Source: Radio New Zealand
Norm Joe, from Startford, will unicycle the length of New Zealand before tackling the world. KATIE TODD ./ RNZ
A New Zealand man is hoping to break a Guinness World Record with a hobby he picked up during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Norm Joe – from the Taranaki town of Stratford – is planning to unicycle around the world, beginning with the length of New Zealand.
He set off from Bluff on 16 January, hoping to reach Cape Reinga by May.
Joe will then fly to Alaska, cycling east across Canada and the United States, then fly to Portugal to continue across Europe and Asia.
“I’m going around the world, basically, if I can,” he said.
Norm Joe on his unicycle. KATIE TODD / RNZ
“It’s a big call at this stage, because I’ve only done 160 kilometres, but I need to do 29,000 kilometres for the Guinness World Record.”
It had been less than six years since Joe learned how to unicycle – a Covid-19 hobby that became serious.
“I started with a little 20-inch unicycle I found at a council clean-up – someone chucked it out, and I thought, well, that’s interesting. I took it home, I chucked it under the house, and then Covid hit, and then we had to lock up, so I started playing around with it in the backyard.
“Once I could walk my dog with a unicycle, I thought, yeah, I’ve graduated. So I went and bought a proper one.”
Joe then started commuting to work with the unicycle.
“A unicycle is not like a bike. A unicycle feels more like an appendage or a prosthetic limb to me. It’s like skiing. I think this is what skiers and surfers feel. You just intuitively think and you move that way. A unicycle is the same, eh?”
Joe would be raising money for the charity WaterAid – providing water, sanitation, and hygiene to the world’s poorest communities.
He chose that as he was working as a draftsman for Sydney Water – rebuilding the infrastructure in the Australian city.
It has only been a week since Joe began, but he said he loved the reaction from people who had seen him riding on his unicycle.
“It’s a real conversation starter, I guess. People love it. They come up to me and talk.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
