Source revision: c0492e874d9d-dirty
General
Scope of Rules
This rulebook is intended to govern all unicycle competition sanctioned by the International Unicycling Federation, and can be used as a guideline for other competitions.
Unicon
All IUF Unicons (International Unicycling Conventions) must abide exclusively by these rules. Further rules may be added to cover specific situations, but they may not override the IUF rules without prior approval by the IUF Board of Directors. All additional rules must be published well in advance of international competition, and published together with registration forms.
Other Uses for These Rules
National or local unicycling organizations may have their own rules. Though they may use IUF rules as a basis for their own rules, in national or local competitions, those rules can no longer be called IUF rules. To get proper results for Unicon qualification it is needed to follow the IUF Rulebook as described above.
Any national organization that wishes to get its modified rules approved by the IUF for a national competition must submit a proposal to the IUF Board of Directors at least 90 days before the start of the given event. If approved, the national competition can still be recognized as an official IUF event.
To host an “official IUF event” means that the results of this event are comparable with results from other official IUF events and can count for possible qualification restrictions. Rules, which are approved for use at a national or local competition by the IUF Board to be used, must not be referred to as IUF rules to prevent confusion for the riders.
How to Use This Rulebook
This IUF Rulebook is organized by discipline. Each chapter includes a overview, competitor rules, officials rules, and organizer rules. Additionally, Chapter 1 covers general rules, not tied to a particular event.
How you approach the information in this rulebook will depend on what role you play. The information has been organized with a goal toward separating rules by role, so that you can safely ignore sections that do not pertain to you. For example, if you are only interested in muni as a competitor, you can ignore other chapters and you can mostly ignore the officials and organizer rules within the muni chapter.
The following table gives some guidance for what information you need for various roles:
| Role | Applicable Sections |
|---|---|
| Competitor | Chapter 1 and the overview and competitor rules for your events |
| Official | Chapter 1 and the overview, competitor rules, and officials rules for the event you will officiate |
| Event director | Chapter 1 and all sections of the chapter for your event |
| Host | All sections of the Rulebook and the current IUF World Record Guidelines |
How the Rulebook is Updated
This Rulebook should be updated after every Unicon. This is meant to be the only time that changes to the Rulebook are made, although exceptions are possible in extraordinary cases.
Updating the Rulebook is the responsibility of the IUF Rulebook Chair, who will head the Rulebook Committee, but may optionally name one or more sub-committees, e.g. for various Rulebook Chapters. The Rulebook Committee will officially start meeting at the close of the Unicon, though the Chairperson can open it before, to take advantage of having so many persons physically together.
The Rulebook Committee voting time frame and official members of the Rulebook Committee will be determined by the IUF Rulebook Committee Chair and the IUF Board of Directors. The Committee should strive to finish their business and make their specific proposals to the IUF Board within three months of the close of the Unicon. If they need more time, they may ask the IUF President for a time extension. The IUF President is responsible for making sure that the Rulebook committee stays focused and on schedule.
Anyone may submit a potential change to IUF Rulebook at any time through https://unicycling.org/contact/. These will not be official proposals, but suggestions for potential topics during the next Rulebook session.
World Champions
For each individual event that is held at championship level at Unicon, World Champions are determined in the classes and gender categories of the respective event.
For classes other than the Senior class, the World Champion title is preceded by the corresponding class name, e.g. Junior World Champion.
Only winners of the respective final or final-ranking/overall-ranking of championship level events at Unicon are designated as “World Champions”, respectively “World Champions” preceded by the corresponding class name. Age-group winners may use the term “Age-Group Winner”, but this does not refer to a World Championship title.
World Records
Especially for Unicon or other large conventions, the host is strongly encouraged to ensure that the competitions are conducted and recorded according to the current IUF World Record Guidelines. Competitors will in principle expect that the quality of the results is suitable for world records.
If this is not realistically possible, then the competition results cannot be used for new world records. In this case, every effort must be made that competitors are made aware of this at least two months in advance.
Ownership of Data
Each Unicon or other large unicycling convention is a piece of history. At the conclusion of a Unicon or other international event, or within one month thereafter, the convention host must supply the IUF with all competition and other results, in an agreed digital format (e.g. pdf). This will include all data collected to determine placement and winners at all levels and in all events held at the convention. This data is considered public, and is not the sole property of the host.
Attendee registration details, judging sheets, protest forms, and related paperwork are not necessarily public. They are the shared property of the host and the International Unicycling Federation. On request by the IUF Board within a year after closing of the Unicon, the host must make these available to the IUF. Digital data can obviously be copied. Data on paper can either be copied, or the originals can be handed to the IUF.
If requested, the host and convention officials must also provide further information, not necessarily in writing, about decisions made, methods used, and other details covered in the process of planning and running the convention. This information can be invaluable to future hosts, and must not be hidden or lost.
Hierarchy of Officials
These people make the competition events work. All of the tasks detailed below must be covered for the events to work. Names must be assigned for all the jobs listed below, to create a hierarchy of authority for the convention. All officials are expected to work objectively and impartially.
General Officials
IUF Board Of Directors: The IUF Board represents the interests of the IUF on convention requirements, both in the area of competition rules and the necessary spaces and facilities for them, and for any other requirements that go along with putting on an IUF convention. If problems arise in meeting the IUF requirements, the IUF Board and Convention Host work together to find solutions or compromises. The bulk of this should happen during the early planning stages for a convention, when facilities and schedules are being assembled.
IUF Convention Liaison: The Liaison is an optional person who can represent the IUF Board when communicating with convention hosts. The Liaison essentially has the same powers as the IUF Board, but must report to the IUF Board and take direction from it.
Convention Host: This is a single person, or a collective group, that has made the commitment to host a unicycle convention using IUF rules and guidelines. By agreeing to host an IUF convention, they also agree to follow those rules and guidelines wherever possible. If known problems arise in the arrangement of facilities, schedules and events, the Host and the IUF will work together to resolve the problems. For the most part, the Convention Host is the ultimate authority for what happens, and does not happen, at the convention. The exception is any IUF requirements for convention facilities or contents, and rules for IUF competition events.
Top Competition Officials: Each discipline has a set of authority positions which may include Race or Event Director, (Chief) Referee, Artistic Director and/or Chief Judge. They are not autonomous, and must answer to the Convention Host. For Artistic freestyle, it is highly recommended that none of these jobs be combined, and that there be at least one separate person for each. For other disciplines, combining these roles may be the easy way to organize those events.