070-074 Belfast Parkour Pages.qxp
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Parko u The Art of Mo v Jumping off two-floor buildings, scaling walls, clearing 10 ft crevices… followers of the discipline of parkour appear almost superhuman in their ability to achieve the seemingly physically impossible…
C
most efficient way possible and that made
reated by David Belle in
The longest follower of the discipline in
the late 80s, parkour was
Belfast is Gary Whelan, a 21 year old from
born in the suburbs of
West Belfast who began experimenting with
Paris in the small town of
parkour six years ago: “I remember watching
involves training the body to overcome any
Lisses where David grew
sense to me.” A highly physical discipline, parkour
a behind the scenes report on an advert
obstacle in its path in the course of a ‘run’. In
up. A secret of these French streets for many
called Rush Hour on GMTV which featured
fact David Belle picked up the term ‘parcour’
years, others later would take interest and
David Belle.
during his time in the Marines which means
become followers of David’s unique discipline. I, like many others was first introduced to
“I was blown away by how one man was
to pass over an obstacle course. David
doing this and trusting himself to do it! No
simply replaced the ‘c’ with a ‘k’ to make the
wires, no mates, just skill. To me it was real
word his own.
parkour when, in the now legendary opening
super hero stuff and that sparked my interest
Talking about the inspiration behind the
scene of James Bond’s Casino Royale,
in climbing and jumping off walls, although at
birth of the discipline Gary says: “David, like
Sebastien Foucan, the man credited as
that stage I had no idea what parkour was,
others before him, was inspired by remote
being a second generation co-founder of
no one did really. I would just head out on my
indigenous tribes who were incredibly fit,
parkour gives a jaw-dropping demonstration
own and practice moves using the walls,
agile and physically capable - they trained
of what the body is physically capable of
buildings, railings, and so on around the city.
their bodies to work and respond to the
against the challenges of a rural environment.
The other kids just thought I was weird.
environment they were in and David and his
Where you or I see a seemingly
“Later on I started to read more about
followers tried to do the same using the
impassable wall or building, David, Sebastien
parkour and the reasoning behind it. I learnt
environment which was natural to them - the
and fellow traceurs (the official term for a
that a follower of parkours main objective is
street.”
follower of parkour) see a challenge.
to travel from point A to B in the quickest and
Fast forward a few years and parkour has become one of fastest growing street sports
A master of martial arts, gymnastics, athletics and climbing, David Belle drew on all these physical skills to create the art of
in Ireland, attracting anything up to 60 people from around the island in a local ‘jam’.
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The north of Ireland's first and only extreme sports magazine
Published on Mar 15, 2010
The north of Ireland's first and only extreme sports magazine