The following proposals passed:

Proposal 4: Geared vs Ungeared

Committee: USA 2020

Vote Summary:

Passed on January 31, 2020

Votes on this proposal:

12 out of 13 voting members have voted.

Agree: 8, Disagree: 4, Abstain: 0.

Background

The below proposal is written to replace the existing rule regarding geared and ungeared riders.

Proposal

Old:

"2.2 Ungeared Champion Replaces IUF Section: 4D.6 Ungeared Awards

At NAUCC, for each gender (male and female) where there are ﬁve or more geared riders in an Unlimited event, the fastest ungeared rider from that gender will be awarded with the North American Ungeared Champion title for that event. The next two ungeared riders from each gender should also be recognized with an award for second and third place, respectively, in that event. This is only for the expert classiﬁcation, not for Age Groups."

New:

At NAUCC, for each gender (male and female) there shall be an “ungeared” and “geared” category for each road event in which there are both ungeared and geared riders. For each event, if there are geared and ungeared riders both categories will be awarded a North American champion.

Body

References

Comment by Mike Schatz:

"Over marathon distance, tires need to rotate this many times:

Ungeared: 14680

Geared: 9470

In my opinion this clearly shows that they are different classes."

Comment by Dale Grzych:

"I've been looking up the results of the 10k and marathon in the past 3 years... I'm not sure I can be convinced that having a geared unicycle isn't a massive advantage over other riders. If at least 1 geared rider appeared in any given age group, a geared rider took 1st place 11/12 times in the past 3 years in the unlimited 10k. In the unlimited marathon, this happened 9/10 times. If it really only takes a more talented ungeared rider to overtake a geared rider, then why is the last time we had an ungeared North American Champion in either the unlimited 10k or unlimited marathon was in 2014 in which there were no geared female competitors?"

Comment by Rick Tharrett:

"The change is not aimed at any single rider but for the 'ungeared' population as a whole. In both Dave and Scott's comments they both acknowledge the 'geared' advantage; (i.e. 'Usual advantage' and 'certainly an advantage') and it is that advantage that I'm trying to address by having the separate award.

Scott mentions the 'skill of the rider'; the skill of the rider is not relevant in this case. For example, if the same skilled rider rode the race once on a geared unicycle and once on an ungeared unicycle that person would likely receive a faster time on the geared unicycle. Hence, it is the mechanical advantage that is at the heart of the issue."

Comment by Mike Schatz:

"Of course it takes talent to beat Richard or any rider of his skill. But why do other riders get to use "talent" AND a 1.55 gear ratio, then beat that person and be competing for the same award?!?!? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

And it isn't just about Richard, it is about every other rider of a 36 that wants to match their skill against other riders and truly compete in this class. They want to try to win, and if not win, find out how close they can get to the winners in a race based purely on skill. When the race is over they want to look at the results and say "I was only 10 minutes behind the winner, I am going to work harder this year and try to close that gap". Right now some of them are looking at the results and saying "I need to get a job this winter to afford a geared hub AND try to find one for sale, they are not easy to find"."

Comment by Kirsten Goldstein:

"However, I've always been frustrated that because a geared hub costs so much it becomes not simply a mechanical advantage, but a financial advantage. I've always thought unicycling was an amazingly inclusive sport, yet this financial advantage is off-putting."

Proposal 3: Required events

Committee: USA 2020

Vote Summary:

Passed on January 31, 2020

Votes on this proposal:

12 out of 13 voting members have voted.

Agree: 12, Disagree: 0, Abstain: 0.

Background

We are altering required events

Proposal

New language:

1C.2 Required Events at NAUCC

NAUCC should include at least the following events. Hosts are free to add events, age

groups, categories or variations that do not appear here, as long as there is no conflict

with the existing rules. When in doubt contact the USA Board.

• Track Racing: 800m, 400m, 100m, One-Foot, Wheel Walk, and IUF Slalom

• Road Racing: at least two races, see specific requirements in chapter 3.

• Muni: Cross Country, Uphill, Downhill, Cyclocross; see chapters 4 and 5.

• Freestyle: Individual, Pairs, Group, and Club Show

• Flatland and Street

• Trials

• Team Games: Hockey and Basketball

Old Language:

1C.2 Required Events at NAUCC NAUCC should include at least the following events. Hosts are free to add events, age groups, categories or variations that do not appear here, as long as there is no conflict with the existing rules. When in doubt contact the USA Board.

•Track Racing: 800m, 400m, 100m, One-Foot, Wheel Walk, and IUF Slalom.

•Road Racing: 10k and Marathon.

•Muni: Cross Country, Uphill, Downhill.

• Freestyle: Individual, Pairs, Group, and Club Show.

• Flatland and Street.

• Trials.

• Team Games: Hockey and Basketball.

Body

Adding Cyclocross; changing road to be 2 nonspecific events.

References

Proposal 2: Electronic program book

Committee: USA 2020

Vote Summary:

Passed on January 31, 2020

Votes on this proposal:

12 out of 13 voting members have voted.

