Parkour, the art of free running, alive and well in Donny
Yes thats right – good old Donny, better known as Doncaster in South Yorkshire and probably better know still as the home of the St Leger Stakes, has embraced the extreme sport of parkour or free running. Do you remember Sebastien Foucan in the James Bond movie Casino Royale – enter Doncaster Council.
Parkour or “free running” classes are set to begin in Doncaster, after a huge increase in the number of young people risking their safety by running along rooftops or leaping over obstacles outside.
‘Extreme sports can be dangerous without the right supervision, so we decided to introduce a parkour community club in an indoor environment, teaching the young people to respect values and the way in which other Doncaster residents would perceive their behaviour’, said the project’s manager Mark Turner.
In the video below from sauloca you can watch the afore mentioned Sebastien Foucan, accompanied by David Belle and Ciryl Raffaelli going through their paces in the urban environment.
Wow impressive stuff – but we can’t help but thinking that this extreme sport is one that probably should never come under authority, rules, organisation.
In our mind parkour is free running – free – being the important word. It seems somewhat contrarian, even hypocritical, that should you be free running you – would ever/could never – take instruction – that in our mind is the nature of the beast.
So Doncaster Council will try to tame the beast – nah – it will never work, or are they just teaching their kids how to escape from PC Plod.
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Parkour is more than the physical obstacles one must over come. It is mostly mental and thus, a traceur has to achieve mental discipline.
When I practiced parkour, it was more mental than physical. It was as if the mental achievements must come first before the physical.
Anyway, I agree! If people want to get involved in such a thing, they need to be aware of all aspects in order to respectable in the sport.
Nice article. I’m happy to hear such a thing!
Thanks for your comments Tasha.
i’m interested in free running, where are you based?
could you please get back…
I take part in the lessons provided by Doncaster Council and they are currently being held in the Dome. I have been training parkour for 4 years and I know how all of the moves should be applied. The lessons provide a safe environment for young traceurs or parkour enthusiasts to practice their movement and hone there skills before attempting them outside on the concrete.
I personally think that these classes offer the youths of Doncaster something to do and learn that will be big in the future and that will keep them on the right path in life… for more information on parkour please email urbanninja@live.com and I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have
in addition to chris’s post, i have trained for around a yr now and love it, up at the dome its a frreindly environment
i regurlaly train with chris who i met thru the academy
but we need more leniancy from the council to do parkour in the streets
Thank you for writing in Alan. I would definitely like to get in touch with you and Chris again on this subject…
Many thanks for writing in Chris. I would definitely like to discuss this further with you and will come through to urban ninja next time. Thank you.
you can get in touch by emailing me on alancollinsuk@hotmail.com if you like, also by coming to the academy on a tuesday located at the dome lakeside doncaster at 5 45 pm
Questions about the Doncaster Dome:
What ages go to these lessons?
Is they a age limit?
What equiment do they use in this lesson?
thankyou
in answer to u josh,
our yungest are 13 i think,
and we use crash mats, vaults, balence bars
Thanks for replying Alan. I’ve had a chaotic week and kept meaning to send it on to you. Have a good day.