Denali said:*So, what would the people on the committee be doing exactly?*
It would (hopefully) cover several areas:
1) Build a complete listing of all unicycling records. We'll start with
world records and work our way down. I'm a lot less interested in age
group records, national records, etc. That could get messy pretty fast,
but if we set it up in a modular way, it should be possible for people
to work it together with more sub-divided lists of records.
2) Establish standards for record-setting. This may take a while, with
plenty of discussion and arguing. That's the fun part. Some record types
will be very easy while others, like the hour record, will be more
complicated.
Competition records will, of course, be easier as they will be set under
pre-qualified conditions.
3) Set standards for record categories. Right now, all we really have is
'racing unicycles," a bare beginning of 700c, and 'unlimited." There is
room for more.
This will also cover different situations where the same record might be
broken. For example:
a) A 100m record set at a big convention, like Unicon. This is harder
to do, because you only get one try. That would be a "competition
record," or "Unicon record."
b) A 100m record set *at* a sanctioned event, on a regulation track,
but separate from the official 100m race. This allows multiple times to
try for even faster times. This was how my 1987 Guinness record was set.
We ran the race about 10 times. This is an "easier" record to break than
the competition one because of the multiple tries.
c) A 100m record set independently. This would have stricter
requirements on course measurement and timing, because it would be
outside our "accepted" competition conditioins. This would be more
similar to Pete's recent hour record, with lots more documentation
needed. In one way, this is the easiest form of record to break,
because, in theory, you have unlimited tries. But the setup and
documentation will be harder.
Of the three examples above, assuming all used the current standard for
racing unicycles, the fastest time would be the world record. If this
fastest time was not set in a competition, the competition record would
be known as a competition record for that event (such as the Olympic
record).
The current *Unicon* 100m record is not the world record. I don't know
what the world record is, but it was probably set in Japan. I think they
have done times faster than Peter Rosendahl's Guinness time.
In a case like this, Peter Rosendahl could be listed with the Guinness
record. The Guinness record is always significant, as it's more "real"
to the vast majority of the world than some record that cannot be seen
in every bookstore. Having a Guinness record is very powerful, as I know
from using mine in my work with the National Circus Project as something
schook kids could look up.
I am the world record holder in the 50m Juggling Race, recognized by the
IUF (and/or the USA) but not Guinness. Woohoo! That and a buck will get
you a cup of coffee, but not at Starbucks or an airport...
Quoted message said:*I'm sure most of us here would like to help in one way or the other
especially in setting the standards for a record attempt.*
I would like to set this up. Please respond here or to my email address
to get involved.
NOTE: Almost none of the above is official until the IUF makes it so.
Most of it is off the top of my head, based on discussions about
records-keeping we've had over the years.
Quoted message said:*Soon the geared unis will become popular(& cheaper) and records will
tumble. *
I have yet to see a correlation between geared unicycles and higher
speeds. I'm sure it's only a matter of time, but there is a diminishing
return with gears. The higher the ratio, the harder it is to ride it
fast. The harder it is to ride, the more risky/difficult/scary it is to
ride it at higher speeds!
--
johnfoss - The wilder Wilder
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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