A bit late but here goes with a quick ( or not so quick if you read allof
it right to the end, rather than just the bits about who did what at
Eurocycle) run down on what you missed
if you were not at Eurocycle 2002 in Bremen at the beginning of June.
Lots of late night Hockey- The Hockey comp was spread over three days and
two halls. Groups A& B played all thier group games on Friday night,
making for a very late night in the main hall. Groups C&D played over at
halle horn ( a 5 minute ride away) with games on friday night and saturday
night, followed by the semi finals late on saturday night. The Finals and
play off for 3rd/4th happened on sunday Afternoon in the main hall.
The results ( plesase excuse mis-spellings, my german is not good.) were
as follows. Winning for their team a fine pottery trophy.
1st Lahimo DE
2nd Vanny Dusseldorf DE
3rd Ramcheist devils DE
4th Bochum DE
Basketball- This year saw another year of a good turn out for
Basketball at Eurocycle, with enough teams taking part to need two courts,
one indoor and the other outdoor, where most players and spectators got
sun burned or tanned acording to how much sun block they slapped on.
Again the Finals were on sunday Afternoon. Basketball winners were
rewarded with jelly medals. Results were
1st Rayon Casses ( broken Spokes) BE
2nd Landsholdet (Danish national team)DK
3rd Lahimo DE
4th Bochum DE
King of Dirt- An observed trials /rough ground riding competition was won
by a young lad called Maurice. His prize was a some soap and
sponges. Lasse and Manfred came joint second. The
King of Dirt course asked competitors to ride a rough ground course going
through gates that were marked. The gates varied in diffficulty and only
one re-mount was allowed up to gate 12, then no re-mounts allowed. Gates
included, logs to hop over, soft sand to ride through, junk to be
negociated, ruble, wet slippery plastic and the like. It was a tough
course.
Workshops- were on offer in a wide range of things, few of them
unicycling. Eurocyclers could try club passing ( juggling) Rhon Rad -
those big wheels you stand inside and roll in- Trampolineing, Swimming,
massage and an ideas swap meet for games and activities with groups of
novice unicyclists. Riding at the Ring was on offer and turned out to be
good practise for the ralley on Sunday morning. There were a few toys
around to try out as well. Takafumi had brought one of his duel uni
contraptions that requires 2 riders to work together to steer the
thing. There was a most nausiating uni in a spinning contraption, that you
had to be strapped into and then could ride upside down and try and stay
in control as you spun in all three directions at once. Franks geared uni
was tried by some and there was a BIG wheel around 44 inch I
think. Impossible wheels, multi wheelers, raceing giraffes and hand
cranked giraffes all made an appearance.
Slow race, wheel walking- these competitions happened, but i don’t know
the results. The slow race boards were avalible all weekend to any one who
wanted a go.
Gliding- down a parking ramp was won by Daniel, Paul and Lasse.
The Show- With a theme “wheel” the Eurocycle show was as normal largely
home grown. The Uni Kids from denmark kicked it off with a group free
style routine. Ina and Ana did some pairs acro on one uni, paul juggled,
so did “the stage hands”. A Rhon Rad act was a treat after the work shop
earlier in the day. But the stars of the show have to be Manfred with many
unis large and small, and Arne with his all jumping, ramp riding, stair
climbing, tramoline bouncing unicycle act. The beer was cheap too, which
always helps.
Ralley-
Sunday mornings activiy was the ralley. A ride to and around a lake with
some surprising obstacles to be tackled on the way. Teams of 5 riders
could gain
points for the obstacles as well as their time and the state their egg (
yes egg) was in at the finish line. Ostacles tackled on the uni included
pulling a car as
a team , crossing a bridge whilst balancing bean bags on
heads and riding at the ring. Off unis we were asked to solve puzzles,
work as team, balance on a spinning disk holding more balls than
resonable
and chuck a team member or two in the lake.All good clean fun;-) On top
of all that IF the
teams egg was intact points were gained, and if it was cooked…even more
points were gained. Apparently decorated but broken eggs had a value too.
The ralley was won by
1st Plums (with 675pts)
2nd La Rio
3rd HipHipHooRad
My thanks go to the organising team of Eurocycle 2002, for a great
weekend. They kept a snack bar open late into the night selling cheap
beer and sweets. Breakfast was laid on on saturday and Sunday and a
dinner on Saturday Night. The halls were spacious, the campsite convenient
and the sunshine on saturday and sunday much appricated.
On my way home from Eurocycle 2002, I had an evening to spend in Bremen as
my plane left at 7am monday morning. This random evening, on my own with a
unicycle in a strange city in a country whos language I do not speak
turned out to be as much fun as Eurocycle had been. I set off for the
Youth Hostel by Tram to the town centre, then along the riverside prom. On
the way I stopped to see one of Bremens tourist attractions, the
Glockenspiel display at 6pm in one of the small side streets. After this
charming show of carved wooden panels depicting heros of sea and air to
chiming tunes on the water bells. I set off on the 1km ride alomng the
river bank to the DJH.
I was on a 20, with a HUGE back pack on and carrying a hockey stick
bag. The ride was going Ok and it was quicker than walking. When I
realised that just ahead of me was a street preformer, about to start a
show. He had gathered his crowd and had paused to let some walkers
past. What to do. I decided to brazen it out and carried on riding. The
preformer noticed my approch and steped back, now I had to ride between
him and his crowd. Of well, I did it. Some joke was made ( I hope it was
a
joke the crowd laughed) I waved as I rode on and then got a huge round of
applause. This put a BIG grin on my face and put me in a good mood for the
rest of the night.
After finding the DJH and sorting out my bed for the night, I set out to
explore the old centre of Bremen. My ambling ride took me into Am Wall the
old city walls, now a park. Then onto the River side again, some way now
from where I had started. To my pleasure -as I was getting hungrey- I
found
there was a festival going on, 5 stages with live music and more food
stands than I could sample in one night. So I finished my evening off
listening to a german band " daily milk" who sing in English , stood in a
big top by the river bank as the sun went down and then had a traffic free
ride all the way back to the DJH and bed. What a good evening.
Sarah
–
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships.
http://www.nwcue.org
