A leap of faith
Freerunning is a more stylish form of parkour.
Both disciplines stem from a French military training in which officers learned to move efficiently and fluently around a variety of obstacles.
This “méthode naturelle” enabled French actor and stuntman David Belle’s development of Parkour in France in the late 1990s.
The opening chase scene of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale showcases the techniques involved. Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time featured acrobatic fight scenes that saw cast members defy gravity, running up walls and leaping off roofs in elaborate moves that Belle coordinated as stunt advisor.
In parks, playgrounds and public spaces around Ireland, Parkour is a growing phenomenon, spreading mainly via tutorials online and small pockets of practitioners active in a handful of cities.
Paul Allen (20), from Magherafelt, in Co Derry, has been freerunning for four years. He favours school buildings for jumping roof to roof and often makes leaps at up to four storeys.
Allen began freerunning by accident after he was contacted by another freerunner who mistakenly thought he practised.
“I rollerbladed and skated and then met this guy who taught me a few basics and just started watching videos and training from there,” he tells me.
He was training for about a year before he became aware of ‘the scene’ which was centred in Belfast with anything up to 50 others.
“We used to meet up at the waterfront, but you can’t train there now because of security — there were injuries and stuff. Back then, the scene was great but numbers are whittling down now,” he says.
Now the group is between ten and 15 strong, meeting on Saturdays in Belfast.
In Dublin, the weekly jams are better-attended, with 20-plus practitioners, while in Cork just a handful meet regularly to share skills and train.
The Parkour Ireland website advertises monthly jams, which attract up to 40 people from all over Ireland to various set locations. For Allen, freerunning is about pushing your physical limits.
“It’s about being creative, practising movements, developing muscle control and making the sequence flow so that it looks easy. It’s mainly just practice, repetition, constantly trying the same things,” he points out.
“It’s opened my eyes to see how far I can push my limits. I used to be shy, it has helped me with people and built my confidence that way. It generally just made me a stronger person.”
Street architects imagine landscapes in a vertical or a horizontal axis, pedestrians view the horizontal only. Those who freerun see all axes.
“The world, your environment becomes a playground. Everything you look at becomes something new, you see a tree and think, ‘I could swing off this branch or run up the trunk,’ you just look at everything differently,” says Allen.
Vaulting off walls and flipping over rails is a perilous activity.
Broken fingers, hands, and wrists are common, while ankle damage is a typical threat.
Paul took injury to a life-threatening level when he fractured his skull in a flip move that went seriously wrong.
“I fractured my skull in a ‘gainer’ move that involved a back flip going forwards off a five foot wall and I landed on my head. I was in and out of consciousness in hospital for three days.
“It made me more aware of how easy it is to injure yourself. I was scared of doing that move again for quite a while. It slowed me down in progression but I eventually got over the fear and learned from my mistakes.”
There is debate about the difference between freerunning and parkour; the two are linked in their use of the body in a free environment — there are no set rules.
Paul is dismissive of any possible animosity, saying that freerunning is more about aesthetics.
“For people that do parkour alone, they see freeruning as a show-off sport. Parkour is more purist.
“To me, they are both very similar and I would do both, to the best of my ability.”
Brendan Petrassi (17), from Turners Cross in Cork, is a traceur, a purist practitioner of parkour.
Attending weekly jams in an industrial estate in Ballincollig, he has been training for 18 months. He can jump 12 feet in the air, run up 12 foot walls, vault, cat leap and roll in variations.
Parkour has helped rid him of fear and opened up a world of creative imagination.
“The discipline is about learning some basic moves — such as a vault or a jump — then putting your own variations on these, depending on the environment. It’s about using your imagination.”
He was a tree-climbing child, active and curious. When he discovered parkour at 15, he found his dream discipline.
“When I learned that it existed, I was excited, I dreamed of doing it, but I was still terrified of vaults and stuff. “I learned my first vault on my own and was incredibly delighted with myself,” Petrassi admits.
Courage plays a major part in getting to grips with techniques, but for Petrassi, confidence comes with practice.
“It’s easier for people who have done skateboarding or BMXing to move into parkour, because courage is so important. When I started out I was terrified of a lot of things and I still am.
“But the more you practise, the more your confidence grows.”
Tackling physical fear has helped Petrassi to overcome a series of obstacles in other areas of his life.
Parkour is leading him towards a career in sports training and he has taken up juggling, guitar and gymnastics since becoming a committed traceur.
“I started growing more fearless by doing parkour, I felt like I could tackle anything,” he recalls.
A student at Bishopstown Community School, he regularly attends weekly jams and trains with friends in locations around Cork mid-week. There are active traceurs practising in Ballincollig, Cobh and Cork city centre. They aim to vary locations to keep creativity alive.
Parks and public spaces, modern architecture with design features such as railings and benches, are their playgrounds.
“People call it parkour vision — its basically going along a street and seeing something you can practise a technique on,” he said.
Parkour is about getting from A to B as efficiently as possible and there is an emphasis on imagination to traverse that environment.
“Let’s say if someone is chasing you, you would go to the most obstacle-dense environment you can think of and you would get through it faster than them.”
The community, which may seem underground to an outsider, is in fact open, welcoming and friendly. Traceurs teach each other and are eager to share their skills.
“These are some of the nicest people you can meet. The website is the focal point, so people can come to the jams advertised to train, you don’t have to have experience. There are loads of forums for advice and tutorials on techniques, made by people with plenty of experience.”
It’s a male-dominated activity, but girls practise too, though they might face tougher physical challenges.
“Girls are generally underrated due to physical barriers. They struggle with explosive leg power, it does not come as naturally to girls as boys, but they would excel in vaults!”
* Visit www.pkire.com
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