Hello all,
I am quite interesting in hosting a unicycling event. I have the space to do it and materials as well. One of the main concerns I have is the insurance side of things.
Can I have the riders sign waivers saying they are responsible for their own injuries, or will something like that not work?
thanks, Jacob
I’m pretty sure that is all good
The Unicycling Society of America has a $2,000,000 insurance policy that can be used for events. Everyone just has to join the USA Inc., which is dirt cheap compared to buying your own insurance in any way, shape or form:
I like John’s suggestion, if you can. 
Your reference to a release or waiver of liability agreement, will help you, however there are so many factors to consider. It will not entirely cover your butt. If there is any negligence on your part and if somebody is injured due to your negligence a waiver of liability is not going to protect you from a law suit.
Even if you do your best to cover all bases, you could still be found negligent for things that never occurred to you.
Having the release/waiver would allow you to be able to argue that there’s a waiver of liability and the participant “assumed the risk” of injury though their participation and knowledge of risk.
But for example if the weather is very hot, and someone keels over from heat exhaustion, did you foresee problems with heat - did you provide first aid for the participants and event goers.
If someone gets mad at someone and gets into a fight, did you provide security for protection.
You said you have a place, possibly the place has their own insurance for events. Check, double check, triple check 
Insurance is a good way to go. Always…CYA
Thanks John!!!
Now the next question, say there are riders that are from different countries? Is there another cheap alternative for this??
I would really like to keep cost down so I can appeal to all audiences of people.
Thanks, Jacob
Jacob, I’m in the same boat, so you have a couple options:
Hold the event on public property, like a city park, and get the city to sanction the event, so then their insurance will cover you.
Require all participants to join the The Unicycling Society of America in order to participate, signing a waiver stated that they have joined.
Don’t make the event “formal”, in other words if it’s just a group of like minded people getting together to ride, then there’s no need to have insurance.
Buy insurance, which is not cheap, then have the participants foot the bill.
I have conducted events using #1 and #3, #4 was always too expensive for the low attendance programs I put on.
As John suggested, requiring that all participants join the USA is a good idea and at $20 a head, it’s cheap insurance: http://uniusa.org/membership/
I’m putting on an event on TVA property, was considering going with #3, but John’s idea is a good one, esp since I don’t think the TVA is going to sanction anything if it adds to their liability.
I’m working on this angle today 
I do have a question for you: What costs?
Seriously, don’t do a shirt (we all have plenty of shirts), make folks bring their own food (potluck), and consider a gift exchange vs trying to get things donated (a total pain in the arse and waste of time).
There really shouldn’t be any costs if it’s just some folks getting together for a ride.
Unfortunately the USA insurance only “covers” residents of the U.S. This is made a little muddy on their insurance page, where it states:
“Hosts of any unicycling event who wish to use USA, Inc. insurance must require all participants to be current USA, Inc. members.”
We wanted to get insurance that would cover everyone, at least including Canadian citizens, but in all cases it added a great deal of expense to the already-expensive package the USA has, which is around $5,000.
Yes, the most viable alternative to the above is to use a venue that is already covered. But this can be difficult, as it often boils down to “Uh, I don’t know if unicycling is covered”.
In the past, I always ran the MUni Weekends I hosted on an informal basis, and didn’t get into insurance. But that’s no longer an option for me, so the USA insurance was a perfect fit. Except if we get people from outside the US. Like Kris Holm. 
This probably won’t help Jacob, but if you have home insurance you can usually get a liability rider for a 2-3 day event, fairly inexpensively.
Thanks for all the replies everyone!
The first event will most likely be like a get together since there are many events this summer such as unicon.
John it sounds like that the USA insurance is the best bet and is the cheapest option so far. This year I will have more of a get together with only a few riders since there is unicon going on.
If the event is on private property are the rules for insurance any different? I have enough land to setup plenty of obstacles. So I would be fortunate enough to be able to keep cost down.
Once again thanks so much for your help everyone!
Primarily your liability policy is intended to protect you and any other “owners” from lawsuits if something bad happens. In the case of private property, that would be the property owners. If someone’s going for a lawsuit, they will aim for whatever entity has the deepest pockets, which probably isn’t you, so it’s important to protect anyone else who can be connected with your event.
So what type of event, anyway, and when would you like to hold it? I still have never ridden a unicycle in Colorado…
I would like to host an American EUC. A few riders and myself talked about it during NAUCC this year. Since there is only NAUCC that host a street, flatland and trials contest I thought it would be good for riders interested in those types of riding to have another thing to go to. It seems that there are plenty of Muni events but almost no events like that.
Also with the location I live at I could host a tour of some of the local trails in my area. So if anyone is interested in muni or some gnarly downhill I could put something together for that as well.
Looking at all the options for insurance the USA would be the best choice. Its much to risky to host an event to the public without insurance.
USA is great to work with on insurance issues.
One thing to note is that the coverage can name municipalities and organizations, but not individuals. It would be a good idea to get your “club” under the USA umbrella. It’s not that hard and you’re still probably a current member especially if you renewed last year at NAUCC.
I wish you great luck in planning. More events in more disciplines are good for the sport.