible for any member to access easy results and browse through them to see how the level is in his discipline... I would like to see also a sub committee inside of this committe as The WOrld Recored will be listed there as well and I think here are the right people to discuss what else we should show / hide to make it a cool database for all unicyclist in the world and for the media as well.

Comment 07 Oct 02:11

Hello Everyone,

My name is Roger Davies.  I am 54 years old and I have been riding a unicycle for 41 years.  I was on the world records committee about 10 years ago when it was first set up, but have been out of it since - so I consider me totally new to this.

I run Unicycle.com in the UK and design their unicycles and parts; this includes Impact and Nimbus.  I ride Muni, Road and have attempted to do track at UNICON (I was the one who kept on falling off!).  I play unicycle hockey when I get a chance.

My other sports include, running, swimming, penny farthing racing and triathlons.

I jointly hold the lands end to John O'Groats world record on a unicycle and have done a couple of other attempts.  I was recently involved in breaking the Penny Farthing one hour record.  I have had some experience dealing with Guinness for records, both with unicycling and other sports, so I know the importance of this committee and the IUF in controlling the world records.

Comment 07 Oct 10:27

Hi team,

My name is Scott Wilton. I am 25 years old and I have been unicycling since age 10. I was on the original WR committee set up by Ken in 2010/2011 and have been part of the group in the IUF that verifies current WRs as they are submitted.

I am the current WR holder for the 10k and Marathon (Unicon 2014), and have the unofficial top recorded speed on a unicycle. I am the vice president of the IUF and help out as the rulebook director. I have lots of experience as race director for Unicon and other larger unicycle events and have often helped verify Unicon road courses for correct distance for WR status per the 2011 WR Standards document.

I ride or have ridden in almost all disciplines of unicycling, but my favorite for the past few years has been muni and cyclocross.

My other interests include rock climbing and skiing among other things.

Comment 08 Oct 05:40

Hi all,

I'm Ken Looi, 40 yrs old, from Wellington, New Zealand.  My background is in mountain bike XC racing. I raced nationally at high school and university, then found out about mountain unicycling shortly after I started riding in December 2000.  I have attended every Unicon since 2004.  Nowadays my interest is primarily road racing, in particular standard class.

I was lead organiser for Unicon 15, and involved in Unicon 19 as an advisor and road director.  I have served as an IUF director and on IUF Rulebook committees since 2006, and was chair of the previous IUF World Record committee.

The first IUF world records committee was set up in 2005 by Jeffrey Huffman, but we weren't able to complete a set of guidelines.  It was at this time I became interested in world records, setting the 24 Hour and 1 Hour records in 2005, and the Hour record again in 2009.  I had experience dealing with Guinness World Records, so in 2010 I chaired the second IUF World Record committee to develop our own rules/guidelines.  Our 2011 IUF World Record guidelines have documentation and measurement criteria that are loosely based on those required by Guinness.

My other interests include running, bicycling (road and MTB), and growing things.  I love travelling, and organise group unicycle tours every 1-2 years.

Outside of unicycling I work as a general practitioner and director at our busy practice, and clinical lecturer at the University of Otago.  

Comment 10 Oct 15:44

Bonjour,

Comment 16 Oct 17:38

Hello,

I am Erik De Vleeschouwer, 51 years old, living in Zele, Belgium, employed as an engineer.  In fitter times I used to play basketball and was a moderate table tennis player.  Nowadays I enjoy a good game of chess more.  I might be the only one in this team not riding a unicycle.

How I rolled into the unicycle world then?  Well it began unsuspectingly by just buying a unicycle as a birthday surprise for my son Gert-Jan.  No idea what such an innocent act could lead to.  Since then we founded a local club and traveled to many unicycling events everywhere around, including last 4 Unicons.  I became a member of the organizing team of the Dutch Nationals and was co-organiser of ECU 2017 in Sittard-Geleen.  As we both like facts and figures, last year Klaas and I started listing and documenting unicycle records from Holland and Belgium.

I'm looking forward now to help as a member of the WR committee, with the most respect for the fantastic sport that unicycling is.  I really like the idea to have a team of people with different backgrounds, so all disciplines and regions are represented.  As a not rider I possibly may have another view on things.

Cheers, Erik

Comment 20 Oct 11:00

Hello everybody,

I am Jason Ahn, 50 years old, living in Seoul Korea.

I started unicycling in September 2004 with my family and has been a KUF executive since 2006.

UNICON participated in Wellington 2010 and the Brixen 2012.

I enjoyed swimming and inline skating before Unicycling, but my skills was not good.

Nowadays, I enjoy Unicycle-tour-riding rather than Unicycling for competition.

Other hobbies are camping and scuba diving, and skiing in the winter season.

I majored in mechanical engineering, and now I have a mechanical design consulting company based on my work experience.

During the summer vacation of the last few years, I could not attend the Unicon because I lectured at the university.

I am not used to English though but thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be with you.

I hope that I have a chance to repay the help which I received in the past Unicon19.

Cheers, Jason

Comment 21 Oct 12:15

Hello together,

I´m Ana Schrödinger from Germany. I got my first unicycle 14 years ago and I´m participating at Unicons since 2012. 

I like skiing in the winter and unicycling in the summer.

I´m the world record holder of Stillstand, Slow Backward and Slow Forward.

I was member of the last two IUF- Rulebook discussions.

Cheers, Ana

Comment 22 Nov 09:13

4 years later...

Hello,

Simon JAN, I am 34 years old, I live in Brittany in France.
I am a doctor specialized in "public health". I work on studies concerning the health of the inhabitants of Brittany.
I have been unicycling for 11 years, first to commute in town, then by participating in road races and by travelling on unicycle.
I am the current one-hour TT & 10k road race WR holder.
I would like to attempt the 100k TT WR in 2023.

In 2018, the French federation bought a Jones counter and several of us (Martin Charrier, Samuel Coupey and me) have self-trained on circuit measurements.
I would like to participate in the development of new guidelines for road WR.
I think that there is an important stake in ensuring both the good quality of WRs without constraining too much the organization of road races.

Simon