b u l l e va r d
Life Without Limits
TIM SHIEFF
Once a hyperactive kid, the self-styled ‘Livewire’ sees boundless opportunity where others see concrete walls
Age 22 Born Derby, England Best results First place Barclaycard World Freerun Championships; Second place Red Bull Art of Motion Claim to fame Has collected more than 4.5 million hits on YouTube with freerunning videos
Balancing act: Shieff traverses the rooftops of his home town of Derby
“You should see the view from up here,” Tim ‘Livewire’ Shieff shouts from a rooftop more than 9m above us. Just a few seconds earlier he was down among the shoppers on the streets of his Derby home town, before manoeuvring his muscular frame with feline dexterity up a series of walls, finding unlikely footholds, twisting around corners and balancing on thin ledges, to reach a rooftop world invisible to the rest of the city’s residents. Then with a leap he’s over a 3.6m gap to the next building, landing on a flat roof with a neat roll, pausing for a one-armed handstand that leaves his legs dangling over the crowds below. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Shieff. The 22-year-old is a world champion of freerunning, a sport defined by an ability to reinterpret the landscape using urban acrobatics. “Freerunning is creative movement through an environment,” he explains. “It’s the way you create a path without following the normal options presented to you.” Freerunners combine moves from any number of other disciplines such as gymnastics and capoeira to create their own individual style of movement. “People always think I have a death wish when I’m hanging off buildings,” Shieff says, “but no one takes into account the years of practice. It’s a calculated risk and I’m always in control.” The discipline originated as parkour in France, and gained its first real exposure in the UK through the Channel 4 documentary Jump London in 2003, in which the term ‘free running’ was coined. And Shieff, then a young breakdancer, was inspired to take to the streets. “Livewire was my breakdancing name, as I just didn’t stop moving when I was a kid,”
“Up there it’s just peace. You’re in the moment. You look down and watch people walk their set path” he says. “When I saw Jump London, I thought ‘I have to do that.’ Since then I’ve been out all the time, pushing myself and trying new things.” After discovering the rooftops of the Midlands with other budding freerunners he met online, Shieff quickly found himself at the forefront of a young sport garnering international attention. Highprofile exposure in film, advertising campaigns and music videos for artists such as Madonna have brought the sport above ground, combining with a strong online community to offer a real chance for freerunners to turn pro. “I put a video of me on YouTube and got offers of promotional work, stunt work and appearances,” he says. “I’ve travelled all over – Iceland, Russia, Dubai, I lived in LA for three months last year for an MTV series and presented Samuel L Jackson with an award in Las Vegas.” International competitions have also sprung up, pioneered by Red Bull’s Art of Motion in Austria in 2007 and followed by the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships in London in 2008, in which Shieff came second and then won the following year. The young sport is starting to mature. Shieff, with the four other members of his team Storm Freerun, has new videos to shoot, more international travel planned and appearances to make. But today he is content in his rooftop world. “Up there it’s just peace,” he says. “You’re in the moment. You look down and watch people walk their set path. The first person to spot you will always be a kid, because they’re still open to the world’s possibilities – and that’s what freerunning’s all about.” Catch Tim ‘Livewire Shieff at Red Bull Art of Motion on March 20 in London. For more info jump to www.redbull.co.uk or watch the Storm Freerun team in action at www.stormfreerun.com
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words: ruth morgan Photography: richie hopson
Name Tim Shieff