History on unicycle time trial records on wikipedia

Last year, I started a wikipedia page in French to list the history of unicycle time trial records (one hour, 24 hours, 100 km and 100 miles).
I found it lacking, and went through some IUF discussions that mentionned it.
Rather than wait for someone to take it up at the IUF level, I did my research on the Internet, in particular on the unicyclist.com forum.
Of course, these are not official IUF records. Besides, I don’t know how long the IUF has been certifying WRs.
I thought this work might serve as a basis for an official IUF page.

Last week, I translated the page into English and put it online.
There are still plenty of grey areas, and I’m sure there are experienced unicyclists here who must have plenty of information to complete, correct and make sense of these records. I think it’s a good idea to work together to find as much information as possible.

Here’s the link to the page:

Ideally, I would have liked to create a page dedicated to road race records (10k and marathon, standard and unlimited, men’s and women’s) and another page on track records. In any case for the latter, I don’t have the knowledge.

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Nice article! I am the chairperson of the IUF World Record Committee, and thus somehow involved in this matter.

I just casually read the wikipedia article. I intend to go through it more thoroughly, and will then get back to you via PM or e-mail with some suggested edits.

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Thanks Klaas!

I was hoping you’d see this post.
I’m sure you’ve got lots of things we could add.

I think it would be nice to add failed attempts.

I’d also have to see about adding photos to make the article more attractive.

I hope other unicyclists will want to contribute to the article. Maybe @GizmoDuck @www.einradshop.ch who both held the hour and 24-hour records ? :innocent:

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Hi Simon

It’s great that you’ve done a Wiki page. I wanted to do something like this when I was IUF WR committee chair.

I will message you privately with suggestions, additions and edits. Most of that info is actually posted on unicyclist.com but need a lot of searching and reading.

Ken

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Great, great work!

If you add failed attempt, I wanna be on it. I fail every morning on my ride to work ^^.

Ok, just kidding. But I guess my point is that failed attempts should not be in there.

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The proposal to add failed attempts is debatable. I hadn’t originally planned to add them. I added Pete Perron’s attempt because he thought he’d improved the record before Ken’s record was confirmed…

The reason I suggest to add failed attempt is that on the cycling hour record wiki page, failed WR attempts are mentioned.
There are a number of arguments in favour:

  • You can’t improvise a TT WR attempt. It requires a dedicated organisation and advance notice to the certifying body (IUF +/- GWR).
  • The fact that you don’t improve on the WR isn’t always seen as a failure. It can be a national record.

When I look at the current 24-hour world record, I think there will be many unsuccessful attempts before it is improved.

The purpose of a page like this is to provide more depth than just the current IUF WR data. I find it interesting to have a history. If history can be traced back to before the IUF certified world records, I find that interesting (unless records were certified under very suspicious circumstances).

Oh, I’ve just seen this table at the end of the page on the cycling hour record :

Phew, we’re still ahead of the wheelie and one-leg record. :upside_down_face:

EDIT : the wheelie hour record is now at 30.95 km

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Hi!

I’ve updated the wikipedia page : Unicycle time trial records - Wikipedia

I’ve searched the forum further, going back to discussions in the 90s. There are a lot of resources in this forum to feed such a page, what luck! :smiley:

To encourage you to take a look at the page, I’m sharing a few finds with you:

  • I was astonished to discover that the 100-mile record was so hotly contested in the 80s. In fact, at the time, it seemed to be the only record really contested.
  • On the other hand, the hour record doesn’t seem to have attracted interest until after the 2000s.
  • I also found the 1st post where someone announced that the Coker company was producing 36“ pneumatic tires (and a cheap 36” unicycle) in 1998.

Obviously, there’s still a lot missing.
I can’t quite figure out how long the IUF has been validating WRs. I’m aware of the 2011 guidelines, but I wonder if the IUF started validating WRs in 2011. @GizmoDuck @Klaas_Bil do you have the answer?
I’d also be very happy if @johnfoss took a look at the page, you probably have info on records or details that I haven’t found any trace of on the forum and on the internet.

The next step is to add photos. But there’s the question of image copyright. It’s very formalized on wikipedia, and I don’t want to make any mistakes.

For example, I’d like to add Floyd Beattie’s photo (to illustrate 100-mile records in the 80s) (Floyd Beattie passes away - #4 by johnfoss):

Sam Wakeling @redwelly photo of the 24-hour record and/or the 100-mile record. Pictures of Mirjam and Jana too. A photo of an original Coker, schlumpf, old pictures…

I’d be delighted if some of you would tell me what photos I could put on the page (unless you’d like to do it yourself).

Cheers!

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Hi all,
Seeing this thread for the first time. I’m adding some comments, mostly from memory, or otherwise noted of where I/we need to look to find out more.

There’s a little more detail to that (see IUF Rulebook), something about additional support devices. It basically clarifies that the single wheel is the only point of contact with the ground.

