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If you've always wanted to be batman or spiderman then free running is the sport for you. The craze is sweeping Europe and the basic idea is to run, vault, tumble and jump through city streets, using anything in your path to make the run more exciting.
Imagine drawing a straight line on a map of any city and then running from start to finish letting absolutely nothing get in your way. That's free running.
Free running started in France where it is called Parkour. A group of boys got together after school and began setting each other dares. These dares and games became parkour. As the group's runs became more and more fluid and amazing, other kids began to get interested and started their own parkour groups.
Free running doesn't need expensive equipment or training centres. It can transform a run- down estate from a boring prison into an exciting playground. Anything low walls, underpasses, railings and walkways can become an adventure course of leaps, flips, dives and jumps.
In extreme cases, free runners can run and leap across of high buildings, towers and bridges.Fundamental moves are rolls, landings, and balancing techniques.According to fans of free running, you can be walking down a street when a wall catches your eye the next minute you're vaulting it. Every street can become a free running arena.
Although considered a sport, free running is not about competition. It's about finding a way to complete the run in the best way possible. It's also about being with other people, and being part of something.
Last year French Free Runners ran across the rooftops of London for a documentary called Jump London.
The philosophy behind free running is drawn from Star Wars, Spiderman, The Matrix, Bruce Lee and Martial Arts. Basically wherever you live, whoever you are, you can break free of your surroundings by learning to free run. |
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