Standarize use of Expert and Elite to match the rest of the rulebook
Comments about this discussion:
Started
From the discussion Unicon "Leagues" in the Main Committee(https://iuf-rulebook-2025.committees.unicycling-software.com/discussions/152), it has become apparent that Muni uses the term "Elite" whereas the overall IUF Rules designate the term "Expert".
Background: The Muni rules currently inconsistently use the term "Elite" both for the top "World Champion" class and for the most competitive age group 19-29.
However, the IUF Rulebook defines the term "Expert" as the top class, which is used in most other disciplines.
Here the existing definitions:
1A.4: ... Age group winners can use the title `Age-Group Winner', and the term `World Champions' generally refers to winners of Overall, Finals or Expert class.
Winners in the Expert category of each event at Unicon are the World Champions. In the individual events, separate titles are awarded for male and female. Winners in the Jr. Expert category at Unicon are the Junior World Champions.
1D.1 Definitions
Expert: The top category in events that don't have a system to determine Finalists. When no other limitations are present, riders can choose to compete in this category against the other top riders. Limitations on this may be if top riders are chosen at previous competitions, such as national events, or if there is a limit on the number of competitors per country. The category is called Expert, and riders entered in it can be called Experts. The distinction of Experts over Finalists is that they are not chosen based on competition results at the current convention.
Junior Expert: Same as Expert, but open only to riders age 0-14. Riders in this age range may optionally enter Expert instead, to compete in the highest/hardest category.
For consistency, my proposal is to replace the term "Elite" in the Muni and Cyclecross rules with the term "Expert" for the world champion class and retain "Elite" only for the age group 19-29. Note that this is already in line with many national muni races such as the Italian Muni Competition and the German Muni Competition which already use the term "Expert" (although NAUCC for North America uses Elite as in the current rulebook).
I would also eliminate the category "Marathon" as this term seems to have been seldom used in muni, the term marathon generally means a longer a less technical race but most importantly as the Expert class should be the "top" class determining the World Champion. With both Expert/Elite and Marathon classes, which is the World Champion?
Proposed changes:
4D.1.1 Uphill
Uphill courses must be primarily uphill but may include at or downhill sections. At Unicon, if the terrain is technically easy (i.e. smooth to ride, no or only very small rocks and roots), the Expertmain course has to be longer than 500 m or have a height difference greater than 100 m.
4D.1.3 Cross Country
...
Main categories:
1. Beginners: distance 3-7 km, max 15 points Unicycle XC Scale
2. Intermediate: distance 8-13 km, 16-21 points Unicycle XC Scale
3. ExpertElite: distance 15-25 km, minimum 24 points Unicycle XC Scale, suggested to last 1h30min for fastest riders4. Marathon: longer than 30 km, suggested to last 3-5 hours for fastest riders
The ExpertElite category with subcategories Male and Female is required to be run. Other categories are run on the host discretion.
The ExpertElite Cross Country course should be designed such that the fastest rider completes the race in about 1 hour 30 minutes, but never less than 1 hour.
...
5B.2 Unicycles and Categories
The host or event director may establish categories based upon ability. The categories should be named accordingly, if used: Beginners, Intermediate, ExpertElite. ExpertElite and Junior Expert are is the only categoriesy which decides the overall champion.
5D.6 Race Con figuration
It is suggested that the ExpertElite race be close to 45 minutes in length and the Beginner/Intermediate races be close to 30 minutes in length.