In the past, the GWR has indicated that they prefer taking their guidance from the IUF when available. Some things aren’t covered by IUF rules, such as tall unicycle records. Not sure if the Guinness people are still committed to this, but I think they would still prefer to be, so they can aim any criticism at us.

I think you will find at least one: I believe Cathy Fox (of the Paul Fox Unicycle Club, Marion, Ohio) was listed with the 100 mile record in or around 1979. She did it along with Floyd Crandall, who was the fastest Track racer at the time. She was on a Tom Miller Big Wheel (probably 40") but Floyd had a wooden wagon wheel unicycle that probably weighed about 25 kg or more, and couldn’t keep up. If anyone has Guinness Books dating back to 1980 or so they can confirm or deny this. I used to have a 1982 copy, but it might be in a box if I didn’t get rid of it (can’t find it now). Edit: I see you have her listed farther down the page, along with Takayuki. Oh well, I included some additional details below, so I’ll leave that content in there. :slight_smile:

As for Guinness putting restrictions/requirements on records, again they would prefer to get this information from the IUF if available. This later lead to the IUF World Records Committee creating lots of rules for record-setting. These can make doing record attempts more difficult and expensive, but also will lend an element of clarity and consistency for current and future records. Those rules also apply to Track racing (not recently covered by Guinness); the Track for Unicon 21 did not meet those requirements so IUF records could not be set there. I don’t believe the track we used was the one originally intended; that one may have been affected by construction.

But remember, the Guinness Book of World Records is not as an exhaustive collection of all known; it’s still got to compete in the book market so the editors pick and choose what records will be included from year to year. Some records come and go over the years, such as the 100m sprint, which was covered from 1980 with Floyd Crandall, at least into the 90s with Peter Rosendahl.

Woah, just looked at the Guiness World Records website; their approach has changed a lot! They’ve monetized it in a big way, while making it much easier for people to use it as a publicity tool!

But no online collection of records (unless I missed something), which means they still have to prioritize book sales when editing the thing.

[quote=“Wikipedia”]…in fact, it is almost impossible to ride a unicycle in a velodrome.[/quote]In case you haven’t tried this: Things Not To Do on a Unicycle Sorry about the decrepit state of my ancient website, it is one of the things I hope to “finally get to” in retirement.

[quote=“Wikipedia”] However, it was not until several years later that the one-hour record was beaten with a 36” unicycle.[/quote]Note that before the Coker was available, a 100 mile Guinness record had been set with a 42/43" pneumatic-tired (made from a commercial rickshaw wheel; very heavy!). This was Takayuki Koike’s record, set in 1987, supposedly with zero dismounts. But the effect of the Coker on the world of long distance unicycling cannot be overstated. They were very affordable, and held up remarkably well considering their modest specs. I still have one hanging in my garage that’s ready to go.

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Floyd Beattie B&W photo: I don’t know the specifics of that image, but I would estimate it’s from a member of the press (otherwise why black & white?). It may have appeared in the USA Newsletter some time after that event; there may be a photo credit in there. It also may indicate from what newspaper the image originated.

Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate!

I’ve tried to rewrite the story from the elements I’ve found here and there.
I hadn’t realized that there had been a 42/43” unicycle with pneumatic tire. It deserves to be mentioned and and a photo might be nice.

I had in mind that in the 80s, there were mainly 24” unicycles. Thierry Bouché told me about a series of 26” unicycles produced in England, this must have been before the UNICON VIII in Guilford (1996). And I found on the forum that the first Coker 36” were produced in 1998. I had the feeling that this had contributed to the long-distance boom, but I may have made some shortcuts and wrong formulations.

For the record, I’m on the IUF committee that validates WRs, but I’m doing this page as an individual, otherwise there would only be IUF records, and the purpose of this page is focused on the history of timed records.

As for the photos, I haven’t uploaded any yet, there’s a whole procedure for hosting photos on wikipedia servers. To upload a photo that doesn’t belong to me, I have to check a lot of boxes to say that the photo is copyright-free (so that if there’s a right problem, it’s not wikipedia that gets sued but me :sweat_smile:)… I’ll start by uploading one that belongs to me, just to see.

I just add your website in source for the velodrome :wink:

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I’ve only been riding since 2000, so can’t speak for earlier records. When I started riding the 100mile was the one to aim for. It had been hotly contested, and still very challenging with the technology at the time (heavy 36" coker).

The IUF didn’t have much in the way of rules, so I used Guinness for my 24hr and Hour record attempts. They had, and still have, strict documentation and measurement requirements. The only problem is that it is written by non-unicyclists, and changes each time.

With the internet booming, we were also seeing people posting and claiming various records without any documentation.

We set up the IUF 2011 guidelines to give a standard for certification. It was loosely based on Guinness World Record requirements.

I’m not aware of any standard prior to this- the ones done at events and races are likely to have greater accuracy, and I would be confident they are sound.

I’d like to see the IUF being the default record standard, but Guinness has prestige, especially among non-unicyclists. Currently I’m still listed as the Guinness Hour Record holder- it would be good if the next person to attempt the record also applies to Guinness.

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