The Australian Unicycle Society is a national organisation representing unicyclists in Australia that aims to increase awareness of and participation in unicycling as a sport.
Organisational Structure
The AUS has been an incorporated association since 2001.
The Executive Committee is comprised of several roles including:
- President: Steven Hughes
- Vice-President: Cameron Blight
- Secretary: Cris Bailiff
- Treasurer: Peter Howard
- Rod Lambert (Public Officer, ACT)
- Ordinary Member(s):
- Rochelle Braaf (Newsletter Editor)
- Simon Birch QLD
- George Carra VIC
- Ashley Curtis NSW
- Joshua Ingrames NT
- Nic Vevers ACT
UniNats
The AUS has successfully hosted 11 Australian Unicycle National Championships (UniNats) - in Canberra (2001 and 2003), Darwin (2005), Sydney (2007), Wollongong (2009), Canberra (2010), Melbourne (2012), Canberra (2013), Sydney, (2014), Darwin (2015) and Sunshine Coast (2016).
These events have been attended by hundreds of unicyclists from around Australia, and by international guests from countries such as New Zealand, Puerto Rico and as far as Germany, Switzerland and the UK.
International Representation
The AUS follows the guidelines of the International Unicycling Federation (IUF). Several prominent members of the AUS have served executive roles on the IUF committee and have also been members of the IUF subcommittees.
Local Support
A key role of the AUS is to support the regional unicycling groups around Australia. AUS offers an affiliation program, where local unicycling groups can become affiliated with the AUS, and get a number of benefits (especially including low-cost insurance coverage, subject to certain conditions).
Local groups currently affiliated with AUS include:
- ACT Unicycle Riders Society Inc. (ACTURS)
- Castlemaine and Community Unicycle Society (CACTUS)
- Southwest Sydney Unicycle Club
- Northern Beaches Unicycle Club
- North Shore Unicyclists
- Sydney Unicycle Club
- Sunshine Unicyclists
Sponsorship of International Visitors
The AUS has invited, and helped to sponsor, high-standard international unicyclists to visit Australia and have them demonstrate their skills and mentor some of the local unicyclists. This has been especially valuable at inspiring young riders and those who have not been able to visit international events like Unicons, to open their eyes to some of the things that it is possible to do with unicycles.
Past guests have included:
- Javier Ruiz, Puerto Rico (UniNats 2001)
- Tony Melton, New Zealand (UniNats 2003)
- Roz Beste, Hong Kong (UniNats 2003)
- Roz had such a good time that she later moved to Melbourne and became a member of the AUS executive!
- Julian Monney, Switzerland (UniNats 2005)