UNICON XV

Those of you who know me will know that I’ve been working on Unicon XV, The 15th Unicycle World Championships and Convention for the best part of 3yrs.   UNICON is the biggest event in Unicycling, with multiple events (over 30), ranging from Unicycle racing, Muni, Artistic Freestyle, Street, Flatland, Hockey and Basketball, Track and Field and more.  This was the first time it was held outside the Northern Hemisphere, in my hometown of Wellington, New Zealand.

It started off as a throwaway remark I made to Andy Cotter at UNICON XIII in Switzerland, back in 2006.  We were out on a MUni ride and I asked if he thought we could host something like that in New Zealand. It was such a big undertaking that it didn’t seem possible so I didn’t make much more of the idea until I got home. I remember thinking how cool it would be if we could get several hundred unicyclists riding along the waterfront, interacting with the general public.  No one would understand why Wellington was teeming with unicyclists!  We could host the parade of Nations to Civic Square, and have races through the streets of Wellington, a big trials course outside the NZX building, and the Street and Flatland competition at Waitangi Park.

That vision became a reality a couple of weeks ago, when Wellington, New Zealand hosted UNICON XV. It was three years of hard work by a small team, headed by Arthur and Lynne Klap of Sports Impact. I approached them in early 2007 wondering if they would be interested in helping us get UNICON to New Zealand.  Lynne and Arthur have over 20yrs experience in organising events, ranging from the Mountainbike World Championships, Mountain-Running World Championships, MTB World Cup races, Triathlon World Champs, Winter Games and more.  Wellington didn’t (and still doesn’t) have enough unicyclists to do this on our own.

Fast forward to Dec 2009, and we found ourselves playing host to 650 Unicyclists from 23 countries for UNICON XV. It was a challenging three years, marked by a worldwide recession and the toughest sponsorship market that Arthur and Lynne had encountered in their experience with event management.  We managed to string it together on a pretty lean budget, with support from the Wgtn City Council and some very awesome volunteers.

Was it a success?  Well, it achieved the two things I set out to achieve. Namely, to show off my hometown, Wellington, to my friends from around the world; and to show off unicycling to people of Wellington.

We made use of the best facilities in Wellington, including the TSB Arena, Waitangi Park, Wellington Waterfront, Mt Victoria and Newtown Park for our events. Because of the compactness of the City, most events were within a few minutes of each other.  Unicyclists mostly stayed at the YHA, X-Base backpackers and the Bay Plaza Hotel, all in the middle of town. It was uniquely New Zealand- from the welcoming Powhiri through to the Pounamu medals for the expert medalists. Most unicyclists will bring back fond memories and hopefully visit New Zealand again in future.

For Wellingtonians, you had to be shut in a cave not to have noticed that there were a few hundred unicyclists out and about. It was near impossible to walk down the street and not see a unicyclist or three.  The TSB Arena was fully packed for our artistic finals, and we also had a good spectator turnout for the 10km waterfront criterium, street, and trials competition.  The public ‘learn-to-ride’ workshops drew a few hundred people….many having to wait their turn on a unicycle.  The 10 day event probably brought in close to $2-3million dollars to the local economy, and more to New Zealand, as unicyclists travelled around the country before and after UNICON.

My personal performance at Unicon was a bit pathetic though, but I had no excuses really. I just didn’t pedal fast enough.  I could only manage third in my main event, the Unicon Marathon. I was riding well, but didn’t have the power into the wind that the other riders did (and Wellington blows!). The 10km course was tight and technical, and I came in 5th after being taken down early by a crash. My biggest disappointment was in the cross-country, where I placed 6th overall on the highly technical course.

Aside from that, I’m pretty satisfied with how UNICON went.  We put together something unique and I’m happy to have played a significant role in that.

Now for a bit of rest before I figure out the next challenge. Perhaps a big unicycle stage race, a jungle Muni festival, or even a non-unicycling related project.  We’ll wait and see.

For more information on UNICON, visit the UNICON website: www.uniconxv.co.nz

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