Agree: 12, Disagree: 0, Abstain: 0.

Background

Electronic resources are acceptable, and preferred by many people, so we are removing the rile for printed books to go to everyone.

Proposal

IUF

1C.12 Program Book At Unicons, all registrants shall be provided with a package of pre-printed information containing a full schedule of all events, maps and directions to all event locations, and as much rule and background information as possible. This information shall be provided when registrants first check in at Unicon. Unicon organizers should consider placing as much of this information as is practical in an official Program Book. This can make excellent reading for family members and spectators, and gets them more involved in our sport. It’s also a great place to sell ads as a source for convention revenue. At other unicycling events, it is recommended that pre-printed information be provided to all participants.

Proposed USA Rule

1C.12 Program Book

For NAUCC, all registrants shall be provided with an electronic resource containing a full schedule of all events, maps and directions to all event locations, and as much rule and background information as possible. This information shall be provided by that date that NAUCC commences. Upon request, a printed schedule will be provided at registration.

Body

Electronic resources are acceptable, and preferred by many people, so we are removing the rile for printed books to go to everyone.

References

Proposal 5: International Riders

Committee: USA 2020

Vote Summary:

Passed on February 06, 2020

Votes on this proposal:

11 out of 13 voting members have voted.

Agree: 10, Disagree: 1, Abstain: 0.

Background

Note, it says Patricia is the owner of this proposal but it's actually Scott. That's just the software associating it with the discussion starter.

This proposal has the following structure:

Types of residency
Who is a North American competitor
How that works for group events
When non-North American competitors can displace
How to award

There are still a few outstanding points that are in discussion, specifically with regards to consistency between events vs rider desires. This proposal is a first draft, and the way I wrote some of those sections don't even necessarily agree with my final opinion on those topics.

Proposal

Old rule:

Because NAUCC is the North American Championship, a rider representing a nonNorth American country has additional restrictions. In order to encourage participation by international riders, non-North American competitors will still be allowed to compete at NAUCC, however they cannot be the North American Champion of any event and cannot displace the award of any North American competitor. The Host can choose to not give the non-North American rider awards or choose to give them awards alongside North American competitors. For example if a non-North American rider places second in a NAUCC event, the Host can either award this rider second place or ignore their results. In either case, the North American rider who placed third would be awarded second place, either alone or as a tie. The Host’s policy for non-North American riders should be announced before the start of NAUCC.

New rule:

Types of Riders

A) Citizens, Permanent residents, and temporary residents with visas longer than 1 year
A riders are always considered North American competitors.

B) Temporary residents who are in the country for between 91 days and 1 year, like an exchange student.
B riders are considered non-North American competitors in individual events. See below for multi-person competitions.

C) Visitors/Tourists that do not need to apply for a visa, or whose visa is 90 days or shorter.
C riders are always considered non-North American competitors.

A rider can be asked to show their status via government ID or visa if the organizers have strong reason to doubt their declared status.

Inclusion in Multi-person Competitions

In multi-person events (Basketball, Hockey, Group and Club Freestyle), teams comprised of only A and B riders qualify as North American Competitors. The inclusion of a C rider designates the team as a non-North American competitor. Pairs Freestyle counts as an individual event and thus only pairs of A riders are North American competitors.

Displacing North American Competitors in Finals

In events with a final which limits the number of participants, Track Finals (limited by lanes), or Hockey or Basketball Brackets, non-North American competitors (as defined above) are not allowed to participate in these rounds. The exception is Flatland, where the non-North American status is ignored when creating the battles and only used in the placing and final awards (see below).

Placing and Awarding non-North American Competitors

Non-North American competitors should not take an award from any North American competitor but instead be listed as tied with the next placing competitor. For example, let's say the results of a 100m competition is:

Rider 1, 12s
Rider 2, 13s (non-North American)
Rider 3, 14s
Rider 4, 15s

Then the placing would be as follows:

Rider 1, 1st Place
Rider 3, 2nd Place
Rider 2, 2rd Place (non-North American)
Rider 4, 3rd Place

This applies for both age group and expert results. In addition, the NAUCC host can choose to present non-North American competitors with a different style of awards (including age-group style, ribbons, or none) or choose to wait until the end of the week to give out the awards depending on availability. However, the awards must be the same for all non-North American competitors per award type (age group, expert, group).

Body

See discussion.

References

Proposal 1: Transgender Language added to Chapter One

Committee: USA 2020

Vote Summary:

Passed on January 26, 2020

Votes on this proposal:

13 out of 13 voting members have voted.

Agree: 13, Disagree: 0, Abstain: 0.

Background

We want to add transgender language

Proposal

New section: 1B.6 - Transgender Riders.

NAUCC is committed to providing an open and safe environment for people of all genders. A rider may register with the gender (male or female) with which the rider identiﬁes most and that will be used for all competitions.

Body

I have made this proposal about one item: adding transgender language.