I must be honest, this was the first that I heard of this new extreme sport, but I am sure it will not be the last.
The sport in questions is “Parkour’, a mixture of freestyle jumping, base jumping, gymnastics, acrobatics and total insanity, and the founding father is not Spiderman, even thou they could keep up with him.
Dane Grant, a local boy from SA is the brainchild of the sport in the country and he is spearheading the revolution. Born in Zimbabwe, Dane Grant or “DC” is an adventure sports junkie. If you look at his impressive qualifications in various other sporting achievements it becomes clear that he is fearless: Scuba diving instructor, British Military fitness Instructor and Parkour to mention but a few. All the skills needed to accomplish the near impossible moves of free running.
DC is also a director for the Parkour/Freerunning media company – Reel Motion, and the co-founder and member of Team Traceur who have performed their moves for major advertising companies like Virgin cola by running across the roof tops of houses in Tunisia. You might have seen similar athletes in movies like Casino Royal and Die Hard 4 where James bond and Bruce Willis had to fight off villains with agility and moves like monkeys on E.
These athletes are called “Free Runners”, and that is what they do.
The spawn of Spiderman all try to outperform each other by doing insane back flips off buildings and onto other obstacles like scaffolding poles, jumping across gaps between buildings and anything else that they can possibly jump off or onto.
Fitness, fitness and more fitness is key to making it in this super challenging sport, and the endurance that these athletes must have will surely challenge Olympic standards. Athletes with superior balancing skills and brilliant hand-eye co-ordination offer thrills a minute to watch, and will keep spectators entranced with their abilities.
Free running competition in London – Red Bull Art of Motion 2011
RedBull have stepped up to the plate and are now holding extreme events where athletes battle it out on custom built courses. The events are drawing massive crowds, and the future of this sport is going to be interesting, and worth keeping an eye on.
Have a look at the totally insane video to actually understand the heights and skill that these athletes must endure to achieve success in their sport.
Team Tracear
Words cannot explain how cool this sport is, but one thing must be said:
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
Go to http://www.parkour.co.za/ for more.
-The Sandmann
