Nic Price mentioned the idea of an Aussie Muni Weekend in another thread and although I’d somehow never even thought of it before, I reckon it’s a great idea. The next UniNats is almost 2 years away and I’m going to need something to tide me over until then. Plus in about 6 weeks I’ll have 3 months of holidays before going to uni so I’ll have some free time then to work on the idea. I nominate Brisbane as the location for the event not only because I live here and wouldn’t have to travel but also because it would be really appropriate. Here’s what I’ve been thinking of so far:
General Points
- Although I think this time it should be in Brisbane (some time next year), the AMW could be anywhere in Australia.
- It would have to work around Unicon next year and UniNats 2005.
- Shirts could be made available. Maybe we could get people to tell us in advance so there aren’t too many produced or sell extras through unicycles.com.au and/or unicycle.co.nz as John suggested today. I’d like to try to make them free for competitors. I guess maybe some of us could do some busking to pay for them or something like that.
- Generally it’d be good to keep the price for the event right down because some people would be paying a fair bit to get there already. Ideally it’d be free but I don’t think that would be possible without one of the organisers having to fork out a lot of their own money.
Saturday Events
Novice/social muni ride on Mt Cootha:
- One or two groups going on a series of shortish rides centred around the picnic area on Mt. Cootha.
- Covering flattish singletrack and firetrails of varying steepness. On Mt Cootha there’s something for everyone.
- Plenty of stops for socialising and resting.
Trials playground in the Mt Cootha picnic area:
- Running most of the day at the picnic area.
- The more advanced riders not interested in the muni could play on the trials obstacles.
- Fun trials competitions including gapping comp, high jump/grab, narrow rail riding comp, stillstand comp, etc.
- We’ve already built some pretty okay trials obstacles but I’d like to have a big range of things for a really interesting day of trials.
Picnic lunch
- Work other events and rides around a social picnic lunch in the picnic area of Mt Cootha.
- Jugglers bring their equipment for fun juggle session during/after lunch.
Sunday Events
Advanced technical muni on Mt Cootha:
- There are plenty of really technical and fun tracks on Mt Cootha for the more advanced riders.
- Maybe we could have a freeride competition (like the All Terrain Mountain Bike Challenge from a few years ago and the Red Bull Rides, etc.) just for fun. In this sort of event you’re ‘judged’ (although it’d just be for fun) on your technique and how controlled you are rather than your speed. There are several different lines to choose from ranging a lot in difficulty.
Monday Events
Advanced Ride at MTB Park:
- Hire a bus to take everyone to the Mountain Bike Park that has opened up near here.
- Maybe get one with a little TV so we can watch unicycling videos on the way there (it’s about an hours drive).
- Do northshore in the playground as well as more advanced stuff out on the trails. There are some really great northshore tracks currently being built.
So that’s what I’ve been thinking of. I was looking through the BMW photos and noticed that they were broken into different ‘teams’ of varying difficulty. I think that idea has a lot of potential for the Australian Muni (and Trials maybe?) Weekend. Also, I’m sure we could encourage some media photographers to come along at some stage. That’d be really good publicity for unicycling in Australia. At UniNats we got some group shots taken by an Inside Sport photographer.
I’d love to hear peoples’ suggestions because if we do end up doing this I want it to be really fun for everyone. I’d feel really guilty if people made the effort to travel to Brisbane and it didn’t meet their expectations. I was just thinking how great the weekend could be and had to do a little bit of planning…I’m excited!
Suggestions would be much appreciated as I’ve never been to or paid too much attension to any muni weekends.
Thanks,
Andrew